Zakk Wylde has been on this planet for 59 years, and he’s been famous for nearly 40 of them. He rose to prominence in the late 80s as the fresh-faced teenage guitarist in Ozzy Osbourne’s band, and stood at the Double O’s side, on and off, until the former Black Sabbath frontman’s death last year.
Along the way, the man born Jeffrey Wielandt in New Jersey has launched the one-and-done southern rock band Pride And Glory and the more durable Black Label Society, whose new album, Engines Of Demolition, is their first in five years. In the past couple of years, he’s taken the place of the late Dimebag Darrell in the current version of Pantera, which he’s at pains to call a “Pantera celebration” rather than a full-blown reunion.
Over the years, Wylde has crossed paths, jammed and frequently got falling-down-drunk with some of rock’s most famous names. “Yeah, it’s been a pretty wild ride,” says the man who hasn’t been within a mile of the Boots razor aisle in decades, as we sit in a corner booth of the bar of a just-the-right-side-of-chic central London hotel, preparing to reminisce about some of his more memorable encounters.
Of course, there’s only one place to start…
Ozzy Osbourne
I was nineteen or twenty when I joined Ozzy’s band. Was I shitting myself? Come on, of course - this is a guy whose records I had grown up listening to. But from the start, he wasn’t this big rock star ego guy. If we got turned away from a restaurant cos they were full, he’d never go: “Don’t you know who I am?” He’d go: [doleful Ozzy impression] “I guess they don’t like Black Sabbath.”
He told me this great story about when he got Concorde for the first time, just after he got kicked out of Sabbath. So he’s sitting there, bummed out, and the stewardess is, like: “Oh my god, I can’t believe it’s you!” She’s giving him drinks, getting him food, and he’s just floored by it.” He’s going: “Maybe things aren’t so bad.” As the plane lands, she says: “Can I get a picture?” So she takes the photo, and then she goes: “Oh wow, thank you Meat Loaf!” Ozzy’s like: [deflated] “I really fucking need to cut back on the calories.”
Me and Oz were texting each other after the Back To The Beginning gig. He was saying: “I want to make another record, like when you were going through your Allman Brothers/Lynyrd Skynyrd phase with No More Tears. So it’ll be heavy but melodic.” And I said: “Surely you must be kidding.” And he goes: “No, I’m not kidding – and don’t call me Shirley [laughs].”
So I was figuring Ozzy would do his rehab and hopefully get better, and we’d make another record and maybe Mom [Sharon Osbourne] would do this gig once a year for charity and give him something to strive for. Every night I’m when saying my prayers I say hi to him.
Lemmy
Lemmy and Ozzy were both one of a kind. I got to know Lemmy when Motörhead did the Ozzy tour in 1991. Me and Randy [Castillo, Ozzy’s drummer] and Mikey [Inez, Ozzy bassist] would go out drinking with them. Lemmy was truly amazing - he’d be drinking the whole time, and I never saw him hammered, not even sloppy. He’d be holding court, solving the problems of the world.
He liked being in control and he loved life. His attitude was: “No one is going to tell me how I should be living my life. I love playing this music, I love having my cigarettes, my booze, a nice book.” Him and Ozzy together were amazing, just hearing them exchanging ridiculous stories. You’d go: “You’re making that up.” And they’d be: “We’re not.”
Sebastian Bach
I met Sebastian at the wedding of [rock photographer] Mark Weiss. A guy named Dave Feld, who was buddies with Mark, had seen me playing clubs. This was after Jake E Lee had left the band, and Dave said: “Zakk, you ever think about auditioning for Ozzy?” I went: [sarcastically] “Yeah, after I’ve been out for a slice of pizza with Jimmy Page and Robert Plant.”
So anyway, Dave knew Sebastian, and me and him ended up jamming together at Mark Weiss’s wedding [covering Zeppelin’s Rock And Roll, among other things]. After that, Dave got me an audition tape to Ozzy, and helped get Sebastian in Skid Row. That was a crazy wedding.
Dimebag Darrell
The first time I met Dime was at Donington [Monsters Of Rock festival, 1994] when Pantera and Pride & Glory were both playing, and then we met again in Japan when we were both doing the cover of a guitar magazine. We bonded over Randy Rhoads and Eddie Van Halen and Tony Iommi and Jimmy Page.
