Zakk Wylde Strips Down Black Label Society For Unblackened

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When Zakk Wylde was asked to record a new DVD/CD package, he decided to give his BLACK LABEL SOCIETY fans something different. The Wylde Man tells us about the experience of making Unblackened, a live acoustic/electric performance featuring Wylde on guitar and piano, along with his BLS bandmates bassist John Deservio, guitarist Nick Catanese (who has since been replaced by LIZZY BORDEN guitarist Dario Lorina), drummer Chad Szeliga, keyboardist Derek Sherinian, and vocalist Greg Locascio. The package also includes some cool extras such as an appearance he did at a prison in the UK, which is an interesting and entertaining bit of footage to watch, and the video for “Losin’ Your Mind”. In addition, Zakk explained how his book, Bringing Metal to the Children, the tales of all things BLS, came to be.

KNAC.COM: Tell us about Unblackened and how that project came together.

WYLDE: I didn’t want to put out another heavy one with the same stuff we’ve already done. The Black Label Berzerker Nation was always asking if we were ever going to do any of the mellow tunes on the records that never see the light of day. It was the natural progression of the band to do something like this. And personally, as much as I love listening to heavy stuff, I love all the mellow stuff, like the EAGLES, Neil Young and Elton John. So it was great to do this.

The show was recorded in March at Club Nokia in LA. We rehearsed for 8 to 10 days. We were originally going to play with a string section, but once we started working with them, it didn’t go as planned. We figured we’d bring them in and we’ll rehearse with them for two days. These are union musicians, so it’s not like you’re hiring a bunch of guys who will be there for two days and rehearse for 10 hours a day. They rehearse for two hours, and then they have to go. But they also need a break in between to sit down and have coffee. I guess they’re used to playing weddings. When they started playing with us, it was such a train wreck of Hindenburg/Titanic-esque proportions! It was hysterical! It just wasn’t working. They offered to stay an extra hour because they really wanted to do it. We could have rehearsed for the next two and a half months, and it was still going to sound like shit! We called it a day. That’s when we looked over at Father Sherinian to cover all the string bits.

We included six additional songs on the CD because we had recorded “Ain’t No Sunshine”, “Song For You” and a bunch of others that turned out the way they’re supposed to be done with strings, so we put them on.

Now in between our normal tours and doing the regular shows, we’re going to do an Unblackened run. We’ve toured three years straight doing the regular show and the Unblackened thing is completely different, so it’s gonna be awesome to bring that out.

KNAC.COM: Tell us about the assortment of gear you used for the show.

WYLDE: I used my Gibson stuff. I used the EDS-1275 doubleneck, and the Flying V, which has a Floyd Rose tremolo bridge with a Steinberger kickstand so I can sit down and play it like I’m playing a Les Paul. I used my Pelham blue Les Paul, the maple Vertigo Les Paul, and I also broke out the Rebel. I haven’t retired her. I still record with her, but I don’t bring her on the road anymore. I also used the pinstripe ZV. For the acoustic stuff, I used a Chet Atkins steel and a Chet Atkins nylon-string.

For amps, I’m playing through my signature Marshall JCM800s, which are 100-watt tops with 6550s. For the clean sounds, I’m using a Roland Jazz Chorus and also just turning the volume down on my guitar when I play through the JCM800s. That way you can just turn the guitar’s volume up and you have distortion.

For effects, I use all my signature Dunlop pedals. I run my guitar into the wah pedal, then into the Rotovibe, phase, distortion, then run the stereo chorus outputs to both amps.

KNAC.COM: What inspires you as a player and as a songwriter?

WYLDE: I still listen to the stuff I’ve loved since I was 14 and started playing. When I hear Randy Rhoads, I have great memories from when I first started learning to play that are attached to those records. Then, obviously, there’s Eddie Van Halen. But I really get inspired when I listen to Frank Marino. I’m just awestruck. Then John McLaughlin, Al DiMeola, Paco De Lucia, Allan Holdswoth, Joe Pass and a lot of the country pickers as well. I just listened to a mess of Albert Lee. It’s just mind-blowing stuff! Of course, Jimmy Page — not just for the guitar playing, but the writing and producing. Then Tony Iommi for his songwriting and guitar tone.

