In a new interview with Mark Strigl on SiriusXM, Zakk Wylde revealed he almost joined Guns N’ Roses but ditched it solely for one reason: To make money for his girlfriend.
Wylde recalled receiving a phone call from Axl Rose during the production of Ozzy Osbourne’s 1995 album, ‘Ozzmosis.’ Rose asked if he was interested in coming together for a jam session. Subsequently, Wylde reached out to Slash, who confirmed that his name had been brought up during the band’s discussions about potential collaborators.
Despite the confirmation, Wylde decided not to join to earn pizza money for his girlfriend. The rocker explained during the interview:
“Nothing was kinda happening. And that’s when Joe Holmes came in the band, Oz was like, ‘Zakk, are you gonna jam with the guys or not?’ And I was like, ‘Oz, let me try and get an answer from the fellas.’ Like, are we gonna do this, or what are we doing? The Guns thing was just laying dormant, nothing was happening. And I was like, ‘I need to raise some pizza money and soda pop money for my girlfriend, Barbaranne. So that’s when Black Label Society was born.”
Wylde’s Jam With GNR Inspired Black Label Society Songs
After his jam with Guns N’ Roses, Wylde had lyrics, riffs, and ideas lying around, eventually forming songs for the band that we know as Black Label Society today. In fact, one of the songs the band played during their jamming session ended up in Black Label Society’s first record, ‘Sonic Brew.’ During an earlier interview, Wylde revealed the song:
“Well, one of them was ‘Rose Petalled Garden’ that ended up on the first Black Label album. And then I’m trying to think… It was more in that vein of that kind of stuff. Kind of chunky. But ‘Rose Petalled Garden’ was one of the ones that we had during that session that, you know, never made it, so I was just like, ‘I’ll put lyrics to it.'”
You can listen to the track down below.
