Zakk Wylde – An Xperience Interview

Photo by Jeff Graham

By Rob Smittix.

RRX: Mr. Wylde, how are you doing?

ZW: Brother Rob! Just chilling. We’re in Spain right now; we were somewhere in France last night, rolling with the French chapter “Berzerkers” yesterday at some festival. We went on late last night; it was almost midnight. Definitely past my bedtime, but we did the show and went into Monday. So yeah, it was pretty cool.

RRX: You’re always travelling, you’ve got all these bands that you’re in,  so I appreciate you making time for me when I’m sure … you don’t have a lot of it to spare.

ZW: It’s all good, man. Just like I tell my kids: be like your father, do what you love. That’s it. It’s a one-page book. It says that, and it says “the end,” and that’s it. One page.

RRX: I love that. Well, yeah … so, I’m over here in New York, and you’re six hours in the future. I was just wondering, what does the future hold?

ZW: Well, I guess what I’ll do is … I’ll try and get the winning lotto numbers, and then I’ll just text it over to you. Because if the lotto wins here, you could pick the winning lotto numbers back home. You gotta be in it to win it, man. You gotta be in it to win it!

RRX: (Laughs) I do appreciate that absolutely, man. 

So, you’re over there now doing what you’re doing, but … we’re excited that you’re gonna be coming to my hometown, Albany, with the American Crusade tour on August 25th at the Palace Theatre. And also just a few days later, August 28th and 29th, you’re coming to the Pavilion at Montage Mountain and Jones Beach for Berzerkus. So you’ve got a lot going on. What are these tours all about? What are we to expect?

ZW: Well, I mean … it’s funny because, with the Berzerkus thing, it’s basically no different than me and you getting our buddies in high school and playing a keg party at our buddy Tom’s backyard because his parents are gonna be out of town. So, we’re gonna build a little stage and then all our buddies that are in high school that have bands … we’ll have them all jam at the keg party. So it’s just a bigger version of that pretty much, you know? I’m pretty much doing the same thing I did when we were in high school, just having a good time with it, and it’s just a bigger version of that. Nothing really changes; it’s just … you know? Still doing the same thing, just bigger. 

RRX: Well, that sounds like it’s gonna be a great time. I love the whole vibe that you’ve got going down on that. And … I gotta tell you, man, your tour manager Talena has been great to work with.

ZW: Talena, she’s amazing, man. The whole process is awesome.

RRX: You got yourself a very well-oiled machine, and after doing it all these years, I mean … you’ve gotta have that because … I can imagine the lifestyle is not for everyone. 

ZW: Well, no, that’s what I’m saying. But you gotta just surround yourself with people that know what they’re doing, and you roll with the people you love. It’s pretty simple. That translates in life as well, you know? Because who has time for it, man? I was just reading something about when you’re 60 years old, you’ve reached a point in your life where you shouldn’t have to deal with people in your life, blah, blah, blah. You deserve peace of mind, and you deserve this because you’re at that age. At 60.  You should be acting like that when you’re 5 years old. What are you, kidding me? When you’re old enough to know, you know what I mean? Why would you live your life any other way? 

RRX: You’re right. 

ZW: Forget that. If somebody’s a tool bag, you cut them off. I’m like … Rob, whatever happened to that guy Frankie? You say, that guy? I had to cut him off, dude. It’s just like this, that, and the other. You give me a grocery list of things that went down, and I just say, “Oh well, you live, and you learn.” Goodbye. It’s that simple, man.

RRX: It is 100%, and I think the same thing goes with the relationships too, because people get stuck; they get trapped.

ZW: Without a doubt. Like Dime and Vinnie; there’s not one point in life where you should be miserable, ever. When something bad happens, it’s like, alright, well, you know? We lost the Super Bowl; that sucked, but hey … tomorrow we’ll go barbecue and celebrate that we even made it this far, and then next year we just go in and knock their teeth out. How else are we supposed to look at it? You can’t finger-point at anybody and want to blame whoever … oh well, we got this far. Tomorrow or next week, we win it all. But in the meantime, let’s go fire up some ribeyes. Why would you wanna live your life any other way? You wanna wallow in the misery? Just get out of here with that because we all get kicked in the balls. It’s gonna happen sooner or later. It’s not a matter of if, it’s a matter of when. It’s how you react to it.

RRX: You ain’t kidding. You’ve been doing this for a long time. You got all these different bands that you’re in and have been in, but one of the coolest things that caught me by surprise was … My Darkest Days song, “Porn Star Dancing,” and all of a sudden, we got Zakk Wylde and Ludacris on the same song.

ZW: (Laughs) The guys called me up, and they were like … “Zakk, would you mind putting some fiddly diddly on this thing?” I was like, yeah, sounds great, it’ll be hilarious. I just wish I would have been there for the video shoot; that would have been fun. But I was off location. Because they were like, we don’t want Zakk to ruin this in any shape or form. So we’ll just film him separately somewhere else. 

(Both Laugh)

ZW: But whenever I get asked to do those things, I mean … if I could fit it in or whatever, I always have a good time doing it. Because I’m playing, so it’s all good.

RRX: Exactly. No, it looked like a lot of fun, but it was also the most unexpected collaboration I’ve ever encountered.

ZW: Yeah, totally.

RRX: Anyone out there that you haven’t worked with that you think would be a good collaboration?

ZW: Well, no … I mean, because when they ask, “Zakk, if you could put a band together with guys that are no longer with us or in the past, this and that, who would it be?” And I go, ”I’m already in it.” I’m in the band with the bunch of guys I wanna be in a band with, you know what I mean? I’m already in that band, and I wouldn’t change a thing about what I’m doing at all.

RRX: That’s the best. You got exactly what you need and exactly what you’re looking for. Was there anything else that you would tell people to encourage them to come out to the shows that we got coming up?

ZW: It’s gonna be quite the toe-tapping event. Even when we’re rolling with the Black Label American Crusade with Zakk Sabbath and Dark Chapel, it’s a high-calorie-burning event. So, this way, if you’re on a strict diet, when you come to this concert, the amount of dancing you’ll be doing, you’ll be able to buy that extra slice of pizza and have no guilt in eating that slice of pie. That’s the advantage of this show. That’s all I can offer.

RRX: That’s the best. I appreciate your time and thank you so much for doing this.

ZW: All good, Rob.

RRX: Don’t forget to send me those lottery numbers from the future.

ZW: Without a doubt, brother. You gotta be in it to win it!

RRX: Amen. Thanks, brother.

ZW: All right, Rob. I’ll talk to you in a bit, buddy.