Latest news with #ZakkWylde
Yahoo
5 hours ago
- Entertainment
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Ozzy Osbourne Bassist Reflects on First and Final Shows: ‘I Owe That Man Everything'
Ozzy Osbourne Bassist Reflects on First and Final Shows: 'I Owe That Man Everything' originally appeared on Parade. 's 'Back to the Beginning' farewell show is history, but at least one musician who spent years as a member of Ozzy's solo band is still reflecting on the journey. , who has been the bassist in Alice in Chains for the last 20 years, took to Instagram on Monday, July 7 to share his thoughts about the weekend and his early days in Ozzy's band. 'My VERY FIRST Ozzy show I ever played was two nights at the old Mcgonagles punk club at 22 St. Anne st. In Dublin Ireland. January 11-12 1991,' he wrote. 'I decided that on my way home from playing the LAST show I'll ever play with Ozzy in Birmingham this past Saturday, I figured that I would swing by Dublin for a few days and reflect on those early days with Ozzy and Zakky,' he added, referring to his former bandmate, guitarist . 'The club is now a shitty posh clothing store. But I suppose it's logical that things change after 35 years. I'm sure going to miss playing with Ozzy. I owe that man everything. #ozzyosbourne' The caption was accompanied by a carousel of photos, including Inez standing in front of the 'posh clothing store' that was the site of McGonangles, as well as a handbill for that show that billed it as 'a live rehearsal,' along with three photos of the crowd at Saturday's 'Back to the Beginning' festival. At that show, Inez played a three-song set with Alice in Chains that included the band's hits 'Man in the Box' and 'Would?' as well as a cover of Black Sabbath's 'Fairies Wear Boots.' He later returned to the stage to back Ozzy—along with his fellow Ozzy solo band members drummer , guitarist Wylde and keyboardist —on a set of Ozzy solo hits that included such classics as 'Mr. Crowley,' 'Mama, I'm Coming Home' and 'Crazy Train.' Inez, who grew up in the San Fernando Valley, played in Osbourne's band from 1989 through 1993 after auditioning along with more than 50 other musicians to play bass for the heavy metal legend. He went on to have stints with Alice in Chains (1993-2002), Wylde's Black Label Society (2001-2004), Heart (2002-2006), and a second stint with the reunited Alice in Chains beginning in 2005. His followers offered him kudos for his journey with Osbourne in the comments on Instagram. 'As a big fan of AIC I couldn't be more proud of you Mike, you totally rock!!!!' wrote one. 'You were absolutely INCREDIBLE, I hope to cross paths with you and [Inez's wife] Sydney again as it was such a pleasure to meet and feed you both! The energy you brought to my day was epic! What an unbelievable experience. Much love ❤️,' added another. 'Was so amazing seeing you up there supporting Ozzy during his last solo set. Zak, Adam and Tommy crushed it with you… Hugely emotional, not a dry eye for anyone watching no doubt,' added another fan. Ozzy Osbourne Bassist Reflects on First and Final Shows: 'I Owe That Man Everything' first appeared on Parade on Jul 7, 2025 This story was originally reported by Parade on Jul 7, 2025, where it first appeared.
