Zakk Wylde Interview: The Order of the Black

By: Jason Saulnier at Music Legends

Order of the Black

If you’re at the back of the hall at a Black Label Society Gig, just look for the guy with an axe with a bulls-eye on it and you’ve got a target on the man, Zakk Wylde, founder of and metal guitarist for the band. Although, Wylde would make name for himself with shock rocker Ozzy Osbourne, in the early ‘90s, he would run solo with Pride & Joy, his “solo” group known for its fusion of heavy metal and Southern Rock.

In 1998 a solo endeavor with drummer Phil Ondich morphed into the Black Label Society, resulting in the group’s debut release, Sonic Brew. Today’s line up of Zakk Wylde (guitar/vocals); John DeServio (bass), Nick “The Evil Twin” Catanese (guitar) and Will Hunt (drums) make up the Society.

Keeping close to family, Zakk built a home studio in 2010 that he calls the Black Label Bunker. The high test studio was designed by Zack Fagan of Under the Wire, a company that installs recording studios for commercial and private recording needs. Wylde functions best when hooked up to Marshalls and on stage he uses exclusively his Marshall JCM 800s loaded with EVM12L 300W Black Label Speakers.

Black Label Society is scheduled to kick off a European tour in the U.K. in February 2011 in Birmingham, England and run through March, where they’ll shift gears and hit China for a few gigs, then hit South America before taking a break.

Guitarist and radio host Jason Saulnier recently caught up with Zakk Wylde to talk about Black Label Society, guitars and Twitter. Jason has let us post that interview in written form for our readers to enjoy.

You can also check out the audio version of this video here at Jason’s site.

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Jason: How do you prepare your set list these days?

Zakk Wylde: We’ll just look at some songs that we’ve played for years, we get rid of them and we throw in some other ones. Or we’ll just get on the Black Label Site and ask people what tunes they want to hear. With us, it’s eight records. I can’t even imagine how the Rolling Stones put a set list together [Laughs]. We play some of the songs we haven’t played in a while, and then we obviously have to play some of the staple ones. But, it’s cool, man.

Jason: I just got this great album Order of the Black, where did the title come from?

Zakk Wylde: With Black Label, we like to order everything blackened, like chicken our steak our fish. I just came up with the title because Black Label, we don’t have fans, so it’s just like one whole gigantic family. The whole thing is in keeping with that whole theme, it’s like a religious type movement and everything like that. It’s its own religion. So, I just said, that’s the reason why we’ll be Order of the Black.

Sonic Brew

Jason: And the artwork on it is it mostly a black leather type of thing right?

Zakk Wylde: Oh yeah totally, with the crucifix and everything like that, with the three spikes and everything.

Jason: Very good looking album cover. Where did you record it?

Zakk Wylde: I recorded it in the Black Label bunker. I’ve got my own studio on the property that’s awesome. It’s exceeded my expectations. Not only did we record the record there, but we mixed it, as well. And the production on it, there’s nothing we can’t do in there. I can actually take the donuts there, wrap them up, box them up and ship ‘em out. So, it’s killer.

Jason: Zakk Wylde, the entrepreneur.

Zakk Wylde: Oh yes, it used to be somebody had to pay the beer tabs. Now I’ve got bills, I’ve got the kids getting ready to go to college; somebody’s got to pay for that.

Jason: Is there a special guitar on this album or are you experimenting with all sorts of Zakk Wylde models?

Zakk Wylde: Oh yeah totally. I’m in a position where I can actually create killer product whether its pedals, cables, amps, strings, guitars, pickups, everything like that which is killer stuff to other players, you know what I mean?

All the stuff that I endorse I use. So, it’s just a matter of working with the guys saying, if we can take a little bit of this, a little bit of that and mix it together and then promote just taking the best things of something you like. Know what I mean?

Jason: Will there be a promo video for Order of the Black?

Zakk Wylde: Yeah, we just actually started working on finished doing work on one for “Overlord” right now. We’re putting that together and that’ll be the next one.

Jason: What’s your personal favorite on the album?

Zakk Wylde: I don’t know. I like them all. Like you said, it depends on what mood you’re in and what side of the bed I woke up on that day, anything live. I mean we’re playing “Overload” and we were having a good time playing that one. But I like the metal stuff too.  “Darkest Days,” I think, came out pretty slammin’.

We actually just went in and recorded a bunch for the record for Christmas. We did a batch of acoustic versions and revamped the whole song like “Parade of the Dead,” “Overlord,” “Darkest Days,” and there’s a couple where we just took our songs and unblackened them.

Jason: They came out white.

Zakk Wylde: Exactly. [Laughs] Clear!

Shot to Hell

Jason: You’ve got an acoustic song that’s a pure guitar riff. This is an extraordinary guitar sound you’ve got on that.

Zakk Wylde: Dig it brother. As far as guitars go, it’s just my Marshall JJ M800s, you know the 100-watts tops, 2203s. If anybody wants to know what a JJ800 sounds like, this is the album.

Jason: You’re on Twitter, you’re on Facebook, how many hours do you spend on these tools on the Internet?

Zakk Wylde: I’ll jump on it now and then just to say, “Hey” to everybody and stuff like that. Most of the day, when I’m doing something, then I’ll jump on it. While I’m eating lunch or something like that, check it out and say, “Hey” to everybody and see what the hell everybody’s doing. It’s a great way to keep in touch with the rest of the whole Black Label community.

Jason: I think too, the audience loves it.

Zakk Wylde: Oh yeah, put it this way, I would have had a field day back in the day if I could talk to Randy Rhoads, Jimmy Page, Eddie Van Halen. You know what I mean? Like, oh my god, I’m talking to Jimmy Page! It’s killer man.

Jason: Times have changed Zakk.

Zakk Wylde: If this was going on back in the ‘70s, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, all the guys would have been on it.

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About the Author

Good Time Metal Oldies radio show (GTMO) is broadcasted on CIFA 104.1 FM in Nova Scotia, Canada & on Pure Rock Radio Online http://www.purerockradio.net/. CIFA Radio broadcasts at 40,000 Watts in Nova Scotia. GTMO is hosted by Jason Saulnier twice a week on Tuesday’s & Thursday’s with two different show versions. GTMO is about rock and metal music with a 2 song spotlight along with interviews from any given artist or band on the show. All weekly interviews get posted on http://www.youtube.com/gtmo.

Hailing from Nova Scotia, Canada, in 2009 Jason Saulnier posted two Ozzy Osbourne audition videos on YouTube and grabbed the attention of the media, and even the Osbourne camp. Both videos tallied more than 88,000 hits at 5 star ratings in 3 months.

In 2005, Jason joined Gold Certified International touring artist (BLOU). Jason also appears on more than 20 albums with Radio Airplay being received worldwide, online and on Terrestrial Stations. He has also played over 450 gigs played in career.

On top of these accomplishments, Jason has played significant festivals in Canada and in the United States. In 2009 he played the Wharf Rat Rally Biker Festival for the 3rd time for upwards of 60,000 people. Jason is endorsed by Seymour Duncan Pickups, Sfarzo Strings (California), and is endorsed by Gibson Guitars USA as a “Gibson Artist.”

http://www.reverbnation.com/jasonsaulnier