Rex Brown is Pantera’s bassist, and he still is. Born in Graham, Texas, in 1964, he played alongside Vinnie Paul in an Arlington high school lab band and joined Pantera in 1982. He played on every Pantera album, then on records with Down and Kill Devil Hill and one solo album where he sings. Since 2022 he has been back onstage with Pantera.
The Short Version
- Born Rex Robert Brown, July 27, 1964, in Graham, Texas. High school in Arlington.
- Pantera bassist from 1982, credited as “Rex Rocker” on the four independent albums.
- Down, 1999 to 2011. Kill Devil Hill, 2011 to 2019.
- Solo album: Smoke on This... (2017), his first as lead singer.
- Signature basses: Gibson Thunderbird (2022) and Spector Euro 4 (announced August 2026).
- Book: Official Truth, 101 Proof (Da Capo, 2013), with Mark Eglinton.
Where Is Rex Brown From?
Graham, Texas. Wikipedia gives his birth date as July 27, 1964. His grandmother taught him piano and introduced him to ragtime and Scott Joplin. He started on bass at twelve.
Bass was not his first instrument. “I was a guitar player first before I started playing bass,” he said on Scott’s Bass Lessons, as Blabbermouth reported in April 2025. He went far enough as a jazz bassist that the University of North Texas offered him a scholarship. He turned it down.
The North Texas part of the story starts in Arlington. Brown told Scott’s Bass Lessons he and drummer Vinnie Paul knew each other from junior high. His official bio says the two found their chemistry in lab band at high school there. That is where the Pantera rhythm section began.
“They kicked me out of class probably five times for playing too loud.”
That line is Brown’s, from the official bio. He told Scott’s Bass Lessons the band was good, too: “We were in one of the top lab bands for the high school level in North Texas.”
How Did Rex Brown Join Pantera?
He joined in May 1982, per Blabbermouth, replacing bassist Tommy D. Bradford. Pantera was built around two brothers, Vinnie Paul and Darrell Abbott, later known as Dimebag Darrell. “They were the first kids with a P.A. in town,” Brown remembered. Back then, he said, the brothers “were playing more LOVERBOY, 1981, ’82 kind of stuff.”
The appeal was simple. “We were 17, 18 years old, and we wanted to make a name for ourselves,” he said. In a separate 2022 interview, Blabbermouth quoted him on hearing Dimebag’s playing in the summer of 1981: “I’d never heard anything like it.” His response was “I’ve gotta keep up with this guy.”
On the four independent albums, Metal Magic (1983), Projects in the Jungle (1984), I Am the Night (1985) and Power Metal (1988), he is credited as “Rex Rocker.” Our piece on Pantera’s glam years covers those records. Their father, Jerry Abbott, produced them at Pantego Sound.
From Cowboys From Hell (1990) on, he is credited as Rex Brown, and Wikipedia says he played a Charvel on it. On Vulgar Display of Power (1992) he played a Music Man through Ampeg amps. The rest of the run, Far Beyond Driven, The Great Southern Trendkill and Reinventing the Steel, has its own pages here, as does the groove metal sound those records defined.
The same few square miles shaped another band. Rotting Corpse played its first show at Rascals in Arlington in December 1985, and cut its first three demos at Pantego Sound. Our band history and Rascals article tell that story.
Pantera
Formed in Arlington, Texas, in 1981, with Brown on bass from 1982. Start with Vulgar Display of Power (1992) to hear the rhythm section he and Vinnie Paul built.
Rex Brown in Down and Kill Devil Hill
Pantera went on hiatus in 2001 and split in 2003. Brown was already working with Phil Anselmo in Down, the New Orleans band. His first Down album was Down II: A Bustle in Your Hedgerow, recorded in fall 2001 and released on March 26, 2002.
He stayed for Down III: Over the Under (2007), and on that album’s cycle Down supported Metallica on a North American tour that opened in Glendale, Arizona, on October 21, 2008. Next came the Diary of a Mad Band CD and DVD (2010). Wikipedia puts the reason he left plainly: wanting to explore different music, he left Down in 2011.
