Prior to Black Label Society's show tonight (January 2nd) in Omaha, NE, Omaha World-Herald's Kevin Coffey caught up with leader Zakk Wylde to talk about their tour, the new Grimmest Hits record and his insanely busy year. An excerpt follows:

Q: There's a lot of different stuff on the record. Bluesy songs. Some slower songs. Some really, really heavy stuff.

Zakk: "Every record that we do, it’s like a box of cracker jacks. We don’t know what we’re gonna get til we get there. It’s like going fishing. Check it out: Whatever we catch whether it’s great white sharks or whatever else is down there. There somebody’s putting us there blindfolded, Kev. We don’t know what fish are there. That’s the whole fun thing about making records. You’re going in with, "Let’s see what happens". You could be listening to 'Heart Of Gold' on the radio and then me and you listening to that, it’d be cool if we wrote something like that. Then you end up writing 'Free Fallin''. How’d you end up writing that? I would have never gotten that. What inspired you to write 'Free Fallin''? A lot of things happen like that. You get sparked off by writing the riff. Listening to Zeppelin or Sabbath or The Allman Brothers. What you end up coming out with can be something different."

Read the full interview at Omaha.com.

Black Label Society will release their tenth full length, Grimmest Hits, on January 19th via Entertainment One (eOne). The new effort will be the follow-up to Billboard Top 5 charting titles Catacombs Of The Black Vatican (2014) and Order Of The Black (2010). In-between then and now, Zakk Wylde released Book of Shadows II, the follow-up to his 1996 solo debut of the same name, which debuted at #18 on the Billboard Top 200 Chart.

Tracklisting:

“Trampled Down Below”
“Seasons Of Falter”
“The Betrayal”
“All That Once Shined”
“The Only Words”
“Room Of Nightmares”
“A Love Unreal”
“Disbelief”
“The Day That Heaven Had Gone Away”
“Illusions Of Peace”
“Bury Your Sorrow”
“Nothing Left To Say”

"All That Once Shined" lyric video:

“Room Of Nightmares” video:

Pre-order Grimmest Hits via the links below:

- Physical
- Digital

Black Label Society are touring with support from Corrosion Of Conformity. Select dates will see support from Eyehategod and Red Fang. A full list of tour dates can be seen below.

January
2 - Omaha, NE - Sokol Auditorium
3 - Chicago, IL - House of Blues
4 - Indianapolis, IN - Egyptian Room at Old National Centre
5 - Detroit, MI - The Fillmore Detroit
7 - Clifton Park, NY - Upstate Concert Hall
8 - Montreal, QC - M Telus
9 - Toronto, ON - Rebel
10 - Grand Rapids, MI - 20 Monroe Live
12 - Oklahoma City, OK - Diamond Ballroom
13 - Dallas, TX - Bomb Factory
14 - Austin, TX - Emo’s
15 - Houston, TX - House of Blues
17 - New Orleans, LA - House of Blues
18 - Nashville, TN - Marathon Music Works
19 - Cincinnati, OH - Bogart’s
20 - Atlanta, GA - Center Stage
26 - St. Petersburg, FL - Jannus Live
27 - Myrtle Beach, SC - House of Blues
28 - Raleigh, NC - The Ritz
29 - Silver Spring, MD - The Fillmore Silver Spring
31 - New York, NY - PlayStation Theater

February
1 - Worcester, MA - The Palladium
2 - Portland, ME - Aura
3 - Philadelphia, PA - Electric Factory
5 - Buffalo, NY - Town Ballroom
6 - Akron, OH - The Goodyear Theater at East End
7 - Pittsburgh, PA - Stage AE
8 - Milwaukee, WI - Eagles Ballroom Club Stage
9 - St. Paul, MN - Myth Live
11 - Saskatoon, SK - O’Brians Event Centre
12 - Edmonton, AB - The Ranch Roadhouse
14 - Vancouver, BC - Commodore Ballroom
16 - Grande Prairie, AB - Bowes Event Center at Revolution Place
17 - Calgary, AB - MacEwan Hall
19 - Seattle, WA - Showbox SoDo
20 - Portland, OR - Roseland Theater
21 - Sacramento, CA - Ace of Spades
23 - Las Vegas, NV - House of Blues
24 - Tempe, AZ - The Marquee
25 - Albuquerque, NM - Sunshine Theater
27 - Los Angeles, CA - The Fonda Theatre

* Eyehategod - through January 20
* Red Fang - January 26 - February 9
* Eyehategod - February 11 - 27

Black Label Society is:

Zakk Wylde - Vocals/Guitar
John DeServio - Bass
Dario Lorina - Guitar
Jeff Fabb - Drums

(Photo - Justin Reich)