You can say a lot of things about Zakk Wylde, but never say the man lacks perspective. Ask him how he feels about the 20th anniversary of Black Label Society’s debut album, Sonic Brew, and he quickly puts the years into context.
“Everybody’s like, ‘Wow, I can’t believe it’s 20 years already!’” Wylde remarks from a Black Label Society tour stop in Chicago. “But look, I have an old Guitar Player magazine with Keith [Richards] on the cover, and it says, ’16 Years in the Rolling Stones.’ That was a big deal at the time! Now they’re past 50. So we had a birthday cake made for our band that said, ‘Happy 20th Birthday, Black Label Society. Thirty More Years to Go. Now Get to Work!’”
The 52-year-old guitarist lets out a hearty laugh as he says this. Wylde was already a guitar hero when he formed the group in 1999, thanks to more than a decade of working with Ozzy Osbourne, but it’s obvious that hitting the 20-year mark with his solo band has struck a chord with him. Which is why he opted to revisit that 1999 debut with a new anniversary reissue, which he’s dubbed Sonic Brew 20th Anniversary Blend 5.99–5.19. The slight change in title is significant, as this is no mere remix-and-remaster job. As it happens, the master tapes for Sonic Brew went missing a long time ago. “I remember after we recorded everything,” Wylde deadpans, “Doug Henning, the magician, came in and he goes, ‘Hey, fellas, let me show you a trick!’ Then he took the two-inch masters, put a blanket over them and removed the blanket, and the two-inchers were gone.”
Given the circumstances, Wylde approached this new version with some