Here are some excerpts from the entire interview which can be found here:
http://www.metal-rules.com/metalnews/2014/09/01/interview-with-vinnie-paul-hellyeah-pantera/
MR – You mentioned earlier just how well produced the album is. You had Kevin Churko produce this one for you. You yourself produced the first two Hellyeah records have you never fancied getting back to producing or do you just enjoy the relative freedom of writing and playing now?
VP – I’ve produced or at least co-produced every record I’ve ever been a part of, right the way back to the Pantera stuff and was nice to just mainly be the drummer. Although I pre-produced everything before it went to Kevin. So most of the music stayed the same, but Kevin dragged the very best out of Chad. Really out of Tom too and out of myself. You know, he’s just an awesome producer. He makes the record that you want to make. He doesn’t make the record that the record company wants or that he wants to make. He really understood the vision of the band and brought the best out of us.
MR – Well that’s definitely good to hear. Hellyeah will always be compared to the bands you’ve played in previously going back as far as Pantera, how do you deal with that?
VP – It’s not hard for me to deal with because I’m not in those bands anymore, I’m in Hellyeah. You know it’s the same thing as Jimmy Page or Robert Plant, they’re always gonna be known as the guys from Led Zepplin. It doesn’t matter what they do outside of that. You know, it’s a good legacy to have but people do have to realise that that was then and this is now. A lot of people get hung up on living in the past and I’m not doing that. I’m living for today and for tomorrow. What I did back then was amazing, it was great and I’m hoping to achieve that again with this. It’s a much different day and age, it’s more difficult and harder but I’m willing to do it. A lot of people being from a band like I was wouldn’t come play a place like this they’d say “Fuck that! I’m not gonna do that. I’ve been there and done it.” But I love it. It’s a challenge, its fun.
MR – How would you describe Hellyeah as a band today? And has anything changed since the start?
VP – Well the reason why we started the band was to get back into music for the reason we started in the first place – the love of music. When you’re in a band like Mudvayne or Pantera they turn into a business after a while and the fun goes away from it because it’s a lot of fuckin’ work. I try telling people all the time – try being married to one person for any length of time much less four or five other guys in the band you know that’s what it’s like. You really have to learn give and take and how things work. But Hellyeah, right now with the new guys in the band, it feels like why we started again – the people love making the music.…
