If the walls of an Arlington home could talk, they’d be screaming tales about hard-partying musicians.
A home once owned by the late heavy metal drummer Vinnie Paul, co-founder of Arlington heavy metal band Pantera, has gone on the market for $750,000. The 3,784-square-foot home sits on a nearly one-and-a-half-acre plot at 1209 Hickory Valley Ct.
The gated hilltop home, built in 1995, features views of downtown Fort Worth, Veridian Lake, Las Colinas, and Arlington. The distinctive 30-foot barrel ceilings in the main living area — which from the outside look sort of like small silos — make this a one-of-a-kind property, as do the white stucco exterior and stark black-and-white interior.
The home includes four bedrooms, four-and-a-half bathrooms, and an outdoor pool, spa, and sauna. There are also two game rooms and a “safe room.” In addition, there are four air-conditioning units for cooling off during the steamy summers in North Texas, and a power generator to keep the lights on amid storms.
According to Tarrant County tax records, the current owner of the home is Metrotex Acquisitions LLC, which was established in 2018. That’s the year Paul died in Las Vegas at age 54 due to a heart condition called dilated cardiomyopathy. Chris Johnston of Hartford Property Group controls Metrotex Acquisitions and has the listing.
Paul left most of his estate to longtime girlfriend Chelsey Yeager and best friend Charles “Bridog” Jones, according to music news website BlabberMouth.net.
Born in Abilene, Paul (full name Vincent Paul Abbott) formed Pantera in 1981 with his guitar-playing brother, Darrell “Dimebag” Abbott. Over the years, the group recorded nine studio albums. Fans were intimately familiar with Pantera’s heavy metal tunes and offstage conduct.
“Pantera became well-known within the rock music community for raucous alcohol-fueled parties while on tour and back at home. The Abbott brothers consumed and popularized an alcoholic drink known as the ‘Black Tooth Grin’ that consisted of Crown Royal or Seagram 7 whiskey and Coca-Cola,” according to a biography of Paul published by the Texas State Historical Association.
During an infamous incident at Paul’s Arlington home, Dallas Stars hockey player Guy Carbonneau supposedly tried to toss the NHL’s Stanley Cup, which the Stars won in the 1998-99 season, from the home’s balcony into the backyard pool. By one account, the trophy landed on the concrete around the pool and not in the water. The stunt reportedly put a three-inch dent in the roughly three-foot-tall, 37-pound Stanley Cup, perhaps the most recognizable trophy in pro sports.
How did the Stanley Cup allegedly end up at Paul’s place? He and his brother, who was murdered in 2004 at a concert in Columbus, Ohio, were pals with a number of Stars players.
Aside from their onstage and offstage antics, the Abbott brothers were entrepreneurs. In 1996, they opened a Dallas strip club “that became popular with athletes and visiting musicians,” BlabberMouth.net says.
The home was at 1209 Hickory Valley Ct. in Arlington.
The horse barn has seven stalls with individual turnouts.Photo courtesy of Briggs Freeman Sotheby’s International Realty
The underground home theater has an impressive Ember Audio sound system with Dynaudio speakers.Photo courtesy of Briggs Freeman Sotheby’s International Realty