Down
New Orleans heavy band fronted by Phil Anselmo, with Brown on bass from 1999 to 2011. Start with Down II: A Bustle in Your Hedgerow (2002), his first record with them.
Kill Devil Hill was announced in March 2011, with drummer Vinny Appice, guitarist Mark Zavon and singer Dewey Bragg. The self-titled debut came out in May 2012. Revolution Rise followed on October 29, 2013, on Century Media.
He left in January 2019. Loudwire’s Chad Childers reported that Brown called each bandmate himself. “It’s a very amicable split and everybody’s happy with the whole deal,” he said.
Kill Devil Hill
Hard rock band formed in 2011 with Brown and Vinny Appice. Start with Revolution Rise (2013), the second of the two albums Brown made with them.
Along the way he played on other people’s records. The one that kept it in the family is David Allan Coe’s Rebel Meets Rebel (Big Vin Records, 2006), cut between 1999 and 2003 with Brown on bass, Vinnie Paul on drums and Dimebag on lead guitar. Wikipedia lists five tracks on Jerry Cantrell’s Boggy Depot (1998) and bass on Crowbar’s Lifesblood for the Downtrodden (2005). He also played “Ultra-Violent” on Cavalera Conspiracy’s Inflikted (2008), and bass on Elegant Weapons’ Horns for a Halo (Nuclear Blast, 2023).
Rex Brown’s Solo Album, Smoke on This...
Smoke on This... came out on July 28, 2017, on Entertainment One, produced by Caleb Sherman. It is a hard rock and southern rock record. The big change is the voice: it is the first record that credits Brown as lead singer and guitarist as well as bassist.
Lance Harvill plays lead guitar, Joe Shadid rhythm guitar and Johnny Kelly drums. There are eleven songs. Start with the opener, “Lone Rider,” then “Buried Alive” and “Best of Me,” at 5:34 the longest track.
He has talked about a follow-up. In January 2019 he told Loudwire, “I’ve got 18 tracks in the can,” and called it “a darker record for me.” As of October 2026 we found no second solo album, and the news page on his own site doesn’t mention one.
Rex Brown
The solo project, with Brown singing and playing guitar. Start with Smoke on This... (2017).
Rex Brown’s Bass Gear: Spector, Gibson and the Rest
Brown’s basses changed with the records. Wikipedia lists Charvel, Jackson, Fernandes and Music Man in the Pantera years, then a long run on Spector. Stuart Spector built him a custom RXT prototype in 2011. In 2019 Brown sold it on Reverb with about 70 other pieces of gear.
He often plays with a pick, Wikipedia notes, and he used a Kemper Profiler as of 2025. The pick below, from a 2017 concert in Germany, carries his name.
The Gibson Rex Brown Signature Thunderbird was announced in July 2022, Blabbermouth reported. It has a mahogany body and neck with a slimmer neck profile, an ebony finish with gold hardware, and a Hipshot bridge and tuners with a Drop D Xtender. Two Rexbucker pickups run through a push/pull master tone that switches them to passive.
His signature is on the truss rod cover and a self-portrait sketch is on the backplate. “This new Thunderbird with Gibson is a life-long dream,” Brown said.
Then, in August 2026, he went back to Spector. Blabbermouth listed the Euro 4 Rex Brown at $3,599.99 street. It has a flame maple top, an empress back, a three-piece maple neck and EMG PJ-X pickups with Spector’s TonePump active preamp, in a desert gold finish. “It features the same neck profile I’ve used on my Spectors for years,” Brown said. His site posted the news as “Rex Returns.”
The Rex Brown Book: Official Truth, 101 Proof
The book is Official Truth, 101 Proof: The Inside Story of Pantera, written with Mark Eglinton and published by Da Capo. Blabbermouth announced the hardcover for March 12, 2013. Hachette lists the trade paperback at 304 pages, on sale March 25, 2014. It is his account of Pantera from the inside, from the Arlington start to the split.
