ZAKK WYLDE Talks 'OZZY And Friends', 'Bringing Metal To The Children' Book In New Interview

Joe Daly of The Nervous Breakdown recently conducted an interview with Zakk Wylde (BLACK LABEL SOCIETY, OZZY OSBOURNE). A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

The Nervous Breakdown: So what's the deal with Ozzy? What are you doing with him [this summer]?

Zakk: It's the "Ozzy and Friends" thing. (Current Ozzy bandmembers) Gus G., Blasko and Tommy [Clufetos] are coming out and doing a bunch of tunes, then I come out with Blasko and Tommy and we end up doing a bunch of stuff from the era when I was with The Boss, from "No Rest For The Wicked" all the way through everything I've ever done with him. Then Geezer [Butler, BLACK SABBATH bassist] comes out and we do a bunch of SABBATH stuff and at the end, Slash and everybody — Geezer, Slash, Gus — and we all play "Paranoid".

The Nervous Breakdown: The way [Zakk's new book, "Bringing Metal To The Children - The Complete Berserker's Guide To World Tour Domination"] reads, it sounds like you, Eric Hendrikx and all of the other contributors had a great time putting it together.

Zakk: Oh yeah. It started last New Year's Eve. When we started going through the idea for the book, it was a combination of two things: it's all about my studio and technical stuff like gear, guitars… all I gotta do is add some scales in there. Then me and Eric started cracking up, right from the beginning, about me being like a Soldier of Christ, you know and having morals and caring about people and empowering people — not enslaving them — and you know, wanting other people to succeed, and being caring and sharing, unlike management, who's into Satanism, which is the number-crunching. (laughing) Eric and I were literally rolling on the floor, crying from laughing and just taking the piss out of everything. Everything would always come back to management, you know, "As I looked out into the crowd, I saw a brotherhood, a gigantic family, a Black Label Family of Doom," whereas management looked at is as "Cash crops with legs," and retirement plans, 401(k)s… we were dying laughing. We realized, "This is the direction the book has to go in, man." Pure ridiculousness. Then me actually putting advice in there, like if I were eighteen years old again, what I would do. Stuff like that.

The Nervous Breakdown: The stuff that you talk about regarding the music industry, like the letter that bands should write to record companies, is immensely practical, beneath all the humor. Did you intend the book to be just for musicians?

Zakk: No, I guarantee you that a majority of guys that we know, if they read the book, they'll be crying laughing because they'll know what I'm talking about, but the book, to me, reads more like us sitting in a pub, just talking, you know what I mean? But it's the truth, though, you know what I'm saying? I mean, you know this stuff, being in the magazine business, being around music and rock and roll and everything like that. Like I said at the beginning of the book, "Thanks to God and Jesus Christ for not only giving me this life, but for bestowing and blessing upon me the insane cast of characters that make up the music business." Everybody that I roll with, they're like cartoon characters. I mean, any one of us gets up and walks away from the table, you immediately start taking the piss out of them.

The Nervous Breakdown: As someone who's been around as long as you have, what's the one thing a musician can do to thoroughly and brilliantly fuck up their career?

Zakk: Lemme put it this way: it's already enough of an ass-plowing to begin with. It's like I said in the book, if you're in ALICE IN CHAINS — if you're Jerry Cantrell — and that's the music you love and that's what naturally comes out of you and you love playing that stuff, that's what you gotta do. It's a long road whether you're in LED ZEPPELIN, BLACK SABBATH, BOSTON or any band. The whole thing is that you might as well be playing what you dig playing, rather than being in some band where you're like, "Dude, I can't stand playing this." Then what are you doing it for, man? You know what I mean? Nothing for nothing, but whether me and you work in a McDonald's, there are still gonna be jerk-offs that are there that we can't stand, you know what I mean? You might as well pick something you really love doing.

The Nervous Breakdown: Some of the stories are extremely raw and explicit. Did you have any problems being so open on the written page?

Zakk: No, not at all. To me it's no different than me sitting there with someone, talking about shit that happened. To me, it's no big deal. I mean, there are certain guys I know that would never want to see stuff from their past like the old Ozzy pictures of me with the poofy hair. They'd say, "No way — I ain't signing those." It's like, dude, those things are golden! Are you kidding me, man? Those things are priceless! That's open season on taking the piss out of yourself right there. But were there any embarrassing things that I didn't want to talk about? It's like when we did the roast — anyone talking about my drinking or anything like that. Dude, I know some guys who'd say, "Well, so and so doesn't want to talk about the drugs or the booze," but, you know, it happened. It's kind of funny. I couldn't care less, man. No one's going to say, "Don't show any pictures of Zakk with the flaming hair." Dude, those pictures are hysterical!

Read the entire intervirew at The Nervous Breakdown.