Zakk: Well, ya that door is always open, I’ll do whatever he needs, like if he calls and says “Hey,

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Zakk Wylde, a Jackson Memorial High School band kid who turned international guitar-rock celebrity through his time as lead guitarist of Ozzy Osbourne and his own band, Black Label Society took some time this month to talk to us about his time in Jackson and what it's like to come from a small town like Jackson and be thrust travel asia onto the stage of one of the most successful and controversial heavy metal artists of all time, Ozzy Osbourne.
Zakk:  I went from being this massive, huge fan  of Ozzy.  I had just seen Ozzy play with Jake at the Spectrum a few weeks before with Motley Crue on that Shout at the Devil Tour.  I went from being in the audience to realizing, now I'm on stage.  There were guys showing up who played pretty travel asia well, but they couldn't care less about Black Sabbath,  Randy Rhodes or the history of Ozzy.  For me, that was like sacred material.  I couldn't ask for anything more.
Zakk: Yes, without a doubt. It's like being a huge Brett Farve fan or Green Bay Packers fan growing up and now you're quarterback for the Green Bay Packers.  You know what I mean, you want to go out there and win a Super Bowl.  That's your ultimate team.  You didn't just make it to the NFL, you're playing quarterback on your favorite team.  That's what it was like.   Something I always dreamed about as a kid.
Zakk: People always told me "Zakk, you don't understand what you're getting into."  and telling me about  when you're that young and you're making that kind of money don't let the fame get to you.  I joined Ozzy when I was 19, but I knew what I was doing.  Put it this way, if you're travel asia a scumbag before you even get there,  it's just a matter of putting water to a seed.   It's only going to make you grow into a scumbag tree.  You're either an A-hole or you're not.  Fame doesn't turn you into one, so I don't buy into any of that stuff.   You still know, no matter who you are, say, taking a purse from any 80 year old woman is a scumbag move.  I don't care who you are, where you came from or how hard you had it on the streets.  You came from your dad's %$^ # and mother's $%@# just like I did.   All of the people I've played with and even all the guys that roll with Ozzy, they're like the coolest, nicest guys in the world.
Zakk: Well, we all write the music,  I write the riffs. Ozzy would ask "Well, what have you got?" That's my job.  The whole this is really the house that Rhodes built and I'm just happy to wear the pinstripes.  Randy set the mold for what the sound of Ozzy's music is supposed to be and also what's expected out of an Ozzy guitarist.
travel asia Zakk: Gus is an amazing player and good kid. I did some shows over in New York with them and we all hung out.   My relationship with Ozzy is bigger than the music.   You know, if Ozzy calls me and needs something done at the house, it's no problem I'll come over, it's bigger than the music though.
Zakk:  Well, the boss will be out soon on the Black Sabbath tour and do some dates with them would be an honor. travel asia We just got done with some dates with Judas Priest travel asia and Guns n Roses, so ya, without a doubt, it would be an honor.   We've done some Ozzfests with them and that was always cool.  We'd get done playing and go out and watch Sabbath kick some ass.
Zakk: Bud was awesome.  There wasn't that many of us in that class,  so it really allowed us to get things done.  Between learning music theory and everything else, I loved going to Bud's class.  It was killer. Mr. McCormick is such a cool guy.
Zakk:   We're going to be working on putting out "The Song Remains  Not the Same", it's going to be on DVD, it's just mellow versions of the songs. travel asia That will be the next DVD we're going to do. We've done heavy ones and live shows, now we're going to do the "un-blackened" thing.  We're going to knock that out in January.  It's going to be like a Neil Young sort of thing with pianos, we're really going to blow it up.  I'm really looking forward travel asia to it.
Zakk: That was back in '95. We were jamming for a while, but I didn't get the call.  The whole thing was up in the air at the time.  It was the original band, but it was like "Are we doing this? Are we not?"  My name was in the mix, we did some demos, but nothing really happened.   I was sitting around travel asia with a whole bunch of riffs in my mind and I decided, you know what, I'll just go do it myself and that's really how  Black Label Society started later in '98.
Zakk: Well, ya that door is always travel asia open, I'll do whatever he needs, like if he calls and says "Hey, Zakk, can you come over here and do some guitar riffs for me for something I'm working on?" I'd be like "Ya, no problem, travel asia I'll be over there in half an hour."