BLACK LABEL SOCIETY's ZAKK WYLDE Talks About Los Angeles, Boise Concert Mishaps

Metal Edge magazine recently conducted an interview with BLACK LABEL SOCIETY mainman Zakk Wylde. An excerpt from the chat follows:

Metal Edge: What the hell happened at the L.A. show the other night [see previous BLABBERMOUTH.NETstory]?

Zakk Wylde: "Oh my God, what a night of berserken comedy that night was! We were up there for about an hour and a half, we were jamming, we did 'In This River', then we got to 'Suicide Messiah', and the monitors were feeding back on me the whole night, I couldn't hear a goddamned thing. I go, 'What the fuck?' It was the last show of this run, everyone was dead, beat up and tired, and we just wanted to be home for a few days before going to Japan. Of course, it had to be in El Gay, where all the chaos breaks out! We did 41 shows in eight weeks, and they all went without a hitch…"

Metal Edge: Without a hitch? You wouldn't call Boise, Idaho a hitch [see previous BLABBERMOUTH.NET stories: Story#1, Story#2]?

Zakk Wylde: "Boise? You know what happened? We walked into the club and grabbed a few bar stools — plain wooden stools — and we started blasting them to seee who could reach the stage with them. We could have gone to Ikea and we could've bought these chairs, they're nothing fancy, and were blastin' them with an aluminum bat. So the owner comes in and starts on me — 'What the hell are you doin'' And I'm like, 'Don't worry, I'll pay all the damages… I'm Zakk, dude, we're doing a show here, everything's cool, I'll give you the money right now…' Mind you, he's going to make a lot of money off me that night, right? BLACK LABEL likes to drink, he'll make his money. And he starts going off on me. So I go, 'Dude, you're the owner of the bar, you've got to deal with a lot of stress. Here, this one's on me, blow off some stress, whap one of the chairs.' Don't forget who's holding the bat now, right? [laughing] So he goes, 'Fuck this, I'm calling the cops…' And he calls the cops. So he's got three display cases hanging on the wall with guitars and basses in them, and I smashed all three of them on the way out of the club, the glass shatters, and the guitars fall out of all three of 'em. Next thing you know, there are nine cops, and a cop on horseback! [laughing] You couldn't make this shit up! So he comes out there, and I'm all pissed and irate that I might be goin' to jail for bustin' up three fucking bar stools, and I'm going, 'I've got ten acres and a wood chipper, and I make shit disappear!' [laughing] So the cops are standing there going, 'Come on, dig yourself deeper…' So I'm explaining to the cops that I offered to pay right up front, and even offered to let him take a few swings, and that he was just being a douche bag… Anyway, he drops the charges, but pulls the show, even though I was still willing to play. Then he says that I did $60,000 in damages, and wanted me to come back and play a free show for him… Fuck you, motherfucker!"

Metal Edge: You just cleared up the Boise hitch. Now you've got to get back to the Hollywood hitch…

Zakk Wylde: "Dude, you want to talk about all the chaos all the time? [laughing] That House of Blues show was the last show, so we figured the show will go smooth, we'll get through it, go home, recharge the batteries, then off to Japan… Nah, it can't go smooth! [laughing] It's like a tidal wave and tornado came onstage, shit starts burning, it was hysterical. The fucking gay-ity level was frothing and foaming — it was like pasta boiling over a pot, unbelievable! I launched a guitar, then threw another one into the audience. Craig threw his fucking drums off the riser, pulled a Keith Moon, and James threw a bass cabinet… I think that's the end of the show! [laughing] People were like, 'Did you walk offstage?' No, we didn't 'walk offstage,' we just ended the show! It was un-fucking-believably gay — it was one for the books, mass chaos. So the next day, I'm like, 'Who else do I have to apologize to?' This is a rock band, this isn't 'Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood'! [laughing] We laugh about it, because BLACK LABEL comedy does get misconstrued as horror, you know what I mean? It's not like we're hurting anybody here! If you've got to be out here doing it, I don't want to be miserable. Let's have a good time, whoop it up, and have something to remember when we go home."

Zakk Wylde's entire interview with Metal Edge is available in the magazine's September 2005 issue, out on the stands now.