KNAC.COM: Do you maintain a regular practice routine when you aren’t touring?

WYLDE: I’ll run through scales and stuff like that, but I play every day because I love it. I always tell kids that when you play video games, you don’t look at it like you’re practicing. You’re just trying to get to the next level. It’s no different when you’re practicing your scales or there’s a lick that you want to learn. You just keep doing it until you get it right. When you’re playing video games, you keep doing it until you get to that next level. And it’s no different when you’re trying to get to the next level on an instrument you want to learn. If you do it because you love it, it’s not practicing. You just play because you love it.

KNAC.COM: What would you put on an essential listening list of your own music? What do you consider the standout tracks of your recorded work?

WYLDE: For the BLACK LABEL stuff, I’d have to go with “Stillborn”, and from the last album, I really dig “Crazy Horse”. That one’s really cool. I thought “Darkest Days” came out really well as far as the production. With Ozzy, “Mama, I’m Comin’ Home” and “No More Tears”.

KNAC.COM: Tell us about the book Bringing Metal to the Children and how that came about.

WYLDE: Me and Eric [Hendrikx] took about a year to write it and cut it down or it would have been a 6,000-page book of comedy — the sacred bible of stupidity that is BLACK LABEL, and written on parchment, of course. When we first started writing it was a combination of stuff from the studio, then I had scales and guitar instruction, and then there were the road stories. We had like three books in material, and then we had to turn it into one thing.

I remember, it was New Year’s Eve and we were hanging out, and we just started taking the piss out of everything. I’m Catholic, and I said what I believe in is like Jesus, just being supportive of other people, and encouraging them and inspiring them. You want people to do well and see them succeed, and that is totally unlike management, which is basically Satanism, selfishness, money crunching. We were on the floor, crying and laughing from that point on. So I said this whole book has to be a combination of BLACK LABEL and George Carlin on steroids — just taking the piss out of ourselves, the music business, and the whole nine yards. So from that point on, it was game on with the book. You can literally open up the book at any page and just start laughing your balls or your labia off. It’s really the truth. You have all your posters on the wall with all your heroes — LED ZEPPELIN, Randy Rhoads, Al Di Meola, Eddie Van Halen, BLACK SABBATH — and it’s pretty much the same for every one. Once they enter into the music business, everything just goes down the shitter from there. It’s just the way it is for everyone and it’s just funny. That’s part of the joy of being in this business. It’s just one living, breathing Seinfeld-on-steroids world where you don’t have to write the episodes, they just fall in your lap, whether you want them to or not. Just being in a rock band, it doesn’t matter how successful you are, whether you’re as big as LED ZEPPELIN or you’re just starting out, the comedy will attack at all times. Me and Eric had a blast writing it. It was a good time.

KNAC.COM: Are your own children following in your footsteps and taking interest in music? There’s a great early clip of you and your daughter singing in the DVD.

WYLDE: Hendrix, our third bambino, he’s 11 now and he loves playing piano. He takes lessons and he’s way into it. But the older two — our older son, who is Ozzy’s godson, he is studying to be a doctor, and our daughter Rae, she’s in college as well. She’s learning a couple of languages and she wants to get into social media. I don’t know whether she wants to go overseas and be a translator, but that’s what she’s into. I always tell my kids that the whole secret to life is that you’ve got to have passion for what you do, and whatever it is that you love, do that. And if you can make a living doing it and pay the bills, then you’re rolling!

For me, I was always working another job and it was just a means to save up for a Les Paul or a Marshall, and save up for what I wanted to do at the end of the day, which was to play music. I was never pissing or moaning about whatever job I had. I would just tell myself that I’m going to do this until I make enough money to get my guitar and then I’ll leave when I can do something else. If I’ve got to flip burgers, I’ll flip burgers. I don’t care while I’m there. I’m just making the money and every day that I’m there it’s putting me one day closer to getting my Les Paul. I never had any intentions of becoming a professional construction worker. I did that during the summers, being a grunt, hanging sheeting and roofing, and just carrying crap around all day. It wasn’t what I wanted to do. But as long as I knew I was getting paid, I kept thinking that I’d have that guitar before you know it!