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Zakk Wylde performing at Revolver's 2nd Annual Golden Gods Awards in Los Angeles, California last April. © MARIO ANZUONI/Reuters/Corbis

Zakk Wylde admits he's tired, but he says he's got little time for sleep. "Black Label Society is all fired up, bro. We're doing Ozzfest and then we've got our own tour. I'll tell you, my to-do list could make you cry. I'm booked 25 hours a day, eight days a week, 366 days a year. Going on tour is the only vacation I can get."

Even so, the 43-year-old guitar superstar sounds happy and full of vigor. And with good reason: the new album by his band Black Label Society, Order Of The Black, is one of their strongest efforts in years. Full of blistering rock (Parade Of The Dead, Crazy Horse) and heartfelt ballads (Time Waits For No One, January), it's Wylde's first release under a new deal with E1 Music, an arrangement that also includes his own label, Panworkz.

For Wylde, 2010 is already a far cry from the tumult of 2009, which saw him dismissed from Ozzy Osbourne's band after a 22-year-association (he was replaced by Firewind guitarist Gus G). Then there was a potentially life-threatening bout with blood clots, which started in his legs and quickly spread to his lungs. After a stint in the hospital, the brew-loving Wylde was put on blood thinning medication and given the ultimatum by his doctors: stop drinking, or else. "It was a hairy time," the guitarist admits. "But hey, who doesn't have hairy times? I'm just like any other poor sucker out there. We're all in the same boat."

Except most poor suckers don't have a burgeoning music career, their own line of Gibson signature guitars and a recently finished home studio called, appropriately enough, The Black Label Bunker.

In the following, no-hards-barred interview (is there any other kind with Wylde?), the multi-talented musician holds forth on a varety of topics: his health, life post-Ozzy, his new album and...Justin Bieber? (Believe it!)

So first things first: How are you feeling? Things back to normal for you health-wise?

"I feeling great, man. Back to drinking - I'm getting' wasted all the time, brother."

No way! Are you joking?

"I told my wife, Barb, 'I'll wait a year, then I'll start drinking again. I'll get a liver transplant, and then a year after that I'll start drinking once again."

OK, now I know you're pulling my leg.

[laughs] "Of course I am, bro! I haven't had a drop of alcohol in a year. It's all good. I don't see what the big deal is. I've gone a year without drinking, I may as well keep going, you know? I'm not even on the blood clot medicine anymore; I just have to take shots when I take long flights and stuff.

"It's so funny when people ask me, 'So how'd you stop drinking?' I just tell 'em, 'I stopped. What's the big deal? Unlike you weak-willed motherfuckers who have to spend $40,000 for some douche bag to get you to stop, I stopped on my own.' It's all a matter of willpower, man."

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