Yahoo
06-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Ozzy Osbourne Gives Earth-Shaking Farewell at Black Sabbath's Back to the Beginning
'Let the madness begin!' bellowed a mischievous Ozzy Osbourne from his bat-and-skull encrusted throne in front of a sold-out Villa Park in Birmingham, England. The Prince of Darkness had finally taken to the stage after a marathon of legendary metal bands paid homage to his life and work throughout the day for his and Black Sabbath's Back to the Beginning concert on Saturday, July 5. The Summer of Sabbath had been in full flow in Birmingham for weeks now, though. The proud home city of heavy metal rolled out the purple carpet for its most famous sons' homecoming. Boozers were decked with purple balloons and flags; murals were everywhere you looked; people donned Ozzy outfits, flooding the streets with battered T-shirts and denim jackets. It felt like a World Cup final for the metal fans who flooded in from every corner of the planet. More from Rolling Stone See Metallica, Guns N' Roses Cover Black Sabbath at 'Back to the Beginning' Concert Zakk Wylde Hopes Ozzy Osbourne Will Tour Again on a 'Mechanical Throne That Shoots Fire' Black Sabbath's Early Demos Will Be Released as 'The Legendary Lost Tapes' That carnival atmosphere hit the moment you stepped out of New Street Station, where fans gathered around the nearby Black Sabbath Bridge mural, which Osbourne and the band duly signed earlier in the week. We met one fan from London, who said he was on a Sabbath pilgrimage before the gates opened later in the day. 'I'm going around the city doing all of the sites like The Crown where they played their first ever show, the various exhibitions and Ozzy the Bull!' This of course was before you even made your way to Villa Park, the historic football ground housed in the working class suburb which was once home to the band's four members. Upon arrival, we were greeted by rumbles of distortion and a giant inflatable Ozzy who watched over his parish. Heading into the stadium, Cody Holl, a fan who traveled from Pennsylvania, was in a state of giddy delirium. 'It's Black Sabbath's last Sabbath,' Holl said. 'I've never seen them before and I told myself after that 2017 tour, I'm going no matter what, I just had to be here.' The heavy metal royalty who graced the stage throughout the day were clearly struck by a similar sense of awe, that's perhaps because Black Sabbath have shaped and influenced each and every one of them, from openers Mastadon right through to thrash veterans Anthrax and Lamb of God. The latter delivered an early standout moment with a cover of 'Children of the Grave,' which drew a gaping circle pit that formed on the pitch. The day was packed with such moments: For those lucky enough to get a ticket to the sold-out bash, the main challenge presented was bottling it all up. Even on this star-studded lineup though, there was always room for surprise as Yungblud joined the day's first supergroup set for a cover of 'Changes.' Stomping onstage with spit and venom, he dedicated the band's most heartfelt song to the late Liverpool striker Diogo Jota, who was killed in a car crash. 'We'd all collectively like to dedicate this next song to Diogo Jota. God bless Black Sabbath and God bless Ozzy Osbourne,' he declared before a heartfelt rendition that stopped the stadium in its tracks. Amid the palpable emotion there was also scope for the ridiculous as Blink-182's Travis Barker, Red Hot Chili Pepper's Chad Smith, and Tool's Danny Carey indulged in a drum-off fronted by Rage Against the Machine's Tom Morello. That was before Billy Corgan and Judas Priest guitarist KK Downing entered the fray and tore into 'Breaking the Law.' The extravaganza rolled on with more legends including Alice in Chains, Gojira, Pantera, and Tool, who all seized their respective 30-minute sets. As the sun dipped under the clouds, Slayer took to the stage and produced the day's biggest moshpit so far, the kind that felt like dicing with death when entering as they shredded through genre-defining epics like 'Reign in Blood' and 'Angel of Death.' Guns N' Roses teed up the home stretch towards Metallica, Osbourne, and Sabbath. Having headlined this very venue themselves but a week prior, the rock giants were clearly loving life as they covered 'Sabbath Bloody Sabbath' before the iconic guitar intro of 'Welcome to the Jungle.' One of the most profound tributes to Sabbath came from Metallica's James Hetfield as he surveyed the thousands ahead of him. 'Without Sabbath there would be no Metallica, thank you boys for giving us a purpose in life,' he said before unleashing a career-spanning run of the band's biggest anthems. After a strobing montage of his glory days, Osbourne took to the stage and shot straight from the hip. 