American guitarist Zakk Wylde is not unfairly described as a workhorse. Whilst out on the road with the Generation Axe tour which constitutes playing alongside a list of fellow guitar wizard luminaries, the man has made time to discuss his recent and long awaited sequel solo album release Book of Shadows II. The fact that it will also probably be toured between the next Zakk Wylde’s Black Label Society release, on a string of international tour runs indicates the ongoing, powering work ethic and also confidence in the project. He also retains his sense of humour on all tours describing his current Generation Axe tour as being “very hot rocking, tonnes of laughs and a good time.”
Recently performing with blues legend Buddy Guy, he is equally enthused. “Yeah it was awesome, that Hendrix Experience tour. That was killer,” says Wylde. Whilst the late guitar master Randy Rhoads is clearly a massive influence on Zakk, especially with his world conquering tenure in the much celebrated Ozzy Osbourne band, the latest solo album has unmistakable references to the late, great Jimi Hendrix. “Some of the chord voicings are definitely classic Hendrix such as on [Book of Shadows II] songs Lost Prayer and Lay Me Down. Some hammer-ons and pull-offs around those chords are certainly a Jimi trademark.”
The track Autumn Changes is also reminiscent of Eric Clapton in Zakk’s vocal delivery. “If Eric was just a front man, he’d be amazing and up there with the great blues singers,” responds Wylde. “For the bluesy, raspy voices you’ve got Father Eric, Gregg Allman, Michael McDonald and Bob Seger. There’s some Rolling Stones in there but with the clean tone solos on the record, it has a Clapton feel. It also reminds me of Dickey Betts. The Cream stuff is also great but Eric is a triple threat with singing, guitar playing and song writing.”
Zakk is well versed in performing mellower tunes in tandem with heavier material in a live environment. The solo album contains a large amount of electric guitar and drums interspersed with the Hammond B3 organ and other smoother sounds to add dynamics. “We’ve done the mellower stuff live a bunch of times already,” confirms Wylde. “We’re just blessed and fortunate that we can do both so that we can go out and do the mellow stuff when we want. As much as I love listening to Black Sabbath doing Into the Void and Led Zeppelin doing Black Dog, I also love it when they do Changes and Going to California [respectively]. So, this album is a reflection of what we listen to and I love Van Morrison, Stones doing Wild Horses, Bob Seger, Percy Sledge and Sam Cooke.”
Zakk’s songwriting process usually involves presenting the written songs to his drummer to discuss the various changes and song parts. “Next thing, we’ll go into the studio, record it and that’s one song done, onto the next song and we’ll just keep tracking like that,” reveals Wylde. “Jeff [Fabb – drummer] had his drum tracks done in three days with recording around eight songs a day. We tracked about forty ideas or songs. After that there is a scratch bass track then I’ll put down the vocals and guitars. Or, JD [John DeServio – bass] will put real bass down then I’ll do the vocals and from there I’ll write solos once I have a real feel for the song and how it sounds after the chorus kicks in for the solo spot. So, I definitely compose the solos and then you’ve got to play it the same way live. Saint Rhoads was the master of that. Aside from technique and tone, we still talk about him and Hendrix because of their writing.”
The Hammond B3 which adds a definite embellishment flavour to the album, wasn’t used during writing for the album, it is simply an instrument that Zakk enjoys playing and it suited a lot of the songs. “I just love the sound of it,” explains Wylde. “With some the artists we’ve been talking about and with say Bad Company, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Van Morrison, The Band or the Allman Brothers, the Hammond B3 is so indicative of that sound and that style of music. It is like adding tabasco sauce to a soup making it taste the way you want it.”
“Most albums we’ve done were knocked out in one shot. We track it, do it, sing on it, mix it, tweak it and then it is done. This one, whilst we tracked everything, it was between tours so when I came back, I’d put more guitars down, sing on it or write more lyrics. That was weird because we’ve never really recorded like that. But, it doesn’t matter how, as long as it gets done. You’ve just got to get it finished.”
There are bonus piano versions of certain tracks on the CD release, despite all the songs being written on guitar. “I ended up transposing songs onto piano,” comments Wylde. “I’ve done that on The Song Remains Not the Same with a piano version of Sabbath’s Junior’s Eyes. I just took a super heavy song and made a piano version of it because I enjoy it because you can make the song really moody or whatever. I just love those versions of me just sitting at piano doing certain songs.”
Huge bands are still around today in the guise of say Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, AC/DC and Metallica. However, their longevity is sadly finite. Carrying the torch onto new successors of definitive influences may seem unlikely but Zakk doesn’t entertain such naysaying. “When Led Zeppelin was gone, everyone thought that but then along came Van Halen and Guns N’ Roses,” replies Wylde with assurance. “For that genre, Guns N’ Roses was everyone’s Led Zeppelin when it happened. After the Sex Pistols and The Clash, you eventually had Nirvana and Green Day. When Barbara Streisand retires then you have Celine Dion and Adele. After Jimi Hendrix died everyone said ‘no one will ever be that good at guitar’. Then seven years later Eddie Van Halen appears. Eddie didn’t knock on the door or kick it down, he just blew it right off the hinges. There will always be hungry kids that will be inspired and creative to fill that void. Avenged Sevenfold doing arenas make them the Metallica of the younger kids. People can say what they want but Justin Bieber does stadiums on consecutive nights. He can sing, dance, play drums, play guitar and writes his own songs so everyone can go and fuck off. It is just in a different form. When Madonna retires you then have Lady Gaga and she is her own person for that style of music. You will always have inspired people with drive that want to succeed. So, I think we’ve got nothing to worry about.”