Interview by Bia Cardoso and Pedro Tiepolo
Text by Bia Cardoso
Zakk Wylde is known worldwide as one of the greatest guitar icons. Leader of Black Label Society , his career also includes playing with Ozzy Osbourne , in addition to his most recent addition to Pantera .
Returning to Brazil for the 2024 Best Of Blues And Rock festival, which takes place between June 20th and 25th in Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Curitiba, and Belo Horizonte, the musician is a guaranteed presence in all cities with his project Zakk Sabbath Black Sabbath songs .
During an exclusive interview with Wikimetal , he talked about the music industry, his most recent work Doomed Forever Forever Doomed (2024) and more.
Recently, along with his project featuring Sabbath songs, Wylde released the aforementioned album and spoke about his philosophy when making this type of work. When asked if the band sought to recreate exactly what the original group did, he explained: “We try to stay as close as possible to the original, you know what I mean? Adding your own 'touch' here and there.”
Zakk Wylde reminisced about his teenage years, when he was already playing Sabbath songs: “There’s no difference now. I mean, except when I was 15 and 16, and we’d play in our friends’ basements in their kitchens, and now I’m 57 and we still play. There are just more people. It’s still as much fun now as it was when I was a teenager playing.”
When asked about the music industry, how to stay current and constantly evolving, the musician admits: “You can’t control that. All you can do, I mean, all AC/DC needs to worry about is making great AC/DC records.”
it ’s the same thing with Led Zeppelin or the Rolling Stones or any of the classic bands we love. I mean, no matter the mood of the music, you just have to keep doing it. You know, go out there and do it. Try to do the best job, you know, on whichever side of the bed you woke up on that day. And whatever you write, that’s it. You know, there’s a new song.”
Following a similar theme, the guitarist said he doesn't mind the use of artificial intelligence in music: "Nothing can replace what comes from the artist you love."
“It’s kind of funny that if you wanted to mix what Led Zeppelin would write, you know, nowadays, if you took a bunch of riffs and stuff like that and the AI made a Led Zeppelin song. It’s like, that’s cool, you know? I mean, it’s a fun thing, but nothing will replace the real thing. That will never happen. Never.”
With his trip to Brazil approaching, he couldn't help but show his affection for his fans: "Every time I'm there, we always have a lot of fun just because the people of Brazil have so much passion for life and for everything else."
Another detail he pointed out that he really likes about our country: "And let's not forget the Brazilian steakhouses."
READ ALSO: Zakk Wylde almost became Guns N' Roses' guitarist in the 1990s; find out why.
