ZAKK WYLDE On Egg-Throwing OZZFEST Incident: 'If I Was IRON MAIDEN, I'd F**k Some People Up'

Charlie Steffens of KNAC.COM recently conducted an interview with Zakk Wylde (BLACK LABEL SOCIETY, OZZY OSBOURNE). An excerpt from the chat follows below.

KNAC.COM: There's something that's been hanging out there a while that's caused a lot of people to take sides, when the truth is, we're supposed to be all on the same team. Some of it has been fueled by other parties directly involved in the 2005 Ozzfest IRON MAIDEN egg-throwing thing. I'm not interested in your opinion of the characters involved, but I'd love to know if you have something you want the heavy music fans out there to know, now that five years of water has passed under the bridge.

Wylde: Well, the whole thing is ridiculous. What it should have been down to is Mom [Ozzy's wife/manager Sharon Osbourne] should've just talked with their manager and just said, "Hey, look it. Tell your guy to shut the fuck up. And if he mentions one more thing, you guys are off the tour." That's it. You're done. And if their manager, Rod [Smallwood], went over to them — because they're all fucking grown-ups — and said, "Dude, enough of the fucking bagging on The Boss [Ozzy]. First off, it's their fucking tour." And that's the end of the conversation. The minute he goes back there and says, "Oh, fuck this. We don't need a reality TV show, fuck Ozzy, this and that, bla bla bla..." then you know what? Pull the power on them right there. Have a guy sitting on the side of the stage every fucking night and the minute he says one bad thing about Ozzy, break his fucking legs and you're off and you're on your way. That's it. Done.

KNAC.COM: So that's what was really going on?

Wylde: It should have never got to eggs. If anyone ever threw eggs at me, I'd break their fucking legs, dude. I'd stop the show right there and whoever was throwing the fucking eggs — I'd fuckin' morgue them. I wouldn't hospitalize them. I'd fuckin' kill them, right there. I'm looking at both sides. If I was IRON MAIDEN, I'd fuck some people up. And, if I find out who's responsible for it, they're getting fucked up, too. I mean, I'd never go up onstage and start bagging on whoever the headliner is. If anything, all I ever do is thank the band for letting us play with them. When I opened up for TED NUGENT and LYNYRD SKYNYRD, I thought, this is such an honor to be playing with these guys. Why would I say anything bad about them? You know what I mean? And on top of that, you're getting paid. It's so fuckin' ridiculous. It's a fuckin' joke. I had no idea. I was just like, "Whatever, man." I'm telling you right now — the way I would have handled it would be, "Hey, guy. You tell your singer to shut the fuck up or hands down, I'll break his fuckin' neck. I'll break his legs first, then I'll break his fuckin' neck. Then you'll have no singer. So he can't say shit. Throw eggs? I'll slit his fuckin' throat, dude. I'd say, "fuck you!" Fuckin' throw eggs? Are you fuckin' kidding me? What, are we in second grade here? Come on. Throw eggs? Throw fuckin' grenades, now. You motherfucker. That whole thing should have just never happened. It should've been, "Tell him to shut up or the guy's off tour." That's it. Then his manager would have said, "Dude, enough of the talking, slagging the headlining act." I mean, how old are we here, dude? How old is Bruce Dickinson? You'd expect that out of an 18-year old, like the Battle of the Bands in high school? What do you think about it?

KNAC.COM: I was there all day and all that night in San Bernardino, really liking the whole thing, up to the point of the egging. And I continued to dig the show afterward. When BLACK SABBATH went on and did their set, they were totally professional, of course. Ozzy didn't say shit...

Wylde: I guarantee you that Ozzy didn't even know that that went down. I'm telling you. I know he didn't.

Read the entire interview from KNAC.COM.