ZAKK WYLDE: BLACK LABEL SOCIETY 'Is Bigger Than A Band, It's A Mentality'

Metal Israel recently conducted an interview with Zakk Wylde (BLACK LABEL SOCIETY, OZZY OSBOURNE). A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

Metal Israel: What do you live for — I mean, I read that you quit drinking because the doctor said you wouldn't live to hit 50 if you didn't… so what makes you want to live?

Zakk: Yeah, well, it's not only that. The drinking… the bottom line is like the doctor told me to quit, and you know, it's just like it used to be the point where I was having fun with the drinking, and then the drinking started having fun with me. So I was just kind of like, "You know what, man, it's time to say goodbye." You know what I mean? So it's just like an old friend or anything like that. Of course, I'm going to miss it, because it's just like you know I went to one of these AA meetings and it's just nothing but depression and I go, "Guys, I gotta be honest with you, I'm sorry. I can't tell you any bad stories! The only stories I have of boozin' with my buddies and us hanging out is good times. I never lost everything and I'm not in the same place where you guys are at. I never woke up everyday going, 'I feel sick and tired, I'm feeling sad.'" I'm sorry. That's just pussy-ass, candy-ass shit. I never felt that way. I just wake up kinda still buzzed from the night before from us having a great time, and I'd just crack a couple of more beers and I'd feel human again. And then just get on with the rest of the day. Go get something to eat, go hit the gym, what time are we going on stage? I never was like, I never had any problem. We still answered the bell like all the time. I never missed a show — the whole nine yards. So, I don't know. But then again, I never did drugs or all that other stuff, so… it's just like anybody, it just got old, and that's that.

Metal Israel: So do you have a plan for what you're doing with BLACK LABEL or is it just like, off-the-cuff creatively?

Zakk: No. Well, the whole thing is that BLACK LABEL is bigger than a band. It's a mentality, and it's just, you know, one gigantic family. Like I said, we don't have fans, it's a family. We're one of those bands, the whole mentality is kinda like how the GRATEFUL DEAD is, you got all the Deadheads, and it's just like we all roll together, y'know what I'm saying? It's just its own universe, you know what I mean? It's pretty much the same thing with BLACK LABEL.

Metal Israel: That's cool. OK, let me ask you about the ["Overlord"] video. The video is awesome. It's HILARIOUS. Where did you get this idea from?

Zakk: Well, you could always do…the thing with us is that it's always like, "Well, what do you want to do? Do you want to do another stupid video where it's just the band playing and it's just lame and you've seen it a million times?" I said "Fuck that, let's just do something as gay as possible, that we can possibly do." So we're keeping it gay, man. The whole thing is just keeping it gay, really gay. With us, a running joke around here is that we're not going to die in a bizarre gardening accident, or a drug OD, or suicide, you know, that's not an option in BLACK LABEL. The whole thing is, you know what we're gonna do? We're gonna die just of cardiac arrest of laughter around here. It's just like, someone is always laughing his balls off, so I just said "Let's just do a goofy ass video." How many times can you sit there with me playing the guitar, we've done that a trillion times, man. And then all you gotta do is just watch other videos from other bands and it's that same boring garbage I've seen a million times.

Metal Israel: Do you have plans to join up with Vinnie Paul [PANTERA, HELLYEAH] in the future? Like, to do the supergroup? Probably, everyone asks you this, but I never heard a real response…

Zakk: Naw.. I'm good. I love Vinnie. Vinnie's a brother and everything like that. He's a BLACK LABEL brother. I love him. We talked about doing HELLYEAH and BLACK LABEL going out together but I love Vinnie, Rita [Haney; longtime girlfriend of late PANTERA guitarist "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott], that whole camp, you know what I mean? I saw Rex [Brown, DOWN/ex-PANTERA bassist] not too long ago 'cause they had the DOWN thing going over in England, and we were doing a festival on a Saturday and I think they were doing it on a Sunday. So I saw Rex, caught up with him, saw how he was doing with the wife and kids, and everything's cool with those guys. So it's just like… I love them and I wish them all the best, but I know Vinnie is just out there whooping ass right now with the HELLYEAH guys, and those are the MUDVAYNE guys, who are supercool guys as well, to work with them. Hopefully, we'll hook up at some point and do a tour together.

Metal Israel: Did you ever think you'd end up where you are now?

Zakk: No, but I mean, people are just like, "When did you know you made it?" The whole thing is I just wanted to be a musician. Put it this way, and that's the whole secret to life: if you're making a living doing what you love then you'll never work a day in your life. Ever. You know what I mean? So people are like "Oh, what's the secret of life?" I go, "Find what it is you love." You love animals? Then just be a vet, man. Take care of animals. That's the coolest thing in the world, to save someone's dog or something like that, that's a family member. Whatever you have a passion for, you should go for it. Like, I was doing porn for a while, and then I got married. So I had to stop that. (Laughs).

Metal Israel: Speaking of which, what's with this "Bones" movie? I tried to look it up and I couldn't find it anywhere…

Zakk: It's going to be coming out pretty soon. It's just — they just contacted me and asked me if I wanted to do it. I was like, "Yeah, I have no problem," you know what I mean? We just ended up knocking it out. I play, like, this mentor, the so-called older dude to Jimmy, who's the star of the movie, and it's just like…whenever you end up doing those projects, like a "Rock Star" thing or anything like that, it's always a good time anyway. Everybody's super-cool that's working on the thing, and it's just.. if I asked you to be in a movie for me and i wanted you to be a drug dealer or something like that, you'd be like, "Yeah, no problem."

Read the entire interview from Metal Israel.