Alright, so out of the blue I got an email
asking straight out if I wanted to interview Zakk Wylde.
Yes, thank you.
I'll do an interview with Zakk Wylde, please.
So the next day I basically had an interview with Zakk Wylde.
A 20-minute interview, so not that long, unfortunately.
But at least we got a chance to talk a little bit about Pantera,
the upcoming stuff, and shit like that.
I mean, there was so much that I wanted to ask him,
but with the short amount of time, he's on--
He's on, like, a press schedule.
Or a press marathon.
You know, I couldn't ask him everything that I wanted.
But I got a short little amount of time.
Maybe you'll find it interesting, check it out.
[Zakk] What is shakin'?
What's up, buddy?
What are you doing, brother?
Oh, I'm about to have an interview right now.
What's up?
- You out walking? - Very good.
What are you up to now? Are you home, or are you on tour?
I'm getting ready to go out and do the Kiss Kruise.
Damn, you're so busy, man. How do you even cope?
First of all, I wanted to say I really appreciate you taking the time to talk with me.
I've been sitting here today learning my favorite Black Label Society song
Suicide Messiah in your new Berzerker Guitar Camp.
[Zakk] Very good.
[Ola] At the Riff Hard thing there.
Tell me a little bit about this collaboration between you and Riff Hard.
No, uh, last call...
He was just like 'Zakk'...
I got a bunch of my buddies that work over at the Riff Hard thing.
Eyal, stuff like that, those guys were talking about me doing a guitar course thing.
I was like 'Yeah', I mean...
I'm always posting vids on social media, whether I'm playing--
- You know, whatever solos I'm playing. - Right.
But I never--
You know, people always ask, like, 'Zakk, can you break down a solo to...'
I mean, anything, whether it's No More Tears, or Mama...
- I mean, any, Suicide Messiah, or whatever. - Yeah.
But it's just like...
I mean, obviously I don't have the ti--
It's not that I... well, you know...
Obviously there is more important things to do, like...
Making sure my fishnets match my stilettos
and my rouge matches my lip gloss and my eye-shadow
for the big rock shows, but uh...
No, I was like 'Yeah, this is a great way of knocking it all out in one shot.'
Just...
I mean, because learning it is one thing.
When somebody shows you--
- You know, if you showed me a card trick... - Yeah.
And I'm like 'Man, how'd you end up doing that?'
And then you go 'Zakk, this is how you do it'.
You know, and I go 'Oh, OK'.
You break it down, so it just seems...
Playing it is one thing, but actually understanding it...
is a whole other thing.
My guitar teacher, Leroy Wright, was great at that.
You know, when he would teach me, whether I was playing like...
Like when I learned how to play Back In Black, that was a big breakthrough for me.
Because I could play...
The lick there.
But I started learning the lick
he showed me like 'Zakk, this scale here,
up here on the octave, this is the E minor pentatonic scale.'
And then you find out from that lick
all the scales that connect to it
going up the complete fretboard.
So it's not that you just learn the lick
and you go 'Ah, I know how to play that'.
It's like you know how that works, or why it works.
I was like 'I have no idea'.
I know how to play the lick,
but I have no understanding of what I'm doing.
[Ola] No.
[Zakk] You know what I mean?
I think all guitar players...
It depends on your guitar playing,
and whatever you wanna do.
You wanna be at an advanced...
If I wanted to show, you know...
If Kurt Cobain was like 'Zakk, can you show me how to play a couple of bar-chords?'
'I just wanna play some Beatles songs, some Sabbath things and some...'
'You know, I just wanna write my songs and play punk stuff.'
You know, like 'Yeah, let me show you some...
John McLaughlin, Mahavishnu stuff, or some...
Al Di Meola, from the Land Of The Midnight Sun stuff.
Or Eruption, the tapping, he would be...
'Zakk, I don't really need that, that serves me no purpose.'
You know what I mean? Like, I wanna play punk rock songs.
So, it depends on your playing, what you wanna learn, you know?
- There's nothing wrong, nothing right. - Yeah.
You know what I mean? Even down to holding the guitar pick.
The way Steve Morse holds the guitar pick or Eddie Van Halen holds the guitar pick,
- or the way Randy Rhoads holds it, or Brian May. - Yeah.
You know what I mean?
Or Jimmy Page, I mean, Brian May uses a coin, you know what I mean?
[Ola] It was incredibly interesting to see,
because you're getting really up-close
in the series, right?
