Zakk Wylde on his Ozzy split, his health and the future

Kind words for his replacement, Gus G

Joe Bosso, Fri 6 Nov 2009, 1:18 pm GMT

Zakk Wylde on his Ozzy split, his health and the future

Now on blood thinners, Zakk's days at the pub are over (© Joe Giron/Corbis)

Zakk Wylde is on a roll. The man known for reducing concert stages across the world to splinters with his blazing acts of guitar heroics is riffing alright, but it's not what you'd expect.

He's acting out Seinfeld shows. Many of them. He must have some DVD or TiVo collection, because you name the episode - the Chinese restaurant, Jon Voight's car, the date with Keith Hernandez - and Wylde's got it down, scene-by-scene, line-by-line. Getting through them is difficult if only for the fact that Wylde keeps cracking himself up.

The episode in which Elaine dates an orchestra conductor who insists on being referred to as 'The Maestro' is a particular favorite of his, and he re-enacts bits with astonishing accuracy.

But then it's down to serious business, and in this, the final installment of our Zakk Wylde interview, he addresses his split with Ozzy (and has some surprisingly gracious words for Gus G, his replacement), his health (last August he was hospitalized for blood clots that spread from his legs to his lungs) and his future, which now centers around his own band, Black Label Society.

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Zakk, do I call you 'The Maestro'?

[mock serious tone] "Yes, I would prefer that. The Maestro…The Great." [lets out a loud laugh]

[laughs] OK. To start right off, regarding Black Label Society, you're going to record a new album with the band -

"Yes!"

- but before you do, I understand you're going to build your very own recording studio in your house.

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