Premier Guitar’s John Bohlinger hung with Zakk Wylde before soundcheck during the Nashville stop of the Generation Axe tour.

“Wylde, an intimidating muscle-bound shred monster turned out to be perhaps the nicest guy on the planet, is a renaissance man, and a titian of industry. Zakk humbly took us through his rig full of newly-launched Wylde Audio wares.

“The guitars Wylde tours with are the same off-the-shelf models that are available through Wylde Audio. Typically, the Black Label Society frontman hangs on to one axe through an entire set and on this particular night this Warhammer model got the call. It features a mahogany body, maple neck, ebony fretboard, Floyd Rose tremolo, and a set of Wylde’s signature EMG pickups.

“Wylde also plays this Wylde Audio Viking V. It has nearly identical specs as the Warhammer, but with a pinstripe finish.”

Zakk Wylde has released a new custom emoji set available via Emoji Fame, the go-to company specializing in making emoji sets for musicians. Thus far, the artist emoji space has been dominated by hip-hop and EDM acts, Zakk Wylde's set is one of the first on the rock/metal side of things, and the first for a guitar god.

"Many members of the Emoji Fame team are secretly guitar nerds, so when Zakk Wylde agreed to do an emoji set with us we were beyond excited," says Gavin Rhodes, co-founder of Emoji Fame. "Zakk is arguably one of the top-ten most influential guitar players of all time and we're immensely proud of the set that we put together with him. His emojis are hilarious with a double dose of SHRED thrown in for good measure.”  

The emoji set is available at this location.

Wylde recently announced new US and Canadian tour dates in continued support of his new LP, Book Of Shadows II. Wylde will hit over 40 cities spread out across the US and Canada this summer including a performance at Heavy MTL Festival in Montreal on August 7th, a first for him as a solo artist. Tyler Bryant & The Shakedown and Jared James Nichols will serve as support. A new tour trailer video can be found below.

Wylde, as always, has been on the road nonstop. He wrapped up a buzzworthy stint on Steve Vai's Generation Axe tour just yesterday in Red Bank, NJ and prior to that served as a marquee artist on The Hendrix Experience Tour with the likes of Billy Cox and Buddy Guy. This is the first time Zakk has toured as a headliner in the US and Canada since last year's Unblackened tour.

Dates include:

July
8 - Dallas, TX - Gas Monkey Live
9 - Oklahoma City, OK - Diamond Ballroom
10 - Austin, TX - Emo’s
12 - Houston, TX - House of Blues
13 - New Orleans, LA - House of Blues
15 - Orlando, FL - The Plaza Live
16 - Atlanta, GA - The Masquerade
18 - Millvale, PA - Mr. Smalls Theatre
19 - New York, NY - Webster Hall
20 - Norfolk, VA - The NorVa
22 - Charlotte, NC - Amos’ Southend
23 - Louisville, KY - Mercury Ballroom
24 - Chicago, IL - Concord Music Hall
26 - Minneapolis, MN - Skyway Theatre
28 - Detroit, MI - The Majestic Theatre
29 - Cleveland, OH - The Agora Theatre
30 - Philadelphia, PA - Theatre Of Living Arts
31 - Boston, MA - Royale

August
2 - Baltimore, MD - Rams Head Live
4 - Uncasville, CT - Wolf Den at Mohegan Sun Casino *no support
7 - Montreal, QC - HEAVY MTL
8 - Toronto, ON - Phoenix Concert Theatre
10 - Milwaukee, WI - The Rave
11 - Lincoln, NE - Bourbon Theatre
13 - Sturgis, SD - Full Throttle Saloon *no support
15 - Denver, CO - The Summit Music Hall
16 - Salt Lake City, UT - The Depot
18 - Missoula, MT - The Wilma
19 - Calgary, AB - Flames Central
20 - Saskatoon, SK - O’Brian’s Event Centre
21 - Winnipeg, MB - The Garrick Centre
23 - Edmonton, AB - The Ranch Roadhouse
25 - Vancouver, BC - Commodore Ballroom
26 - Seattle, WA - Showbox SODO
27 - Spokane, WA - Knitting Factory Concert House
28 - Portland, OR - Roseland Theater
30 - San Francisco, CA - The Regency Ballroom

September
1 - Las Vegas, NV - House of Blues
2 - Tempe, AZ - The Marquee
3 - Los Angeles, CA - The Fonda Theatre