A live video of
NICKELBACK performing their track
"Side of a Bullet" — featuring a solo by late
PANTERA/
DAMAGEPLAN guitarist
"Dimebag" Darrell Abbott played over the speakers and a large screen with video footage of
Dimebag going through the whole song — has been posted online at
YouTube.com.
"Side of a Bullet", which was written by
NICKELBACK frontman
Chad Kroeger as a tribute to his fallen friend, was featured on
NICKELBACK's most recent album,
"All the Right Reasons", which came out last October via
Roadrunner Records.
Kroeger initially wanted
Abbott's brother,
PANTERA and
DAMAGEPLAN drummer
Vinnie Paul, to play drums on the track, but
Paul didn't think he could improve on
NICKELBACK drummer
Daniel Adair's take.
Kroeger told
Launch that
Paul put another idea in motion instead. "
Darrell's wife,
Rita, got in touch with us and just started sending us all this stuff, like, him playing so many different solos, and we pieced this solo together and it fits the song so well,"
Chad said. "And it's kind of spooky to be singing about him, you know, your friend who's gone, and then have him play this shredding, amazing guitar solo."
Kroeger roars in the song's chorus: "How could you take his life away (What made you think you had the right?)/ How could you be so full of hate (To take away somebody's life?)/ When I heard you let him die and leave the world, I wondered why/ I sat and home and on my own, I cried alone and scratched your name in the side of a bullet."
"Side of a Bullet" was written three months after
Abbott was shot to death by a disturbed gunman during a December 8, 2004
DAMAGEPLAN concert in Columbus, Ohio.
Kroeger told
Launch how he felt when he heard about
Abbott's death and how he's dealt with it since. "I was very, very upset and really angry," he said. "I couldn't understand why somebody would do that. I stay in touch, I call
Vinnie and just try and keep his mind off of things. It's nice to let him know that he could just call you up and talk about anything — it doesn't have to be about
Darrell — and just be there for him."
