ZAKK WYLDE: 'I'm A Soldier Of Christ'

Tom Valcanis of The AU Review, an Australian online music publication, recently conducted an interview with Zakk Wylde (BLACK LABEL SOCIETY, OZZY OSBOURNE). A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

The AU Review: You've been playing professionally since you were about nineteen years of age; people refer to you as a "guitar god" — what's your reaction to that?

Zakk: Well, [laughs], I asked Ozzy this: "The singing on 'Sabotage' is amazing. Did you eat your Wheaties that day or take some vocal lessons?" [Imitates Ozzy] "No," he says, "Lots of drugs." [Laughs] Well it's definitely cool and really humbling, but I just practice every day and like right now, while I'm talking to you I'm jamming in the Vatican playing classical guitar. I love playin' just as much as I did at fourteen years old. You know what I mean?

The AU Review: You say you still love playing, but what motivates you to get out of your bed each morning and keep doing what you do?

Zakk: You have to have a reason to get out of bed every day, man. You really do. Like when my dad retired from General Motors, that was like the worst thing that ever happened to him. He was like lost. Once he got a job up at a gas station and he was back talking with people again, he had a reason to get up. I mean, if you and me opened up a lemonade stand, we'd have the one lemonade stand so let's open up another one down the road and this and that, the whole thing is we gotta get more cups, we gotta get more stuff; it's all about keeping our business going. I mean, my kids are sittin' around sayin', "I'm bored!" and I just say you should never be bored. Ever. I got a million things going on every day on the BLACK LABEL shit-to-do list. A million things going on. I mean it's everything. Whether we're doing BLACK LABEL beef jerky, BLACK LABEL beer, BLACK LABEL coffee, new artwork, new merch, I'm involved with everything. And I love it. Aside from us practicing and us doing the band and the music, then we set up the tour and think what we're gonna do with that, yada yada yada, there's just a million things outside of even just the music.

The AU Review: You've done a bit of acting; would you ever look to expand on that?

Zakk: Sure; I mean every experience I've had doing it has always been a good time. Whether it's the actors or the directors or producers, everybody's been super cool. I've never had a bad experience. I've never had a bad experience making records. I've always had a great time with everybody I've worked with. If you were directing something and you said "Zakk, I need you to play this drug dealer" or whatever I'd be like yeah. "I want you to act really surprised that the drugs are gone" I'd be like, "Yeah, cool" and roll tape, memorize my lines, practice it a couple times and go action. You know what I mean?

The AU Review: Events such as being reunited with your prized guitar "The Grail" and when that happened out of the blue; does it remind you how crazy this business can be for you?

Zakk: Oh, without a doubt. I thank the good Lord every day. I thank him when I wake up and when I go to bed. I thank him in the middle of the day. I'm definitely grateful for everything I have. Hands down. I don't need a tragedy to happen to realize how blessed I am. I don't need that. I don't need to beat up an 80-year-old grandmother and do six years in jail to realize that beating up elderly people and stealing their money is really not a good thing.

The AU Review: On the road, is maintaining your spiritual side important to you?

Zakk: Yeah, well, I'm a soldier of Christ, man. Without a doubt.

The AU Review: When you say "Soldier of Christ," what do you mean by that?

Zakk: The bottom line is that he's with me all the time.

Read the entire interview from The AU Review.