Zakk Wylde recently recalled how Ozzy Osbourne replaced him with Joe Holmes as he was hesitant to let go of a gig in Guns N’ Roses, that never materialized. He noted that ending up with no options inspired him to work on what would become the Black Label Society.
The New Jersey-born guitarist’s three stints with Ozzy Osbourne have made Zakk Wylde a key contributor to The Prince of Darkness’ solo career, putting him right next to legends such as Randy Rhoads and Jake E. Lee.
Wylde’s first stint with Ozzy ended in 1996. After coming out of his first retirement, Osbourne recruited Steve Vai for lead guitar parts on ‘Ozzmosis’, whom Wylde shortly replaced. However, when Ozzy’s comeback tour began, the lead guitar spot went to Joe Holmes.
Speaking to Billy Corgan during a recent interview on The Smashing Pumpkins frontman’s “The Magnificent Others” podcast, Zakk Wylde reflected on the circumstances under which Ozzy had made that decision.
“I’m friends with Joe Holmes. Joe’s an amazing player. And that’s when they got Joe to come in, because I was playing with GNR at the time as well… I think Gilby [Clarke] had left the band, and Axl was like, ‘Well, who are we going to get on guitar?'”
“I guess Slash just threw [it] around. He’s like… ‘I’ll just reach out to Zakk.’ I never spoke to Axel before. I knew Slash when I first joined Ozzy; that’s when Guns was blowing up, and then, and I knew Steven [Adler], and I knew Matt [Sorum] from when he was with The Cult.”
He added:
“I remember they had the rehearsal joint all set up, and I remember it was me, Matt, Dizzy [Reed] was throwing down on the keys, and then you had Slash and Duff [McKagan], and Axl. We were down there jamming and noodling ideas. We recorded a couple of riffs, like ‘The Rose Petalled Garden’; it ended up on the first Black Label [Society] album. But, nothing was materializing.”
As the guitarist recalled, that was when the call from Ozzy came. Being in the dark about his potential future in Guns N’ Roses, Wylde hesitated, which made Ozzy try out his luck with Joe Holmes:
“I remember Ozz was like, ‘Zakky, are you going to do this thing with the fellas, or are we doing this?’ And then I was like, ‘Ozz, let me call up and see if I can get an answer, because I don’t know either…”
“I remember Ozz was getting ready to release the ‘Ozzmosis’ album and getting ready to tour. And Ozz says, ‘Zakk, sit down… Come here little closer.’ And he poked me in the eyes again [laughs]. He goes, ‘Zakk, you make me a ham sandwich. I’m gonna get Joe Holmes to come play for a little while, and then we’ll see what happens from there.'”
As the Guns N’ Roses gig never materialized, Wylde ended up with no immediate project to immerse himself in. It was then that the seeds of Black Label Society started being sown:
“And then, the Guns and Roses thing wasn’t happening. I’m not playing with the boss anymore. I’m like, ‘Well, I better figure something out.’ I had just released ‘Book of Shadows’ [Wylde’s 1996 solo debut album], which I loved doing… And then, after we were done with that, I was like, ‘What am I gonna do? I’m not ready to be James Taylor, like a singer-songwriter, yet. I still want to play heavy stuff.’ So, that [was] pretty much out of, you know, being in the middle of the Atlantic with one oar. I’m like, ‘Bill, do you see any land?’ You’re like, ‘No, but we better start rolling.'”
He added:
“I never thought to myself, ‘Well, I guess the dream is over.’ It was just like, ‘No, I’m not going back to having some crummy job I can’t stand. So it was just like, we are going to find land and that’s it, or we’re going to die out here.”
