ZAKK WYLDE Is Keeping It Simple,
The Desert Sun (
www.thedesertsun.com ) has issued the following report from Alan Sculley:
One thing that seems to hold true with just about everything
ZAKK WYLDE does in music is to keep things simple. "Just look at my rig," said the acclaimed guitarist. "It's just a Les Paul (guitar) and a Marshall (amplifier), and I've got like four pedals. That's it. I've used more than that, and you know what it is, it just turns into a nightmare."
When it comes to getting along with band members, there's no detailed psychoanalysis needed with Wylde.
"My whole thing with the chemistry with the band, there are only two types of people," Wylde said in a recent phone interview. "Either you're an (expletive) or you're one of the guys. That's it. It's real easy to tell."
As for the making of Shot To Hell - Wylde's latest CD as leader of
BLACK LABEL SOCIETY - there was no such thing as a grand plan for the kind of record he wanted to make.
"I just approached it like all the other ones," Wylde said. "You just try to write the best songs you can."
In fact, as with the band's previous CDs, Wylde went into the studio without much in the way of songs.
"With (the cost of) studio time and everything like that, I think everybody gets freaked out because they think what happens if we don't come up with anything," Wylde said. "It's just like don't worry about it. We'll come up with something when we get down there.
"I went in (for Shot To Hell) with no songs. Me and (drummer) Craig (Nunenmacher) went in there and eight days later we had 23 tunes."
Thirteen of those songs made it to the CD, and they make for a pretty typical record for Black Label Society. As usual, it offers plenty of heavy, darkly-hued rockers like 'Concrete Jungle', 'Blacked Out World' and 'Give Yourself To Me', and a handful of ballads (such as 'The Last Goodbye' and 'Nothing's The Same') mixed in to provide some balance.
Not surprisingly, there's nothing too complex about the music on Shot To Hell - except for some of Wylde's impressive-as-usual guitar solos.
"We're not playing Mahavishnu Orchestra, where the arrangements are so insane," Wylde said. "We're not making a fusion record or an Al DiMeola record or Return To Forever or something like that... where like, 'how many parts are in this song?'"
The straight-forward approach to music has worked fine for Wylde throughout a career that took wing in 1987.
At the time, Wylde, a Jersey City, N.J. native, was playing clubs around Asbury Park when
OZZY OSBOURNE suddenly had an opening for a guitarist after the tragic death of Randy Rhoads. Long story short: Wylde sent a tape, got an audition and landed the gig.
Wylde soon proved more than capable of carrying on Rhoads' legacy, playing a key role in such popular
Osbourne albums as No Rest For The Wicked (1988) and No More Tears (1991).
In 1994, Wylde stepped out on his own, fronting the power trio PRIDE & GLORY. After the solo CD Book Of Shadows, Wylde formed Black Label Society with guitarist Nick Catanese and bassist John "J.D." DeServio.
Today, the group commands an audience so loyal that in many cities there are BLS chapters of fans who convene whenever Wylde comes to town, either with Osbourne or with
Black Label Society.
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