'It's so good to be on this fucking stage you have no idea,' he said before questioning, 'Have you had a good day today?' before the ominous organ intro of 'Mr. Crowley.' Osbourne was trembling with emotion as he sang the ballad 'Mama I'm Coming Home,' and the sense of meaning was almost unprecedented as he was back where it all began over 50 years ago. After a riotous rendition of 'Crazy Train,' he departed and returned for a condensed set with Black Sabbath, who arrived to the rain and church bell tolls of 'War Pigs.' It was pure theater as Osbourne clutched the microphone stand with OZZY tattooed upon his knuckles and sang that opening line that still speaks to the world today: 'Generals gathered in their masses…' Though confined to his chair, Osbourne writhed and wriggled like a man summoning every last inch of the hell-raising spirit still in him as he bowed out with 'Iron Man' and 'Paranoid.' 'Go fucking crazy, it's the last song,' he said before the latter and boy did the masses oblige. For all the false farewells and goodbyes in his career, there was something so final about this one that added a crushing poignancy to the night. The great tragedy is that so often such legends die before celebrations on this level can take place, yet by some great miracle or divine intervention Ozzy Osbourne was here to take his final bow with his own tribe. Ozzy Osbourne Set List 'I Don't Know''Mr. Crowley''Suicide Solution''Mama, I'm Coming Home''Crazy Train' Black Sabbath Set List 'War Pigs''N.I.B.''Iron Man''Paranoid' This story was originally published on Rolling Stone UK. Best of Rolling Stone Sly and the Family Stone: 20 Essential Songs The 50 Greatest Eminem Songs All 274 of Taylor Swift's Songs, Ranked
Yahoo
05-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
'90s 'Metal Gods' Shock Fans With Friendly Chat After 'Pretty Ugly' Past
'90s 'Metal Gods' Shock Fans With Friendly Chat After 'Pretty Ugly' Past originally appeared on Parade. There's no question that the history of rock and roll is filled with stories of famous feuds — but as the world's most iconic musicians get older and wiser, it seems more and more former rivals are joining fans are loving every minute of it. In a video shared to Instagram this week by the official account for the iconic metal band Pantera, frontman Phil Anselmo revealed a surprising "secret" to James Hetfield, lead singer of Metallica: He apparently only recently got a phone. But the real surprise was the fact that the musicians seemed to be getting along so well — at least for commenters, many of whom recalled Pantera and Metallica's contentious past relationship. "It's the first one I ever got," Anselmo, 57, said in the clip, talking about his phone. "Cause Zakk only texts," he continued, referring to guitarist Zakk Wylde. "I'm like man, this is all new to me." "Wait, wait," Hetfield, 61, interrupted, laughing. "You're just now getting a phone? Welcome, bud! Wow. You survived a long time without it." Anselmo went on to admit he didn't know how he'd managed so long without a phone. "Yeah, my kids didn't get one till they were 16 either," Hetfield quipped before playfully grabbing Anselmo by the shoulders. Fans in the comments couldn't believe what they were seeing, "I love that Metallica and Pantera are this close now," one person wrote, adding, "Along with Ozzy Osbourne they are my top three favorite accent metal but anyone that was around in the 90s knew you would never see these two laughing together. It got pretty ugly between the two bands back in the 90s. Very happy to see this." "Two of the biggest metal gods talking together, gives me chills!" a second fan added. "Phil seems in great spirits. He must be sober now," somebody pointed out, with someone else chiming in to say, "I tell you what it's great seeing these guys you grew up listening to their music being like this." As Ultimate Classic Rock reported, back in 2003, Anselmo announced that he'd challenged Metallica to a head-to-head concert face-off between them and his band Superjoint Ritual. While Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich dismissed Anselmo's comments at the time, saying he "has a tendency to talk a lot of horses," Anselmo insisted the reason why Metallica would never accept the challenge was "because they know what would f---in' happen. We would f---in' eat them alive! That's the end of the f---in' sentence. We would crush 'em." In 2008, however, Anselmo's band Down toured with Metallica; two years later, he called his one-time adversaries the "Rolling Stones of metal."'90s 'Metal Gods' Shock Fans With Friendly Chat After 'Pretty Ugly' Past first appeared on Parade on Jun 30, 2025 This story was originally reported by Parade on Jun 30, 2025, where it first appeared.