Dime’s energy was so contagious. He’d just walk in the room, and he’d be the life and soul of the party. It was nothing but a good time all the time with him. He’d get people that were completely sober drinking again: “What? I’m just getting this guy a drink.” “Bro, he’s a major alcoholic, you can’t do that!” Or if somebody had a gambling problem, he’d get them playing poker without knowing: “What? Nobody told me!” Playing those songs with the Pantera celebration is one of the great honours of my life.
Dave Grohl
I’ve never had beef with Dave Grohl. What happened was that years ago, Ozzy’s record label said: “We’ll get Dave Grohl to come in and write songs for Ozzy, we’ll get the guys from The Offspring.” I was like: “If that’s where we’re at, why don’t you just get Justin Bieber in.” That got interpreted as me taking a shot at Dave. Nah. Dave’s awesome, man. He’s super-talented and he’s a sweetheart on top of it.
I had the same thing with Black Label Society. The label went: “Well, Zakk, maybe if you were a little bit more like Limp Bizkit, that’ll help sell records.” What, like I’m gonna make believe I never played with Ozzy? I’m not gonna fucking act like I’m something I’m not.
Jake E Lee
I always say if Randy Rhoads is God, then Jake E Lee is Pope. I met him when I first joined Ozzy’s band, and I’ve always spoken highly of him. I have great memories of listening to Bark At The Moon and seeing him.
He was there at the Back to The Beginning show, which was just like a class reunion with everyone you’ve ever met. The most surreal moment at that day was running into Ronnie Wood in the bathroom. I was going in to take a piss and he was coming out. Did I shake his hand? No, man. There’s a time and place for that, and that wasn’t it.
Elton John
I remember seeing him doing Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds on The Sonny & Cher Show in 1975 when I was eight. He’s the guy who made me want to get into music, even before I’d heard Black Sabbath. I got an Elton picture book for Christmas when I was a kid. Me and Barbaranne renewed our vows for the 685th time, and we all went to Vegas and saw Elton when he was doing a residency thing.
Because Mom and Ozzy know Elton, they arranged to go backstage and see him afterwards. I actually had that picture book I got for Christmas with me, and I showed it to Elton for him to sign. He was looking through it, like: “Oh wow…” I’m thinking: “I’m here with the two people who are the reason I play music, this is storybook shit.”
Axl Rose, Slash & Duff McKagan
I met Slash and Duff when I first joined Ozzy, just hanging round and going to the Rainbow and clubs. I played with those guys [in the mid-90s]. Gilby Clarke had just left the band, and they were trying to work out what to do and I think my name came up.
They were trying to make up their minds what they wanted, and Ozzy was calling: “Are you playing with the guys? Are you doing this thing? I can’t wait until the last moment, and then you’re gonna decide to go with that and I’m stuck with nothing.” I was trying to get an answer from the guys, and they didn’t know what to do, so Ozzy got Joe Holmes in the band, who is a great guy.
But I’d been writing riffs the whole time, and we demoed a few of them at Duff’s house, cos he had a little studio. I had all these riffs laying around, so I was like: “Well if I’m not gonna be playing with Oz or Axl and the Guns guys, I may as well use them for something and sing over them myself.” That’s how Black Label Society was born.
The Allman Brothers
They were another group I grew up listening to, and I got to play with them once, just after the No More Tears tour. My agent was friends with their agent, and one day my wife got a call: “[Allmans guitarist] Dickey Betts can’t do the show, the guys don’t want to cancel, Zakk’s a huge Allman Brothers fan, could he do it?” It was like: “Yeah.” Butch Trucks was a sweetheart, Gregg Allman, all of them. Did I fanboy out? Without a doubt.
Billy Cox
He’s another one of those guys who has seen it all and has got the stories to prove it. I’ve got to meet him through the Experience Hendrix tour, which I’ve done. He’ll sit around and tell you stories about playing with Jimi and being at Woodstock. He’s like a living piece of history. He’s in his eighties now, but he’s got all his faculties, he rides his motorcycle, all that kind of stuff. I hope I’m that cool when I’m eighty.
Engines Of Demolition is out now via Spinefarm. Black Label Society tour the UK from May 28 to 30. For full dates and tickets, visit the Black Label Society website.
