Pantera have raised $100,000 for MusiCares’ COVID-19 appeal through the release of a social distancing-themed t-shirt.
Unveiled in April, the shirt’s design features a coronavirus-inspired take on the band’s Vulgar Display of Power album cover. The album’s original cover features a man being punched in the face. In the new t-shirt, the band have added a surgical glove and face-mask.
Pantera will donate 40% of revenue raised from the shirt to MusiCares, a charity providing assistance to music industry employees.
A representative for Pantera took to social media yesterday to announce that the shirt had raised thousands for MusiCares.
“Pantera’s limited-edition social distancing t-shirt raised approximately $100,000 for the MusiCares COVID-19 relief fund,” the band wrote.
While the shirt is now sold out on the band’s website, Pantera recently released a second piece of coronavirus-themed merchandise: a limited edition face-mask. 10% of the “Stay Away From Me” face-mask’s proceeds will go Crew Nation, a charity aiming to provide relief for those working in the touring and venue sectors. The face-masks cost $15USD each.
Pantera disbanded in 2003 after nine albums and more than twenty years of making music together. Shortly afterwards, the band’s lead guitarist, “Dimebag” Darrell Abbott, was shot dead after playing a show with his side project, Damageplan.
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Abbott’s brother and the band’s drummer, Vinnie Paul, also passed away in 2018 following health complications.
The band’s videographer and a friend of Abbott’s, Daryl Arnberger, recently said that the band would most likely still be playing if Abbott were alive.
“I know how, in his heart, he was Pantera; he always would be. No matter what (his band) was called – Damageplan or what – that was always what was inside of him,” Arnberger said in an interview.
“So, yeah, I definitely believe that Pantera would be standing on stage together again.”
Check out ‘Walk’ by Pantera:
