Zakk Wylde discussed working on unheard 1995 Guns N’ Roses songs in a new Eddie Trunk Podcast interview. Slash ‘Bad Mistake’ At Guns N’ Roses Show Leaks.
“We were jamming down, everybody was there, it was Slash, Axl, Duff [McKagan, bass], Matt [Sorum, drums], Dizzy [Reed, keyboards] was there, and yeah, we were all jamming down in a rehearsal room and jamming riffs. And then I went over to Duff’s house, demoed some stuff, some riffs, but nothing ever came about.
I was just sitting around, like, ‘Guys, I got to play, I can’t just be sitting around.’ That was way before ‘Chinese Democracy’ ever came out – it was around ’95 that we were jamming. But yeah, I’m still buddies with all the guys, so I was just like, ‘I got to do something here,’ so that’s basically when Black Label was born.” Ultimate-Guitar transcribed Wylde’s comments.
Wylde told Eon Music, “Axl was telling me that he and the other guys were talking about getting another guitar player. He said they were just talking about guys and this and that, and Axl just said, ‘Well what about Zakk?’
“I know all the guys, but I’d never met Axl before, but I knew Duff and I knew Slash, so it was just kind of just throwing it around as a joke, and then it was, ‘Why don’t we just ask Zakk what he’s doing and have him come down?’
“So, I just went down to jam with the guys. It’s not even like an audition at that point; Jimmy Page is not going to audition for The Rolling Stones, it’s just like, ‘Jimmy, do you want to come down and jam with us?’ ‘Yeah, okay, no problem.’ So, it was more that, just a bunch of clowns getting together and jamming.”
