I remember hearing something about a Berserkers film, are you still involved with that?
Oh yeah. I got the script for it and everything like that. It’s just a matter of cramming 80 pounds of shit into a two pound leaking bag, you know. It’s a matter of finding the time, and also getting everyone else to work on the movie with me, finding out what their schedules are like. It’s just a Blazing Saddles piss-take on a bunch of biker dudes, it’s all these gangs and everything like that. It’s hysterical dude. It’s just a matter of me rounding up all the guys to do it as well. It’s a whole bunch of my buddies doing cameos and stuff like that, musician buddies, athletes, actors. All that kind of stuff.
Has all this time on the road drained you a little bit? I know you’re a writing recording and touring machine, but you’re getting older.
Totally. Forty-two, but it’s in dog years (laughs). Without a doubt, certain things happen throughout all the years of touring. I broke my back one time. My knees and feet, constant joint pain from lifting weights and everything like that, elbows, shoulders. It’s just wear and tear though. Look at Eddie Van Halen, he had to get a hip replacement from jumping around all those years.
But you’ve got three kids.
Well the whole thing about me is I enjoy working. My niece recently got married, we were out there and we were just sitting there for like five days. All’s I did was the same shit I would do when I was home—practice, lift weights, and then go to the bar, go for a couple drinks. Nothing’s changed. Get me back in the studio or get me working, doing something.
You gotta remember, the last time we were here, you figure with the boss when we went around for the last one, we started in Russia, did all Europe, then did the States, went into Canada, then Australia, New Zealand, went to South America, then back to America. It was never ending. World’s a big place man. You could spend six months alone in Germany with all the dates you could do there.
What’s the setlist like this time around?
We were just laughing the other day, it’s like, ‘Eh, we’ve got so many records.’ We were going through the setlist and I go, ‘Dude, we can’t be pulling a Springsteen over here with a four hour friggin set.’ Especially with this kind of music, you’re just bludgeoned, after a while it’s like enough man.
It’s tough for you, but also the audience, you can’t expect them to go through three hours.
Oh yeah dude. It’s just like going to see a movie. Attention spans of people, just forget about it. People just start filing out (laughs). The set, we’re up there for about an hour and a half. We whip out the piano, do the mellow stuff with the heavy stuff as well. It’s cool man.
Black Label Society plays Starland Ballroom in Sayreville, NJ, on April 7, Hammerstein Ballroom in NYC on April 10, and The Electric Factory in Philadelphia on April 11. Skullage comes out April 21. For more info, visit blacklabelsociety.net.
