ZAKK WYLDE Talks About Staying Sober In New Interview

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

Revolver: Has sobriety mellowed you out?

Zakk: Nah. It was never really about that, it just got to the point where it started messing with the shows. When it starts getting in the way of shit, that's when it just gets stupid. It's like a football player you run him into the ground enough, he can't play anymore. All of a sudden, you start having trouble with getting out of bed and taking a piss, and that's a problem. But nah, we're still chilling. The rest of the guys are in the back pounding booze and smoking weed and shit the whole time! We got wide-load trucks unloading cases of hard liquor into the bus!

Revolver: What about productivity? Do you work harder now that you're on the wagon?

Zakk: Me and Oz were talking about that one day. He was talking about how getting wasted can give you a lift-off pad. And yeah, if you and the guys are just jamming, it gets your inhibitions down, and some good stuff comes out of it. And if it sounds good, cool! The SABBATH guys were high all the time! But with alcohol, half the time you listen back to it, and you think, Ah, man, that sucks! You're jamming on some ZEPPELIN-y thing that you think is the greatest music in the world, and then next day you're crying from laughing at it, because it's so fucking horrendous. It's not like that for all bands. Some bands get cleaned up and sober, and you listen to their new stuff and think, Wow, these guys need to go back on drugs right now, because this is God-awful!' [Laughs] It never really affected me, man. I never really recorded when I was blasted, anyway. Yeah, in the studio, we'd be drinking beers, but we'd take care of business.

Revolver: Yeesh, sounds like you've been working your ass off lately.

Zakk: Well, we toured for about four years for the "Shot To Hell" record, and then the ["Order Of The Black"] before this one, but in between those four years, I wasn't just sitting at the house writing songs, I was out working. So as far as I'm concerned, we never really stopped. Between that and tour dates with the Boss, I've been always working.

Revolver: That all sounds exhausting.

Zakk: I prefer it that way, man! I've always said that vacations are for people who hate their fuckin' job, you know? I'm really not for going to Tahiti and sitting on the beach for a week doing nothing. And since I don't drink anymore, what am I going to do that I can't do at home? If I go on vacation, I think, How much is this costing me? Ten grand?! I could be doing this at the house! And it's not like I'm sitting around doing nothing at home. When I'm sitting at home watching the Yankees, I've got a guitar in my hands.

Read the entire interview from Revolver magazine.