Zakk Wylde

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Zakk Wylde

Zakk Wylde performing live in 2005
Born January 14, 1967
in Bayonne, New Jersey
Genre(s) Heavy metal
Affiliation(s) Ozzy Osbourne
Black Label Society
Pride & Glory
Notable guitars Zakk Wylde Signature Les Paul
Years active 1988 - present
Official site Official website

Zakk Wylde (born Jeffery Phillip Wiedlandt on January 14, 1967 in Bayonne, New Jersey) is the lead guitarist, singer and songwriter of Black Label Society and guitarist for Ozzy Osbourne. Known for his unique guitar skills and style, Wylde has been voted "Most Valuable Player" for three consecutive years in the Guitar World magazine polls. In 2005, he was also voted "Best Metal Guitarist", "Number 1 Shredder" and received the Metal Hammer (UK magazine) "Riff Lord" and "Golden God" awards.

Contents

[edit] Career

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Wylde started playing the guitar at the age of 15 and used to work at Silverton Music in Silverton, New Jersey. He practiced guitar as much as 12 hours per day. Often, he would play the guitar almost non-stop between coming home from school and leaving for school the next morning. He would then sleep through the school day.

Growing up, Wylde played locally with his first band called "Stone Henge" then later with local Jersey band "Zyris". Years later, a virtually unknown 20 year-old Wylde landed the coveted role as lead guitarist and co-writer for Ozzy Osbourne. He sent Ozzy a demo tape in 1987 and was hired to replace the departed Jake E. Lee. Jake had replaced the deceased Randy Rhoads, an idol of Wylde's, for whom he even built a shrine.

It is said that Wylde, at the age of 20 (incorrectly stated as being 19), was hired after only one audition. Wylde's then-girlfriend (now wife) Barbaranne heard Ozzy was looking for a new guitarist on the Howard Stern radio show. While playing at a local gig, a photographer spoke to Wylde urging him to audition for Ozzy, and offered to send a presskit along to Osbourne; Wylde, who at the time was working at a local Getty gas station, decided he had nothing to lose. Ozzy dismissed the tape among thousands of others as "just another Randy Rhoads clone". But a couple weeks later, Randy Castillo, Ozzy's drummer at the time told him he'd found this great guitarist from New Jersey. Wylde recalled how he received a phone call from Sharon Osbourne(thinking it was one of his friends' mother) telling him there was a ticket for him to fly out and audition for Ozzy. Ozzy soon recognized him from the tape and press kit, and hired him as his new guitarist.

Ozzy had run through many hopefuls following Lee's departure. At his fated audition, Wylde reminisces that he was hired on the spot even before he started playing, when he was still tuning his guitar. He first appeared in No Rest for the Wicked in 1988 with Ozzy Osbourne. In addition to Black Label Society, Wylde has been part of a Southern style blues band called "Pride & Glory" that released one self-titled album before disbanding. He has also released an acoustic solo project entitled "Book of Shadows" that contained a much different style of music than he had been accustomed to producing in the past, again forming Wylde's signature technique with even more diversity, going from a local nobody to holder of a coveted role in merely a matter of months.

Zakk Wylde's guitar-playing style is usually characterized by his use of pinch harmonics and wide vibrato. His guitar soloing technique is usually characterized by his use of the minor pentatonic scale, playing rapid box-pattern licks using strict alternate-picking, creating a very distinctive, choppy attack, compared to the more fluid playing styles of other rock guitarists. Another notable feature of Wylde's playing is his liberal use of "chicken pickin' ", a technique which is usually associated with country music, and which is (comparatively) rarely seen in heavy metal; a technique he has picked up from watching Albert Lee, one of his influences.

He is known for his use of Gibson Les Paul Custom model guitars with a unique "bulls-eye" graphic on them, a design he used to deliberately differentiate himself visually from Randy Rhoads - who was also frequently identified by his white Les Paul Custom. Interestingly, one of Wylde's favorite stage guitars of late is a replica of Rhoads' Flying V. The "bulls-eye" paint job was originally supposed to look like the spiral from the movie Vertigo, but when it came back incorrect from the luthier, he liked the result and stuck with it.

Wylde's signature Les Pauls include, a red and flame-maple bulls-eye model, a black and antique-white bulls-eye model, an orange "buzz-saw" model, which Zakk got the pattern off a zippo lighter, and a "camo" bulls-eye model with mother of pearl neck inlays and a green camouflage paint scheme. His original bulls-eye Les Paul was bought from a regular store front and is christened "The Grail". It was lost to Wylde for some time when it fell off the truck as he was coming back from a gig in Texas. Rewards were posted to anyone that had information about the guitar - it holds sentimental value to him since it was a gift from his parents.

Wylde and The Grail were only reunited years later, after a fan bought it at a pawn shop and realized he may very well have the missing guitar after checking the initials "Z.W." on its back and the serial number marked on the headstock. He then contacted Wylde's webmaster to arrange its return.

