SiriusXM’s Mark Strigl recently sat down with Zakk Wylde of Black Label Society on SiriusXM’s Ozzy’s Boneyard.
Wylde recalled that while working on Osbourne's Ozzmosis album, he received a phone call from Axl Rose, asking if he "wanted to get together and jam." Wylde then called Slash, who confirmed that his name had come up when the band was discussing who they wanted to try playing with. Wylde reveals how jamming with Guns N’ Roses ultimately led to the formation of Black Label Society.
Transcription below by SiriusXM’s Ozzy’s Boneyard:
Mark Strigl: "There’s stories about you doing a jam with the guys in Guns N' Roses and that there was even talk of you possibly joining that band at some point. What's the truth?"
Zakk Wylde: "I would jam with the guys for a bit. It was when we were doing Ozzmosis out here in New York because I've known Slash when I first joined Ozzy, he came over to the hotel room. We got hammered and everything like that and it was just when Appetite was exploding, and I'd met, you know, Duff a couple times, then Steven and stuff like that. Never met Izzy and I had never met Axl, but I remember when we were out here jamming, so that was like '95. Axl called me up and he was just like, 'Hey Zakk, it's Axl.' I was like, 'Hey, what's going on man?' He just goes, 'I was just wondering you want to get together and jam with me and the fellas because I was asking, you know, Slash. I was like, well, who would you want to get to jam with? and you know, he goes, 'Your name came up because we were all talking about why don't we give Zakk a call,' or whatever and I was like, Yeah, of course man.' You know, because obviously I love, the guys are great guys and an amazing band, so we were jamming stuff at this rehearsal place that they had. We were jamming there for a while, just jamming ideas, and then we were gonna go do some stuff over at Duff's house, and then, you know, nothing was kind of happening, like, are we gonna do this or what, because I need to save up for pizza money and a soda pop to take out my girlfriend. You know what mean?"
Mark Strigl: "You weren't just jamming songs. It sounds like you were coming up with ideas."
Zakk Wylde: "Yeah. Riffs and everything like that, so I just, you know, we had all these riffs laying around and I was just like, nothing was happening, then Oz was like, 'Zakk, I can't be sitting around waiting.' You know, because it was after we did Ozzmosis and everything like that, he was like, 'I'm getting ready to tour,' whatever and I mean, without Ozzy there, I wouldn't even be in a conversation with Guns N' Roses, you know what I mean? Because I owe everything to Oz, so the Guns thing was just lying dormant, you know, just nothing was happening and I was like, 'I need to raise some pizza money and soda pop money for my girlfriend, Barbaranne,' so that's when Black Label Society was born."
Mark Strigl: "Wow, okay."
Zakk Wylde: "So, that's the reason why."
Mark Strigl: "Wow. I've never heard that angle. That's amazing."
Zakk Wylde: "Yeah, you know, so that's the reason. I had to get pizza money for my girlfriend."
Find the episode here.
(Photos - @berzerkusfest)
