ZAKK WYLDE Says Next BLACK LABEL SOCIETY Studio Album Won't Arrive Until 2014

On Friday, May 25, Niclas Müller-Hansen of Sweden's Metalshrine conducted an interview with Zakk Wylde (BLACK LABEL SOCIETY, OZZY OSBOURNE). A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

Metalshrine: Are you gonna do something with Kerry King [SLAYER]?

Zakk: Well, I mean, I always talk with Kerry, especially during the football seasons because he's a big Raiders guy and… you know, the running joke is… with him and the whole Satanism thing and me being Catholic, [laughs] it's awesome, man! His lady, his wife, will send me pictures of them with, like, upside-down crucifixes and everything, and I go, "That's so humble of you." That's the most humbling thing you can do. You know that's Peter's cross, the first pontiff, the first pope and I go, "You're gonna score some points when you get upstairs." and he goes, "Fuck you, asshole!" [laughs] And then when the Broncos ended up beating the Raiders, because he's such a huge Raiders freak and Raider Nation, I just called it the Satanic Nation, and the whole thing… and Tim Tebow is such a massive Christian and when he is bowing down to the big guy and I go "It's a sad day in Satanic Nation when you got beat by a Catholic rookie quarterback!" [laughs] I was calling him up because he wasn't even responding to the texts and he was like, "Go fuck yourself asshole!" [laughs] You know he's got the tattoo "God hates us all," and I said to him, "Dude, on the other arm you gotta put, 'Satan ain't too fond of us either.'" (laughs) and he's like "Hey, man, don't blame me for this bullshit!"

Metalshrine: But if you guys would do something together, would it be more towards your style or more in the aggressive vein of SLAYER?

Zakk: Well, with Kerry… they were the originators of that, the thrash shit, but originally with Dime [late PANTERA guitarist "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott] and Kerry, [we] were gonna do like a G3 type of thing like Steve Vai and they guys, and obviously with Saint Dime, it went down with him, so I mean, it's just like… he'll either come out to the shows or we'll see him when they're doing a SLAYER gig or like I ran into Kerry at the [Zakk Wylde] Roast [in January in Anaheim, California], you know he was down at the thing. But like I'm looking here and they're gonna be here like two weeks from now with MARILYN MANSON or some stuff like that? They're playing here, right?

Metalshrine: [In] Gothenburg [at the Metaltown festival].

Zakk: I mean, he's working all the time and he never stops working either. If he's not on the road, they're pumping out a record and then they're right back on tour. Those guys never come off the road. It's a miracle I run into Kerry and talk to him as much as I do.

Metalshrine: New BLACK LABEL stuff then? Are you working on anything?

Zakk: No, but in August we're gonna do an "Unblackened" DVD and it's gonna have strings, piano, acoustic, but still electric with solos and stuff like that. It's still electric and jamming. Like how we "The Song Remains Not The Same" where it's like the heavy version of songs reworked on piano and stuff like that. So that'll be the next thing we do and then we'll go off and roll with the Canadian chapter and the South American chapter after that and obviously when that's gonna be out, we're still gonna be out touring and obviously they'll probably want us to promote that thing as well, so I would imagine 2014 will be the next studio album with the heavy stuff on it. I was just looking at my schedule and it's like two or three years, but it's already mapped out. Obviously shit changes in between and we'll figure out what the fuck to do, but this way it's pretty much mapped out. It really is crazy when you think about it. Anything you gotta plan now is gotta be like six months down the road. I mean, as soon as the soccer season stops, they're already setting up next season. That's just the way it goes. But right now in the foreseeable future, after we get done with this eight-week crusade and jamming and being with the Boss [as part of the "Ozzy & Friends" tour]… we're having a blast. We jammed the other night and it was a good time.

Read the entire interview from Metalshrine.