By Lisa Burke
September 3rd 2016, Fonda Theatre, Hollywood CA: Zakk Wylde is known for many guitar accomplishments including being a noted guitarist for Ozzy Osbourne, founder of Black Label Society, and creator of his signature bullseye custom guitars. He also fronts Zakk Sabbath and put out two solo albums titled ‘Book Of Shadows’ I and II, with the latter released twenty years after the first, in April 2016. Last Saturday September 3rd 2016 at the Fonda Theatre in Hollywood I witnessed the tail end of his solo tour with supporting bands Otherwise and Jared James Nichols. As a pretty diverse line up there were still some valid connections to be found and this night served as an intriguing event throughout.
Going into this event I had never heard of Wisconsin raised Jared James Nichols before, as was a common trend in the audience in attendance which was a decent turnout from the get-go, yet after their set they had plenty of excited new fans and rightly so. This is hands down the best bluesy classic sounding rock n’ roll I have heard in a long time and it fit right into 2016 as well. It pays to see opening acts because usually at least one is your new favorite discovery. With the few other competitors out there such as Rival Sons, this was more exciting to me and is exactly the type of rock n’ roll we need more of, so pop acts such as Justin Bieber and friends can go take a back seat while rock n’ roll makes its proper comeback. Jared has that Jimi Hendrix flair in his vocal style and the dark sunburst color-coordinated Gibson guitar and bass wailed out some really catchy fun and creative riffs. The song ‘Mississippi Queen’ has the classiest use of cowbell I’ve ever heard and was definitely a great jam. This trio is made for each other in matching talent as the drums are the perfect hard-hitting rock effect while the bassist resembles a young looking Peter Steele and cranks out the bass jams with ease and stamina. Jared himself showed his classiness in his attire with his coordinated silver metal guitar strap and giant belt buckle along with a Motörhead shirt under the best looking plaid shirt with cut off sleeves I’ve seen in a while. The reason for the fashion assessment here is because the style this band portrayed in a musical and visual sense combined itself into a beautiful unified result of pure down-to-earth raw bluesy rock n’ roll that no one could deny. I highly recommend giving them a listen if you think rock n’ roll died this decade, because I can assure you it didn’t, thanks to Jared.
Moving on to the oddest fit of the night, Otherwise with their alternative hard rock sprinkled with hardcore and grunge, was next on the bill. There are some noteworthy elements here in some of the riffs, and the drummer is a definite talent who can hit all the right beats while in the midst of his stick toss and catch circus side show. Then we have the singer in his black and white superman t-shirt and dirty American flag tucked in his back pocket who sings very clean lyrics with an occasional grunt or two that if you are a fan of this style you will enjoy, however I am not, and despite some really strong tunes the vocals provided just enough flavor of emo that I could not digest them in large doses. Again, they are high on my ranking of this type of band as I really respected much of it and I suppose they could be compared to The Used and not disappoint. As they also come from Las Vegas I suppose ‘Vegas Girl’ is more than appropriate as a song title and the harshness of that town came through in a good way overall from Otherwise.
Of course, Zakk Wylde was scheduled for 10 PM and came on at about fifteen minutes after that, but during the moment of suspense the crowd was subjected to extremely schizophrenic tunes over the PA ranging from hip-hop, to the all appropriate Rolling Stones, to then cheesy soft rock from the worst year of the nineties. I don’t know if I will ever understand why they don’t keep the DJ sessions in the intermissions in the vein of the show and not play songs that they should understand that about 95 per cent of the patrons in attendance don’t want to hear. Anyway, I suppose variety is the spice of life, but too much straying makes me cringe every time.
Finally, Zakk Wylde comes out and does the Dr. Jekyll version of himself that does not appear in the Zakk Sabbath shows as there he puts on an all-wild performance as opposed to a much more mild one during this solo project that is still every bit as thorough and technically masterminded as anything he creates. The backdrop was a grayed out version of trees with wild branches and skeletons, and with the amount of sap that seeps out of his songs at times, I was sure the trees were totally tapped out as well by the third quarter portion of his set. Much of the same band as he carries with him in Black Label Society was a part of this solo project on stage, and he has what I’ve deemed a protégé of himself that he switches out from real piano to guitar at significant moments throughout the set. At one point he went deep into the audience with his extra long guitar cord acting as a fishing line so security could reel him in after, and played a long solo while everyone crowded around him. There were also the typical brat pack BLS wolf pack warrior/biker jackets seen in the audience in a fair abundance despite him not playing any Black Label Society songs and there was also a small BLS vest on a four-year old or two as well, for this all ages show.
Love it or hate it, Zakk is a king at the pinch harmonics and playing the guitar over his shoulders and behind his back, and this show was no stranger to those unique traits as he kept getting progressively deeper into the forest of serenity and sap. I still could not help but smile at the technical mastery of it all. Also, it’s been a minute since I’ve seen a real old-school piano on stage and that was a pleasantry in all the right moments. The bass player’s black guitar with red strings also sparked my interest as he rocked them to the core. Not only does Zakk play seriously exceptional stylized guitar but he has a very eclectic vocal range where he can actually adapt to a new style of singing during different songs and when he harmonized with his crew it resulted in perfect serenity as well. As the night went on with about an hour and forty-five minutes of the most peaceful yet heavy songs Zakk has put out there, one found themselves in awe of the variety this man is capable of with the vast number of tricks he can pull out of even just one sleeve. After the end of the show it turned into the usual trend of a “pick n’ stick buffet” as the band members throw guitar picks and drumsticks into the audience as a ‘thank you for coming’ prize. I hadn’t listened to ‘The Book Of Shadows II’ before hand, but I must say it is every bit as good as the first one, if not better, and made for an overall positive experience. There are a few parts of Black Label Society that I haven’t gotten on board with while the rest I enjoy, yet both Zakk Sabbath and Zakk Wylde solo I find myself enjoying from start to finish.
All in all, this was an unexpected treat where not only did I find another band who will help save rock n’ roll, but I also found a new level of respect for an already highly regarded guitarist, vocalist and piano player. The moral of this story is go see live shows you are interested in if you can from start to finish and you too will come out with a positive attitude and perhaps a surprisingly great new musical discovery.
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Zakk Wylde set list:
01. Sold My Soul
02. Autumn Changes
03. Tears Of December
04. Lay Me Down
05. Road Back Home
06. Yesterday’s Tears
07. Between Heaven and Hell
08. Darkest Hour
09. Guitar Solo
10. Throwin’ It All Away
11. Dead As Yesterday
12. Eyes Of Burden
13. Way Beyond Empty
14. The King
15. Lost Prayer
16. Sleeping Dogs