Guitar International's Brady Lavin has issued an interview with BLACK LABEL SOCIETY mainman Zakk Wylde (ex-OZZY OSBOURNE). The following is an excerpt from the interview:

Q: Zakk, you have a dedicated army of fans, affectionately known as the Berserkers, who are used to BLS rocking out and melting faces. What has been their reaction to this much more toned down sound on The Song Remains Not The Same?

A: "Well, on every Black Label album, we’ve always had mellow stuff on there. You know just like LED ZEPPELIN had 'Black Dog', and then they’ll do 'Going To California'. Then we did Hangover Music. That was the only Black Label that we had the intention of going in and making a mellow record from beginning to end. And I did that Book Of Shadows record ’cause I had a bunch of mellow songs laying around. A lot of people are always asking, 'When are you gonna do another one of those types of records?', like a road trip record. This is definitely one of those mellow records that you could just kick back to. When we were just over in England, I listened to that BECK album, Sea Change or whatever. That album is amazing, but it’s mellow from beginning to end. So I’ll just be chillin’ out and put that on and pass out."

Q: It’s funny you mention that people are always asking when you’ll be going another Book Of Shadows kind of thing, because that was literally my next question. What are the chances of something similar to that, an acoustic album of all original material, happening in the future?

A: "Definitely, without a doubt. Musically, with Black Label, we just piss where we want to piss, we’re THE ROLLING STONES. With Zeppelin, they just pissed where they wanted to piss, musically. People were like, 'Well you can’t do that', and they were like, 'We can do whatever we want, man'. That’s the beauty of the band. And like I said, I love NEIL YOUNG, and you don’t even know what kind of record he’s gonna be putting out next, whether he’s doing the electric thing or he’s gonna do the Harvest Moon thing. That’s what’s always awesome about Father Young up there, and the same thing with Zep, they were always mixing it up. As far as a whole other record, I’m sure we’ll definitely do one in the future. The Song Remains Not The Same is out right now, and probably in December we’re gonna go in and do a DVD, a Live Un-Blackened DVD. It’s gonna be the band and bunch of guests, with some of my friends like SLASH, a pedal steel guy, some background singers, a four-piece string section and stuff like that to really blow it up."

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(Photo: Clay Patrick McBride)