Rex Brown and the Pantera Reunion
The reunion was announced in July 2022. Dimebag died in 2004 and Vinnie Paul in 2018. Zakk Wylde and Charlie Benante now play the brothers’ parts, alongside Brown and Anselmo. The official bio says that in 2022, Brown and Anselmo played as Pantera for the first time in 21 years, headlining Mexico’s Hell & Heaven Metal Fest.
Pantera then spent nearly three years as a guest on Metallica’s M72 World Tour, per the bio, and headlined The Heaviest Tour of the Summer in 2025. In May 2026 they were opening Metallica’s stadium show in Frankfurt, where the photo at the top of this page was taken. Brown summed up his own change in the bio: “I’m probably a totally different guy than I was in the nineties.”
Where to Hear It Live
As of October 2026, Pantera has no Texas dates announced. In North Texas, Rotting Corpse, who also came up through Arlington and Pantego, play the Haltom Theater in Haltom City on November 14 with Iron Jaw. On December 5 they play Spam’s Bar and Lounge in San Angelo. Every date is on the shows page.
Brown’s next show with Pantera is The Great NOLA Trendkill at Lakefront Arena in New Orleans, Loudwire reported. Pantera plays the Saturday, November 21, 2026, with Corrosion of Conformity, Crowbar, Eyehategod and Rāde, per the band’s lineup post. Down, his old band, plays the Friday.
For new dates, watch pantera.com’s tour page and the tour page on rexbrown.net.
Start with “When It Rains, It Pours” (1987)
It’s an instrumental from the 1987 Pantego session Vinnie Paul engineered, with Steve Murphy on bass, so the rhythm section does all the talking. The song page and the discography have the session credits.
Sources
- Wikipedia: Rex Brown
- RexBrown.net: Bio
- RexBrown.net: News
- Blabbermouth: Rex Brown reflects on Pantera’s early years (April 12, 2025)
- Blabbermouth: Rex Brown credits the Abbott brothers with inspiring him (November 30, 2022)
- Blabbermouth: Rex Brown partners with Gibson for signature Thunderbird bass (July 12, 2022)
- Blabbermouth: Rex Brown partners with Spector for new signature bass (August 25, 2026)
- Loudwire: Rex Brown leaves Kill Devil Hill (Chad Childers, January 21, 2019)
- Wikipedia: Smoke on This...
- Wikipedia: Down (band)
- Blabbermouth: Former Pantera bassist’s memoir due in March (February 4, 2013)
- Hachette Book Group: Official Truth, 101 Proof
- Loudwire: The Great NOLA Trendkill festival announced (Lauryn Schaffner, September 8, 2026)
- Wikipedia: Pantera
- Wikipedia: Rebel Meets Rebel
- Wikipedia: Elegant Weapons
- Pantera.com: The Great NOLA Trendkill lineup by night (October 20, 2026)
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Pantera’s bassist?
Rex Brown. He joined Pantera in 1982 and still plays bass in the reunited band, alongside Phil Anselmo, Zakk Wylde and Charlie Benante.
Where is Rex Brown from?
He was born Rex Robert Brown on July 27, 1964, in Graham, Texas. He knew Vinnie Paul from junior high and played alongside him in lab band at high school in Arlington.
What bass does Rex Brown play?
He has played Spector basses for years. Gibson released a Rex Brown Signature Thunderbird in 2022, and Spector announced the Euro 4 Rex Brown signature bass in August 2026.
Did Rex Brown write a book?
Yes. Official Truth, 101 Proof: The Inside Story of Pantera, written with Mark Eglinton and published by Da Capo. The hardcover came out on March 12, 2013, and the paperback on March 25, 2014.
Why did Rex Brown leave Down?
He left Down in 2011, wanting to explore different music. That same year he formed Kill Devil Hill with Vinny Appice, Mark Zavon and Dewey Bragg.