Yahoo
19-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Zakk Wylde says Black Sabbath's farewell show will be "special for everybody", but hopes it won't be Ozzy's last gig
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Zakk Wylde says that Black Sabbath's farewell Back To The Beginning gig in Birmingham will be "special for everybody", but hopes that it won't be Ozzy Osbourne's final time on stage. Talking about the Birmingham band's homecoming show, which is set to feature performances from Metallica, Slayer, Mastodon, Alice In Chains, Tool, Guns N' Roses and many more, plus one-off super-groups featuring the likes of Tom Morello, Sammy Hagar, Wolfgang Van Halen, Billy Corgan, Fred Durst and more, Wylde told Riff X's Metal XS show (as reported by Blabbermouth), "Considering all the bands that are on that thing and everybody's gonna be playing Sabbath songs, it's gonna be pretty mindblowing. It's gonna be pretty awesome. And then to see Ozz get up there and do a song with 'em and then watch Sabbath play. I think for all the bands that are gonna be there, 'cause if it wasn't for Sabbath none of us would exist. You know what I mean? So I think it's gonna be special for everybody." The guitarist also expressed his hope - "you always gotta stay on the bright side of life" - that the show on July 5, which is also intended as Ozzy Osbourne's farewell bow as a solo artist, will not actually be his very final show. "Hopefully we'll just do this, and then Ozz will go, 'Let's just fire up the machine again and we'll do another tour.' You know what I mean?" he says. "With Ozz and his throne that just flies over the stadium or whatever - shoots out buckets of water and does everything like that. So, yeah, if Ozz has a great time, whatever, and it's just, like, 'I wanna go out on the road again,' it's like, Good. Let's do it again." "I mean, what else is he gonna do?" Wylde continues. "It's like Keith Richards said. He [was asked], 'When are you going to retire?' He goes, 'Retire from what?' If you like reading a book and having a cup of coffee, it's, like, why am I retiring from this? I enjoy it. I play music. I mean, what am I retiring from? It's something I enjoy, something I love doing. So hopefully that's what happens." Osbourne's producer, collaborator and sometime guitarist Andrew Watt says that the Prince of Darkness has been hitting the gym as the countdown to July's Back To The Beginning show continues. Speaking to US broadcaster Howard Stern on Stern's SiriusXM, Watt discussed working with Ozzy, and says that the singer's voice is "as good as it's ever been.""He's okay," Watt stated. "His body is not doing what doing what he wants it to do all the time, but I talked to him a couple of days ago, and he's starting to get in the gym again a little, to get himself ready for this last concert. He is the real life Iron Man. And nothing has happened to his voice, his voice is as good as it's ever been." Watch Zakk Wylde chose his five favourite guitar riffs of all time exclusively for Metal Hammer, below.
Yahoo
17-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Paging all 'shred warriors,' Wylde Audio's Berzerker takes the shape of metal guitar to new extremes
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Wylde Audio has unveiled its latest made-for-metal electric guitar for current Pantera reunion shredder, Black Label Society founder and Ozzy Osbourne guitarist Zakk Wylde, and it looks like something straight out of the encyclopedia of medieval weaponry. Immediately assuming the opposite end of the aesthetic spectrum as the Hello Kitty Stratocaster, the evocatively titled Berzerker is a metal guitar through and through. No jazz, please. Ration those blues licks, and if you must play them, play them through a high-gain metal amp. Come on, just look at this thing. 'Crafted for the true metal enthusiast, this axe embodies the soul of legendary guitarist Zakk Wylde,' says Wylde Audio. 'Equipped with high-output EMG active pickups, the Blood Skull Berzerker delivers an iconic tone with unparalleled clarity and sustain.' Where do you start with a body shape like this? Well, maybe with the finishes. Wylde Audio is offering this in Blood Skull graphic finish, a Slayer fan's fever dream if ever we've seen it, and in this raw-topped Corridors finish, which has an Escher-esque vibe. Nose to tail the design of this is brutal. It is with some satisfaction to see that this has a reverse six-in-line headstock. And being a Zakk Wylde production, you've got a pair of active EMG humbuckers to help put some weight – not to mention clarity – behind those riffs. There is an EMG 81 at the bridge and an EMG 85 at the neck. These are controlled by dual volume controls plus a master tone knob, with a three-way pickup selector mounted… Well, it's kind of hard to see on this model but you'll find it on the lower horn. For all intents and purposes, this is a double-cutaway. But really it's a quadruple cutaway. It will be interesting to see how this feels on a guitar strap, or played seated. As for the fundamentals, the Berzerker has a mahogany body – the Corridors has some maple on the top to give it that surrealist look. Image 1 of 4 Image 2 of 4 Image 3 of 4 Image 4 of 4 The neck is three-piece maple, fashioned into Wylde's signature C shape, and joinis the body with a deep-set, glued-in neck joint. The fingerboard is ebony, inlaid with runes, and has a 14' radius. There's some Gibson-esque DNA here, what with Wylde a former user and abuser of the Gibson Les Paul Custom. We have a Tonespro Locking Tune-O-Matic bridge and tailpiece, and the guitar has a 24.625' scale length. The black Speed Knobs are perhaps a nod to his old Custom, too. Other details include Grover tuners, the frets are extra-jumbo, the nut is a Graph Tech Tusq XL and the nut width is 43mm. Schecter is listing this at $1,699, and the price does not include a guitar case. For more details head over to the Wylde Audio page at Schecter Guitars.
