WITTY GROOVE
Black Label Society adds a twist of humor to its solid metal sounds
Black Label Society’s frontman credits his wife for the band’s recent album debuting at No. 4 on the Billboard music charts.
“The ‘Grimmest Hits’ record, came on the Billboard charts at No. 4 on the Top 100, top 4, with a combined total sales of 12 records, and my wife bought 10 of them,” Zakk Wylde said with a chuckle. “That’s how much the business has changed. But it’s great. It being a No. 4 record it just shows how our Black Label family is growing and growing and that the steroids and the female growth hormone is working.”
Wylde’s sense of humor also goes into videos he makes with his bandmates. The comedy continues in the video for the song “Room of Nightmares” and the new video for the song “A Love Unreal.”
“That’s not an idea; that’s us actually playing an 11-year-old’s birthday party,” Wylde said of the “Room of Nightmares” concept. “That’s what we’re doing, and once again, because the state of the music business isn’t what it used to be. If you get any gig, you take the work, and at the end of the day, a hundred bucks is a hundred bucks. So whether you’re playing an 11-year-old’s birthday party, a circumcision, you’re playing a bar mitzvah, a wedding, you just take the gig.”
Asked what are some of his favorite tracks on “Grimmest Hits,” Wylde refers to bassist John “JD” DeServio’s response to the same question.
“He said, ‘Zakky, you know what I like? You know the sound it makes right before it starts?, I said, ‘Yeah,’” according to Wylde. “And he goes, ‘You know that sound when it ends, you know that sound?’ He goes, ‘That’s my favorite two tracks on the whole record. That’s what I like the best.’ But I go, ‘That’s nothing, because the record hasn’t started and then the record’s over; there’s nothing going on there,’ and then he goes, ‘Exactly.’ But I said, ‘You liked something, right?’ So there you go. You’ve always got to stay positive on these things.”
Downtime is not something Wylde has much of between Black Label Society, Zakk Sabbath, Experience Hendrix and playing with Ozzy Osbourne. He joins Osbourne’s “No More Tours 2,” which starts in Mexico in May and stops in Albuquerque on Sept. 20.
“Ozzy’s like ‘Zakky, would you like to do this final tour of mine?’ I said, ‘Yes Ozzy.’ I said, ‘Do you need me to bring any milk and eggs over?’ He said, ‘Yes,’ and then he said also, ‘Make me a ham sandwich, and go light on the mustard.’ And then right after that he poked me in the eyes. And I said, ‘Why did you do that?’ And he said, ‘Because life’s tough; get used to it.’ ”