Black Label Society

Black Label Society ; is a Heavy metal/Southern Metal band formed by Zakk Wylde aka Jeffery Phillip Wiedlandt, with 9 albums released to date. The first album, Sonic B

Black Label Society ; is a Heavy metal/Southern Metal band formed by Zakk Wylde aka Jeffery Phillip Wiedlandt, with 9 albums released to date. The first album, Sonic Brew, was released in 1999. The band's latest studio album Shot To Hell was released on the 11th (UK) and 12th (US) of September 2006, the first release under Roadrunner Records, and was produced by Michael Beinhorn (Soundgarden, Ozzy Osbourne, Red Hot Chili Peppers). In 1992, Ozzy retired after the No More Tears tour, which left Zakk to form his own solo band Pride & Glory, a mixture of potent bluesy southern rock with heavy metal. In 1994 Ozzy decided to come out of retirement, and the numerous recording sessions for Ozzmosis took place. Around this time, Zakk was also offered the open guitar slot in Guns N' Roses and had a hard time deciding whether to tour with Ozzy or join Guns N' Roses. Neither project panned out. This gave Wylde the opportunity to record his own acoustic solo album, Book of Shadows. After limited commercial success with Book of Shadows, in 1998, Zakk and drummer Phil Ondich formed Black Label Society and recorded their debut album Sonic Brew. Stronger Than Death followed in 2000. Nick Catanese has been Zakk's rhythm guitarist since the Book Of Shadows tour. Craig Nunenmacher has been drumming since 1919 Eternal (2001) following Phil's departure.

It has been anounced that Black Label Society will headline the second stage at this year's Ozzfest (US). Tickets for fall dates in the US have gone on sale, and the band will tour Australia, New Zealand in late 2006 and early 2007. The proposed UK leg of their tour was cancelled amid rumours that Zakk was going on tour with Ozzy, but no news on that development as of 03 January 2007. The official website only cites "unforeseen US commitments" as the cause for the cancellation. There are other rumours doing the rounds as cause for the cancellations but none of them can be validated.