I can see, like, they're filming your picking hand and all that.
And it just--
You know, it just dawned on me, 'cause I caught...
I've seen you a bunch of times with Black Label,
I went to see Zakk Sabbath at Dimebash,
Like 2, or 3-4 years ago.
[Zakk] Where was it, Texas? Yeah.
[Ola] Exactly.
It just occurred to me...
There was so many times during that set I was like
'Where the hall did Zakk go?'
And then eventually you popped somewhere in the middle of the audience
and you would do like alternate picking for 10 minutes straight
and it was like 'Holy shit.'
It was so articulate.
And now when I saw it in the Riff Hard series,
where it's like, really up-close on your picking hand,
it's like...
The movement you do is so big on the hand,
for some reason, for the right hand,
but it's so articulate.
And it's really something.
It really popped open my eyes,
because you know, for me personally it's all about the mi--
the very small effort to make a note ring.
And you're taught that to be able to play faster
you have to be a little slower and a little more precise
and you know, small movements.
But you're really moving that hand.
Like you said, I mean, it's just...
I think that's just, like...
When we go back to whatever is comfortable for you,
because let's be real.
The less movement, the better off you're gonna be.
I mean, when you look at Michael Angelo or at Yingwie,
I mean, they're both blisteringly faster.
Chris Impellitteri, you know...
Rusty, Rusty Cooley.
All of them play at insane speed.
You know what I mean? It's complete speed.
But it's very little movement with all the guys.
It makes sense.
I mean, the less movement with your picking hand...
You wanna have as little movement as possible.
So it's just...
But no, for me it's just...
I'm comfortable doing that,
but without that, I...
We both agree, I'm completely aware of...
The less movement, the better.
Especially if you're gonna be playing fast, for sure.
I'm a big Pantera fan,
and this whole thing that's happened now with
you know, the Pantera tribute thing, and now you're...
You're a part of it.
Obviously extremely exciting,
and you're the absolute right guy for this,
I mean, seeing your connection with Dimebag and all of that.
What was the initial reaction when they asked you
about joining the Pantera tribute?
Because it wasn't the first time, right?
They did ask you sort of...
Yeah, I mean, there's always been talks about it.
You know, for years.
Especially when Vinnie was still alive, so...
You know, I was just like... I'll just wait 'till that day comes.
You know what I mean? If you decide you wanna do it,
you know I'm always gonna be here for you.
I mean, it'd be like...
Mitch and... you know, Noel Redding, Mitch Mitchell and Noel Redding
asked Eric Clapton if he would sing and play Jimi's stuff
and honor him if they were gonna go out and do a tribute to Jimi.
I mean, of course Eric is gonna do it.
You know what I mean? No question about it.
Erci would be like 'Of course I'd be honored to honor my buddy that I love'.
So, I mean, that's the way I've always viewed it, so...
Yeah, for me it was just like 'When you guys call me,
you guys decide you wanna do this,
obviously I'll be here and I'll support you guys'.
So...
Yeah, I mean, Phil called me up.
And then...
One night he was just like 'Zakk, we were th--'
'You know, I was talking with Rex, we're thinking about doing it'.
'You know, we were wondering if you wanted to honor Dime.'
I was like 'Of course, man, you know...'
How could I have said no? You know what I mean?
It's like saying no to the Dimebash, you know what I mean?
- Right. - Why...
What do you mean you're not gonna do it?
It's just like...
Of course I'm gonna do it.
You know, so 'Just send me the songs of the setlist so I can start...'
'So I can start learning his stuff, man'.
Have you started?
Of course, I've been working on it for a while now.
You know, I had to get a whammy pedal, one of those things.
Are you gonna use a Floyd Rose?
Grady will probably be running that thing, like he ran it for Dimebag, so...
Yeah, I'm a proud owner of a whammy pedal now.
Are you gonna use a Floyd Rose?
- On guitars? - Yeah, I got my Dime guitars.
Yeah, right.
So, are you gonna use your Dime guitars for this?
Your personal ones?
Yeah, the ones he gave me.
Yeah, exactly.
That makes it even cooler, actually.
Let's put it this way, we were...
If it was a surprise birthday party for Dime and Vinnie and they were like
'What did you get us?' and it's like...
Charlie and Zakk are gonna sit in for you guys
so you can watch somebody play your stuff.
Like, they'd be...
They'd be crying laughing.
They'd probably go 'This is the coolest birthday present we could ever have'.
Watching two of our jackass friends play our stuff.
