Zakk Wylde: “I know guys who will NOT sign pics taken during the poofy hair phase.”

Zakk ‘Aquanet Super Hold’ Wylde

Zakk Wylde is never at a loss for words. In a recent interview with John Parks at Legendary Rock Interviews Zakk talks about everything from years with Ozzy, to his battles with booze and his family.

Check out a few excerpts from a recent interview with Zakk from John Parks at Legendary Rock Interviews.

LRI:  What prompted you to put all these stories together and collectively drop the world’s jaw?

Zakk:  Just the overall stupidity of the music business in general, the insanity of it all.  It reads just like I’m talking to you John, like we’re talking shit, as old friends who’ve known each other for ten years and been through all this shit.  I say right in the introduction that I’d like to thank God, Jesus Christ for giving me this life and creating this cast of characters that he’s blessed me with.  Really, honestly, my buddies, the people in my career, you couldn’t MAKE these people up, it’s more ridiculous than Seinfeld.  My friends will say to me, “Zakk, these are just stories that actually happened to us and you’re elaborating and detailing the events” and I’m like “Yeah, I know!!”  (laughs).  I wish I HAD made some of these things up.  Sometimes my mind is blown by the shit my friends will be like “and then remember that time we were out and there was that hooker” and I’m like “Woah, what?….you’re kidding me” and they’re like “No dude, that actually happened to Joe one night when we were all out drinking at the Irish pub in Jersey”.  It was after a few hundred exchanges of “No, I’m not joking” that I decided we had to put it all down in a book.  It really is all the truth and everybody I talk to whether it’s my brother in-law or my manager or anyone, they all have these stories and most of them are mind-blowing.  I say in the book that the one thing about the music business is that there is no rulebook.  It’s not like the NFL or something where there’s four downs to get ten yards or baseball where it’s three strikes and you’re out.  There are rules.  There are no rules in the entertainment business.  It’s always been that way, going back to like Peter Grant and Led Zeppelin.  They’d be telling him that they’d keep 90 cents on the dollar and he’d get ten cents and he was like “No, you know what, it’s the other way around, WE get 90 cents and you get a dime.”  They told him he was breaking the rules and they had ten other bands and he said they could keep those ten pissant bands cause he had ONE Led Zeppelin.  He said “You’ll make more money on our dime per show than you will with all those other little crap bands combined”.  This biz makes the rules up as the game happens and people like him can and DO change the rules or create them as they go.  It’s a crazy, unpredictable world.

Zakk rocks the Bret Michaels styled camel toe & stone washed jeans.

LRI:  I was pretty convinced that Ozzy was a fire breathing dark lord and got backstage to find a gentleman jogging in place with a robe on who had a team of handlers.

Zakk:  Yeah, I know.  Put it this way, it’s  like a magic show.  You get on the other side and you start to discover how the magic tricks happen, you learn how they get sawed in half.  I mean, don’t get me wrong, there’s the Caligula, Led Zeppelin-esque stories on steroids, I’ve witnessed a bunch of them.  It’s just like anything though, you and I could go out looking for debauchery and easily find all that and more on the town where everyone gets hammered and the comedy just starts going down.  If you wanna put yourself in those positions that’s inevitably what will occur but there’s plenty of times where it’s just a mellow guys night out and you catch a movie.  That’s how it can be on the road too, sometimes it’s insanity, sometimes you have a cigar and a cocktail and go to the bus and you’re out cold, you know?  It depends completely on what you’re looking for and this book reflects that.  If you want the insanity you can find it (laughs) or you can find shuffleboard, bingo and all night Seinfeld marathons (laughs).  It’s just so funny how much different the reality is from that 15-year-old perception you had.

Zakk rocking his “Sun-In” lightened hair with Ozzy & Mike Inez.

LRI:  It’s cool that you brought everyone in your life along for the ride in these stories, even your family.  Was there ever a concern that you were being too honest?

Zakk:  No, because first and foremost it’s mostly all just comedy and taking the piss out of ourselves anyway.  Like whenever I read that “Blabbermouth” stuff it just cracks us up because I actually know half of the people writing comments on there.  People are like “Zakk, that doesn’t bother you??” and I’m like “No, because I know that’s Joe on there and John’s writing some of that and that’s Andy on there and on and on……That’s the mellow stuff, you should see what they really say when they’re going off!!” (laughs).  My bandmates in Black Label are just ruthless.  Everyone’s always breaking everyone else’s balls all the time but it’s all fun, noone gets out of line because everybody’s always laughing their balls off.   Man, talk about taking the piss out of me, that Zakk Wylde Roast, they were really taking the piss outta me about the booze and the whole nine yards.  I know a lotta guys where they would have been like “Ok, now have fun but no matter what you do don’t take any shots at so and so about their past with the drugs or the blah blah” and it’s always like “Well, why not, isn’t that the point” and people are like “Well,  just be cool, he’s very sensitive about this or that” and it’s again like “WHY??…it’s true, it’s funny and it happened”.  In my band we are always taking each other down and laughing our asses off.  In this business it is an absolute must.  I know guys in this biz who will NOT sign pictures of themselves that were taken during the big poofy hair phase and it just cracks me up (laughs).  Are you kidding me?  It happened, you might as well just embrace it as part of your past or at least laugh at it.  Seriously, if you can’t find a way to poke fun at your high school yearbook photos there’s something wrong.  Whatever.  It’s like Ozzy lookin at his old 70s stuff with the jackets and the bell-bottoms, he hates it but he at least can make fun of himself and laugh at it.  He’s like “God, I look fuckin stupid” and me, I’m all about the 70s so personally I think that shit looks cool as hell.   I’m telling him  “Oz, you look fuckin awesome”.  He’s like “I look like a jackass, get that thing away from me” (laughs).  You have to have a sense of humor about yourself in this line of work and be able to take some shit with a smile.

Zakk goes Sears catalog with this matching pants & jacket set

To read Zakks full interview go HERE

For more on Zakk check out www.zakkwylde.com

Sludge Wylde