In the debut episode of the series “Gnarly Origins“, Jimmy Hubbard of Revolver interviewed heavy metal icon Zakk Wylde. The discussion covered Zakk Wylde’s early career path, moving from a gas station in New Jersey to joining Ozzy Osbourne’s band. Zakk Wylde looked back at the audition tape that launched his career, the lessons he learned during his journey, and what he sees for the future.
When asked what success meant to him when he was first starting out, the Black Label Society leader shared his perspective on the primary goal for any artist.
“With all musicians, for all of us, and of all the musicians in the world, I’m one of them. So I just think, for all of us, [the goal is] just to be able to play and pay your bills. And great. I mean, if you become a multimillionaire or billionaire or whatever playing music, awesome. That’s great. But the whole thing is to be able to just pay your bills and just be able to do that all day,” Wylde stated (as transcribed by Blabbermouth).
Wylde also discussed the advice he gives to parents whose children want to pursue a career in the arts. He emphasized the importance of treating a musical career with the same dedication as a small business.
“When parents come up, they’re, like, ‘Zakk, do you have any advice for my son or my daughter? They wanna play music.’ I go, ‘Yeah. Be like Jimmy Page. He’s all in. Led Zeppelin is his life.’ Dedicate your life to it, ’cause you don’t wanna have some crummy job that you hate. Who does? Who wants that? Nobody. And regardless, whether it’s music or whether me and you wanna be chefs and start our own restaurant or whatever, a food truck business, we’re doing what we love. If you treat everything like a mom-and-pop shop, and then you’re your own boss, that’s where you’re gonna thrive and you’ll find happiness,” he explained.
Reflecting on his time working in a produce department and pumping gas before finding fame, the guitarist noted that he never felt stuck because those jobs were simply a means to reach his goal.
“I never had any problems when I was mowing lawns and when I was working at Fine Fare in the produce department, pumping gas and everything like that. I knew I wasn’t gonna do that the rest of my life, but I had friends there when I was working, and it was a means to an end. It was helping me get to where I wanna go. So it wasn’t like I was stuck in this thing. It was just, like, I had a good time while I was doing it, ’cause I was making money for a guitar and an amp and to do what it is I wanna do with my life,” Wylde said.
The guitarist also spoke about his longtime friendship with Black Label Society bassist John “J.D.” DeServio, noting that their lives would still revolve around music even if they had not reached global stardom.
“Yeah, without a doubt. Me and J.D. [John DeServio, Black Label Society bassist] talk about it in the band. I’ve known J.D. since before I started playing with the Boss [Ozzy]. And I just tell everybody, I go, ‘If I wouldn’t have been blessed to have an Ozzy in my life to put me on the biggest stage in the world,’ and then to go, ‘Well, Zakk, now the rest is up to you,’ if I hadn’t been blessed to have Ozzy in my life, me and J.D. would’ve owned a music store, we would’ve taught, we’d have our wedding band, we’d have our cover band, we’d be doing our originals,” Zakk continued. “Everything would revolve around music. So just make it your life. It’s your book. It’s your movie. Write it. There’s no sense in being miserable. You can be miserable or you could be happy. Like [late Pantera founders] Dimebag [Darrell Abbott] and Vinnie [Paul Abbott] would always say, ‘We could be miserable or happy.’ I was just, like, ‘Good.’ Well, I think this is an easy decision. Round up the guys and let’s fire up a barbecue and watch some football. I mean, it’s just — what are we doing? You shouldn’t spend one minute, not one second being miserable. It’s just, like, why? For the second that you are, you’re bummed out about something, write a song about it or write a cool riff, you know what I mean?”
Black Label Society is currently touring behind their latest album, Engines Of Demolition, which was released in March through MNRK Heavy. The album is the follow-up to 2021’s Doom Crew Inc. and features 15 tracks, including the singles “Name In Blood“, “Broken And Blind“, “The Gallows“, and “Lord Humungus“. The record also features “Ozzy’s Song“, a tribute to Zakk Wylde‘s longtime mentor and friend, Ozzy Osbourne.
The band will start the second leg of their “American Crusade” tour this August. The touring lineup includes Zakk Wylde, John DeServio, and drummer Jeff Fabb, who will all perform double duty as they are supported by their Black Sabbath tribute band, Zakk Sabbath. The opening act for the tour is Dark Chapel, fronted by Black Label Society guitarist Dario Lorina.