But also, you know...
Apparently, you're also gonna use his rigs, right?
Like, his stuff.
Or are you gonna--
- Is it gonna be a compromise? - Yeah.
I got my rig.
I mean, obviously with Dime, he used...
that I don't use, was obviously his noise gate.
Yeah.
You know, so if you're gonna be doing [Cowboys], you know...
I mean, my stuff, it's just pure lightning all the time.
If I'm gonna stop, you stop, you know what I mean?
I mean, like otherwise if I was doing Stillborn,
I mean, obviously...
When we're doing a record, I just step on and off the pedal.
Yeah.
You know what I mean? In the breaks.
But if I was gonna do it live, I mean, you have a noise--
Live I just turn the pedal off.
You know what I mean? I just play the riff...
'Cause you know how it is, otherwise...
When you're just wide open like that and you've got the pedal on...
I mean, it's just screaming feedback.
You know what I mean?
But you need that, you need the pedal on for that tone.
Yeah.
So, no, but I mean, with Dime's stuff, it's just...
You know, Dime...
Dime would have two distortion pedals on at the same time.
He goes 'Zakk, what pedals do you use live?'
Like I said, the Berzerker, you know, my overdrive pedal,
he had one of those things in his board.
Yes.
I was like 'Dime, it's probably not even adding anything,
you know, because you got so much overdrive on there.'
But I mean...
For him there was never enough gain.
- He loved it. - Yeah.
You know, and there is an art to controlling it.
You know?
I mean, ask any guitar player, they're not used to playing with a distortion pedal on.
Any of our buddies that just play without one,
they're like 'How do you play with that thing?'
I mean, even with my rig, to me it's not even that dirty.
Yeah.
You know what I mean, but it's just like a...
But with Dime's stuff, you have to have a noise gate on.
- Yeah. - For sure.
So now I'm a proud owner of a noise gate as well.
Awesome, but are you gonna use his amplifiers and stuff, and...?
Yeah, we'll see, when I get together with the guys...
or otherwise I'll just use my rig.
Sure.
So, you're sitting there practicing,
Is there a particular song or solo you're
particularly worried about?
Like, in terms of--
For me it's just like learning Randy's stuff.
- Of course. - You know, whether...
Whether we're doing Mr. Crowley or I Don't Know...
To me it's fun.
Yeah.
But I mean, whether we're playing Goddamn Electric,
I mean, that solo is...
- Yes. - Beyond--
I mean, all solos are blazing, they're all awesome.
But I mean...
No, I just approach it the same way I had to learn Randy's stuff,
I had to learn Jake's stuff, or Lord Iommi, you know...
Playing Sabbath stuff, so...
It's just a matter of remembering all the parts.
And it's just amazing like, you know...
And you're sitting down, working on it, like working on Rush songs or whatever
when you find out all the little trickery going on, the little...
The little bits and pieces
where you go 'Oh, wait, hold on a second, that's...'
That's three times there, four times over here.
You know what I mean? It's just like 'Oh, wow'.
He didn't do it the same on the second time around, you know what I mean?
I mean, 'cause with Black Label...
Even with Ozzy, I write that stuff as caveman as possible.
Right.
If you're gonna be playing the riff to N.I.B.
There is no trickery going on.
I'm not gonna start going into different time signatures here
and start breaking things down.
It's like AC/DC.
If you're gonna play in 6/8 it's like
I have no idea what that is, but we know 4/4.
We can play that.
Awesome, is there any personal favorite songs that you look forward to play?
I mean, it's just like playing what I'm doing with Zakk Sabbath stuff.
Or when I'm playing with Ozzy.
- I love all of it. - Yeah.
They're all fun, you know what I mean?
You know, it's gonna be fun playing Walk.
Yes, of course.
And stuff like that.
Cowboys From Hell.
Or anything like that.
Some of the other ones that we got on there, like...
A New Level, stuff like that.
Those are all cool too.
But I mean, it's just...
Going through these songs...
I mean, obviously because you've heard them, but I mean...
It's so funny.
I remember with Frank Bello, when we were out just doing the Anthrax tour.
Frank goes like 'Zakk, you know all these songs'.
I go 'Why would I know these songs?'
That's like saying to Dime...
Dime's gonna go fill in for me in Ozzy,
and it's just like I couldn't do it or whatever,
like 'Oz, why don't you have Dime come out and do...
while I'm done for the month, or whatever'.
You know, fill in for 3 weeks or whatever.