Ozzy has always left the option open to his band members to leave if they wish, but Wylde has stayed faithfully by the Ozzy's side ever since he was a teenager. Wylde has also in the past auditioned and was poised to become part of Guns N' Roses but a miscommunication between management led to Wylde never having the opportunity to play with Axl Rose.

Wylde has stated that he has no respect for musicians who release material "not true to themselves". As a consequence, the band Limp Bizkit and their frontman, Fred Durst are regularly ridiculed during Black Label Society's live events.

On January 17, 2006, Zakk Wylde was immortalized at the Hollywood Rock Walk of Fame located at 7425 Sunset Blvd, featuring his hand prints and signature, in recognition to his successful career as a musician and contribution to music industry. The event was open to the public and had the presence of many rock celebrities.

Although Ozzy Osbourne has been auditioning new guitarists for future material, he announced Wylde as the official guitarist for his new album as a follow-up to his last studio release, "Down To Earth". Notably, the band performed recently during the latest UK Music Hall of Fame, playing "Crazy Train".

Black Label Society's new album, "Shot To Hell", was released on September 11th (UK), 12th (US) through Roadrunner records with production by Michael Beinhorn (Soundgarden, Ozzy Osbourne, Red Hot Chili Peppers). Black Label Society headlined the 2nd stage this years Ozzfest, with Wylde playing double duty with Ozzy on certain dates. Ozzy's new album will be out in 2007. Zakk currently working a new film called The Berserkers, with script and production done by Zakk himself. Zakk has classified the movie as firmly in the "gay" genre. Rumours suggest that the agents of several popular actors have been approaching Zakk for roles.

[edit] Personal life

Wylde and his wife, Barbaranne, have 3 children and live outside of Los Angeles. They both attended Jackson Memorial High School in Jackson, New Jersey. He was a close friend of the deceased Dimebag Darrell since 1993, exchanging guitars in admiration for one another as fellow guitarists. Wylde had given Dimebag one of his custom Gibson guitars with the trademark "bulls-eye" design on it shortly before the guitarist's untimely death. Wylde dedicated the song "In This River" to Dimebag, citing that although the song wasn't originally written for him, the lyrics were fitting to the situation. He dedicates each live performance of the song to Dimebag.

[edit] Appearances

Wylde has done guest appearances on many albums, such as the debut album for Damageplan as guest vocalist and guitar on the tracks "Soul Bleed" and "Reborn." He has also worked on four of Derek Sherinian's solo albums: "Inertia", "Black Utopia", "Mythology" and "Blood of the Snake" alongside Yngwie Malmsteen among others.

Wylde's film credits include Rock Star (As "Ghode", guitarist of the ficticious band Steel Dragon) and the concert DVD Boozed, Broozed, and Broken-Boned (Certified Platinum), recorded at Harpo's in Detroit, MI. It was the first time in the concert hall's history that all of the alcohol had been consumed on one night (Wylde's favorite beer is Sierra Nevada Pale Ale). He has also done a comedy skit show alongside Jim Breuer, titled "Crapshoot", which is now available on DVD.

Zakk Wylde also appeared on the TV show Angel in the season 4 episode The Magic Bullet where he plays acoustic on the song "Mandy" while Angel and Conner sing along.

Wylde has also appeared as a guest star on the TV show Aqua Teen Hunger Force. In it, he plays guitar on a track produced by Master Shake that is supposed to become the next big birthday song, which is called "Spirit Journey Formation Anniversary." Wylde becomes irate when he finds out that Master Shake cannot pay him for his input on the project. Later in the show, Wylde is killed when caught between the crossfire of two metal scorpions armed with laser guided missiles.

He is a New York Yankees and New York Giants fan. He also performed the National Anthem on the electric guitar during a Los Angeles Kings game in October 2005.

[edit] Gear

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Zakk Wylde and his Guitars
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Zakk Wylde and his Guitars

Zakk Wylde uses Gibson Les Paul Custom guitars with a "bulls-eye" graphic, as well as the famous "Rebel" Les Paul decorated with bottle caps, in addition to other guitars such as a Jackson Randy Rhoads and a Gibson EDS-1275). His guitars are outfitted with his signature GHS Zakk Wylde Boomers strings and a set of active EMG 81 and EMG 85 humbucker pick-ups. He usually gives preference to Marshall amplifiers such as the JCM800 2203's and 2204's (He has his own Signature JCM800ZW Amp and cabinet loaded with EVM12L-Black Label guitar speakers). Jim Dunlop worked with Zakk to design two effect pedals, the MXR ZW-44 Dunlop Overdrive pedal, and the ZW-45 Zakk Wylde Signature "Cry Baby" wah-wah pedal.The MXR m-134 stereo chorus,and the MXR EVH Van Halen signature phase pedal are also in his pedal board.

