Wylde ... but melancholy
Metal guitar god returns with mellow acoustic album
If you’re going to leap into rock stardom at the age of 20, you could do a lot worse than as the lead guitarist for late80s-era, then-sellin’-millions headliner Ozzy Osbourne. Indeed, that was the launching point for New Jersey native Zakk Wylde, who was following in a royal lineage of six-string sorcerers that included Randy Rhoads, Jake E. Lee and Brad Gillis.
Since then, Wylde has toured and appeared on eight albums with Osbourne, formed his own group Black Label Society (13 albums, numerous arena tours, and counting), and has just released his second solo recording, “Book of Shadows 2,” an acoustic-based effort that stylistically bookends 1996’s “Book of Shadows.” He even has an all-star Black Sabbath tribute band called — what else? — Zakk Sabbath.
That’s a lot of years of Rock Dude Living and, yes, Wylde has had more than his share of, ah, wild experiences — as hilariously chronicled in a 2013 memoir called “Bringing Metal to the Children.” But when he takes the stage with his solo band on Thursday in the Mohegan Sun Wolf Den, Wylde will do so as a long-sober father of four whose business entrepreneurialism is as far-ranging as his music. He has a side company, Wylde Audio, that offers all manners of guitars, amplifiers and accessories. He owns a popular recording studio called The Black Vatican. And online, Zakk-centric merch includes, just for example, and in addition to the expected tees and hoodies, flannel pants, bobble head dolls, Viking-horn
beanies, ties and cufflinks sets, and even skull-adorned wrapping paper. Finally, don’t forget Wylde’s line of hot sauces and his own Valhalla Java Odinforce Blend brand of coffee.
“There aren’t enough hours in the day, and there’s always so much in the works,” Wylde says in a phone interview last week. “But if you want to be a musician and play music the rest of your life, everything you do should involve music. There should never be a part in any day where you say, ‘I’m bored.’ And I’m not, whether I’m practicing or playing gigs or working on my pedals or doing body designs for guitars or tasting hot sauces. It’s a great life, brother.”
In that spirit, coming two decades after the first acoustic album, “Book of Shadows 2” is probably not the type of record that new or even longtime followers associate with the artist. With a very mellow vibe, reminiscent of Beck’s “Morning Phase” or “Harvest”-period Neil Young, the album offers such meditative titles as “Autumn Changes,” “Tears of Regret,” “Lost Prayers,” “Useless Apologies” and “Forgotten Memory.”
Lest these seem a litany of protracted sorrow, Wylde says he didn’t set out to write a series of
songs in a particularly melancholy vibe. He says, “For me, the music always comes first, and this is what was coming out at the time. You get the music and that inspires the melodies and only then do I find something I want to sing about. Maybe I overhear someone say something in a conversation or in a movie, and I think, ‘That would be a cool title or theme.’”
Yes, the finished product is a collection of consistently meditative tunes. But, he says, “It’s actually a lot of fun to write and play this type of stuff; it’s a nice break from the heavier songs, and we actually have a blast playing mellow music.”
For this tour, fans can expect a set list taken exclusively from the “Shadows” records.
“Black Label Society is Black Label Society, and the Zakk Wylde stuff is separate. With two (‘Book of Shadows’ and ‘Book of Shadows 2’), we have enough material to do a full show, and it definitely has its own distinct energy,” Wylde says.
Interestingly, Wylde didn’t alter his creative process to work on the transparently different new CD; he just followed his proven songwriting formula, which can lead him in any of a number of directions. Typically, he writes about stuff that has actually happened to him, and that could be good or bad.
“Maybe a deal went down bad, and that establishes a mood,” he says. “But I never have to make up stories. I live and breathe this stuff every day, and if you’re on tour, it’s a whole tsunami of comedy and tragedy. It’s like Larry David or Seinfeld: you never run out of ideas. Go get a cup of coffee and, just when you think things can’t get any lower or dumber, hang around for a minute. It’s like, ‘We’ll have more material by noon. Don’t worry about it!’”