And it'd be like 'Dime, you know all these songs'.
You know Miracle Man, you know No More Tears, you know Mama.
Dime would go 'And why would I know them?'
I mean, people...
People sorta expect this.
I don't know these songs.
Yeah.
Just because you're Dimebag's friend.
You should be able to know the songs.
To sit and learn them, yeah, totally.
It's no different than working on Sabbath stuff,
or when I'm doing the Experience Hendrix thing.
Right.
And you know, me and you are gonna do Manic Depression or something like that.
And you're like 'I know Purple Haze and Hey Joe',
but it's like, just work on that impression.
You know, you've gotta sit down and work on it.
You know, you see this stuff when you're working on stuff.
I think I may have gone onto your website
just, you know, to see Becoming or whatever.
- You know, watching you play. - Yeah, right.
Right, well...
That's the thing, even if I...
The things I got...
Sometimes I was like 'What the hell was that?'
and just like...
- I would just go 'How to play...' - Yeah.
You know, Hostile or whatever.
I would just go on youtube and just see...
all these other amazing players play this stuff.
Well, that's the thing.
That's the thing, too.
People think that just because I did a cover once
and nailed the solo for one take
that I know this stuff.
But you know, it's gone.
Like, 2 minutes after you record the stuff.
- So... - No, no, then you're on to something else.
Yes, exactly.
No, I mean, for me that's the whole thing too,
- playing it with the record - Yeah.
- is one thing. - Yeah.
But then you take the record away and it's like 'OK, play it for me'.
You know, 'cause playing it with the record is...
- It's a guideline. - Yeah.
You know, it's like... you know where you're going.
Exactly.
It's like we're taking the GPS off your car.
Like 'Alright, do you remember how to get back down to Hollywood?'
You're like 'Zakk, I have no idea'.
'I followed the GPS the whole time'.
You know, I'll be seeing the guys
I guess next month.
I'll be hooking up with the fellas
and we'll start going over everything
and just go probably write parts, go over it nice and quiet
until we can start.
So we start firing up and just go full volume.
That's awesome, I'm extremely excited.
And I hope you guys bring it to Europe as well.
I think I have to come over to the US if you start playing there.
Just to go watch you.
Yeah, I mean, obviously we're doing the States, and...
wherever the fellas have plans.
- I guess we'll find out. - Yeah.
Before we end, do you have a good Dime story you could share?
- I remember when we did the Guitar World cover. - Yeah.
With me and Dime in a camo.
With Nick Bowcott and stuff like that.
I remember it was right around Christmas time.
And we're down there.
I went to Dime's house, and then...
I mean, the debauchery and the 'Animal House' berserking comedy.
Just, uh--
It was out of control, just pure comedy.
All I remember is I missed my flight, they got me to the airport,
ended up missing a flight,
and I just went to the bar for a while,
then I just went to a hotel room.
And I remember I just fell asleep or whatever.
But also I remember Barb was not happy about that one,
because I missed the flight and she was in New York with the kids.
At the time they had to be 2 or 3 years old, so...
Yeah, I didn't gain any points on that one.
It was rather, very ungood.
'Cause they couldn't find me either.
'Cause those were the days before cellphones.
Oh, yeah, OK.
So I was in a hotel room somewhere, and they're like 'Where is he?'
I was like MIA, bro.
Gone, they couldn't track me down.
I was at a hotel...
At a holiday inn somewhere near the Fort Worth airport, so...
Somewhere down there, but uh...
Yeah, that was some severe comedy.
Yeah, Barb, she could yell at me,
but she wouldn't yell at Dime.
That was the saving grace.
'Cause Dime would go 'Oh, Barb, don't be mad at Zakk', you know?
'It's not Zakk's fault', so she couldn't...
So, Dime, I used him as the buffer.
For sure.
Awesome.
Dude, thank you so much for taking a short little amount of time with me.
I really, really appreciate it.
- I'm really... - You got it, man.
I'm really looking forward to see anything that you will do in the future.
You're amazing, just wanted to say that.
Right back at you, brother, and great work with the channel.
Thank you.
Keep posting that stuff, 'cause I'm going on there,
you're actually showing me the proper way of doing these things.
Maybe.
Alright...
Thank you so much, man, thank you.
- Bye brother, take care of yourself. - You too. See ya.
There you go, a short little video. Thank you so much for watching.
Zakk Wylde, everyone.
Fucking hell, I'm looking forward to these shows so much, man.
So much.
Have a good one.