Talented axeman and Black Label Society frontman Zakk Wylde offers his enthusiasm about touring with Guns ‘N’ Roses, how Sarah McLachlan influenced his Christmas EP and the holidays truly mean for him in a new interview with Gibson.

“Without a doubt. Axl is a good dude, and I’ve been friends with them for a long time. I love Slash and Duff [McKagan] and all the guys,” says Wylde.

He goes on to say, “All the guys are great guys, so who knows, whatever is going to happen; Lord only knows, knowing us. So I’m looking forward to seeing all the guys. I first met Slash when ‘Appetite’ was blowing up, and my first tour with Ozzy, and Slash and I have been buddies since then. I’m buddies with all those guys. They’re all cool dudes. The only guy I’ve never really met is Dizzy [Reed].”

The virtuoso axeman delves into how he created his new Christmas EP. “I knew Sarah McLachlan did a bunch of Christmas things, so I just YouTubed some Sarah McLachlan stuff to see what Sarah did. I found a whole bunch of Christmas songs Sarah did, and I checked out some songs and thought, ‘Well, that’s good. I’ll do that one.’ So, I knocked that out over a couple of days. For me, all I had to do was learn the song, put the string section to it and put some guitars to it. So, I really enjoyed doing it.”

Wylde also shows his softer side by sharing his thoughts about the holidays: “I really don’t care what religion you are, the whole point of it is caring about the ones you love, and giving. That’s what it’s all about, and that’s the whole thing. I know how awesome my parents made our Christmas for my sister and I, and so now, being a dad, it’s great. We have three kids, so every Christmas is just awesome.”

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