BLACK LABEL SOCIETY

In the two decades since Ozzy Osbourne hired him away from his job at a New Jersey gas station to become his new guitarist, Zakk Wylde has established himself as a guitar icon known and revered the world over. Writing and recording with Osbourne led to multi-platinum success, inspiring him to create the now legendary Black Label Society in 1998. In the decade plus since, BLS has turned the notion of what a rock band should be upside down by inspiring legions of fans (known as Berserkers) all over the world to follow the mantra: Strength, Determination, Merciless, Forever (SDMF for short). Wylde and his Berserkers have established a heavy metal institution true to the vision of uncompromising, unfiltered and unrestrained rock n’ roll.

Zakk Wylde’s inspiration comes not only from the fans, but from such notable guitarists as Randy Rhoads, Eddie Van Halen, Frank Marino, Al Di Meola, John McLaughlin and Albert Lee, as well as from the vocal stylings of Elton John, Gregg Allman and late Lynyrd Skynyrd frontman Ronnie Van Zant. Wylde has won nearly every guitar award imaginable, graced countless guitar magazine covers and is a major influence to a new battalion of rock guitarists. Zakk Wylde and Black Label Society are currently recording the band’s first new album in three years in Wylde’s newly-constructed home studio in Southern California. The album is set for release this summer on E1 Entertainment in North America. An extensive worldwide tour will follow.