Zakk's settings for Standard, Eb, Dropped D, and Dropped B tuning: GBZW (.010 .013 .017 .036 .052 .060) and for Dropped A, Dropped G, and other dropped tunings in a "D" tuning: GBWZLO (.011 .014 .018 .036 .052 .070).(mostly used in the studio)

[edit] 357 Customs controversy and lawsuit

- In the December of 2005, a promotional offer was posted on ZakkWylde.com, stating that anyone who bought a $100 merchandise gift certificate and a miniature model of a chopper would receive a $800 Epiphone guitar. The offer was posted by guitar company 357 Customs, through webmaster Chad Dyer.

- On June 2, 2006, Bob Ringe, Zakk Wylde's manager, stated on the website that "357 Customs ran a promotion directed toward Zakk's fans, and [...] 357 has not delivered merchandise ordered during the promotion. Zakk has not authorized or otherwise been involved with this promotion, and has not received any compensation from it." Ringe went on further to state that he has instructed his lawyers to "contact 357....monitor this situation and follow up with 357." - - One week later, on June 9, 2006, Zakk Wylde corroborated Ringe's statement and the involvement of his lawyers in "address[ing] the situation." On June 14th, 2006, Zakk Wylde's attorneys filed suit against 357 Customs Inc. in the Superior Court of the State of California. The suit alleges trademark infringement, false designation of origin, unfair competition, false advertising, breach of contract, as well as several other counts. The text of the lawsuit indicates that it was brought about to prevent any preying upon of Zakk's loyal fans in the future and to recoup unpaid royalties as 357 Customs failed to deliver on its agreements with Zakk Wylde. There is nothing in the suit thus far to indicate any kind of specific damages to be recovered on behalf of fans who have not received their merchandise other than as-yet unspecified damages pertaining to this suit. Text of Lawsuit - - On July 5, 2006, webmaster Chad Dyer was asked to resign from the website. He admitted being hired (but not paid) by 357 Customs to maintain ZakkWylde.com and claimed that he wasn't aware of the conflict of interest. [1]

[edit] Discography

[edit] With Pride & Glory

with special thanks to Kenny Taylor and Chris from savatage

[edit] Solo

  • Book of Shadows (1996)
Zakk Wylde & Derek Sherinian
Enlarge
Zakk Wylde & Derek Sherinian

[edit] With Derek Sherinian

[edit] With Black Label Society

[edit] With Ozzy Osbourne

[edit] Other appearances

  • Make a Difference: Stairway to Heaven / Highway to Hell (1989)
  • Ward One: Along the Way (1990)
  • Dweezil Zappa: Confessions (1991)
  • LA Blues Authority (1991)
  • Britny Fox: Bite Down Hard (1991)
  • Guitars that Rule the World (1992)
  • C.P.R (1992)
  • Stevie Salas: The Electric Pow Wow (1993)
  • Blackfoot:After the reign (1994)
  • Stairway to Heaven Tribute (1997)
  • Carmine Appice's Guitar Zeus 2 (1997)
  • Thunderbolt Tribute To AC/DC (1997)
  • Hard Pressed - Nobuteura Mada (1997)
  • Love: Tokma (1997)
  • Merry Axemas Vol.2 - More Guitars (1998)
  • RE-SET - Marcy (1998)
  • Humanary Stew - A Tribute To Alice Cooper (1999)
  • Ozzfest 2001: The Second Millennium (2001)
  • Rock Star Soundtrack (2001)
  • Themes of Horror (2001)
  • Ozzfest 2002 (2002)
  • Gibson's 50th Anniversary (2002)
  • Aqua Teen Hunger Force - Spirit Journey Formation Anniversary (2003)
  • Damageplan - New Found Power (2004)
  • Fozzy - All That Remains (2005)

(The "Other appearances" section was taken from the SDMF World-Wide Website).

[edit] References

    [edit] See also

    [edit] External links

    Black Label Society
    Zakk Wylde | John DeServio | Nick Catanese | Craig Nunenmacher
    Phil Ondich | Steve Gibb | Mike Inez | Robert Trujillo | James LoMenzo | Mike Piazza | Ozzy Osbourne
    Discography
    Albums: Sonic Brew | Stronger Than Death | Alcohol Fueled Brewtality | 1919 Eternal | The Blessed Hellride | Hangover Music Vol. VI | Mafia | Kings of Damnation 98-04 | Shot to Hell
    Singles: "Bored To Tears" | "Born To Lose" | "Counterfeit God" | "All For You" | "Like A Bird" | "Bleed For Me" | "Bridge To Cross" | "Demise Of Sanity" | "Stillborn" | "The Blessed Hellride" | "House of Doom" | "Suicide Messiah" | "Fire It Up" | "In This River" | "Concrete Jungle"
    Related articles
    Black Label Society
    Categories: Black Label Society | Black Label Society Albums | Black Label Society Songs
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