OKKERVIL RIVER COME BACK FOR MORE

With the warm breeze of the European spring behind them, the boys from Okkervil River have started preparing for that long journey on the big iron bird down to the shores of our lovely land.

In other words they’re heading back out here to do 5 dates in five days with the full 6 piece band! T’will be ace...but wait, there’s more!

With the glowing reviews for Black Sheep Boy and their last Australian tour late in 2005 still ringing in their ears, Okkervil River also have a very special release to coincide with their forthcoming national Australian tour.

Literally titled Tour EP, the new release will find Will Sheff and cohorts further cementing their place in our hearts, with an array of fantastic songs and hints at what will be on their forthcoming sixth album, tentatively due for release in early 2007.

Dates:
06/09: The Zoo, Brisbane
07/09: @ Newtown, Sydney
08/09: East Brunswick Club, Melbourne
09/09: Fowler’s Live, Adelaide
10/09: Rosemount Hotel, Perth

ZAKK AND THE BOYS

It’s a good thing Zakk Wylde likes to work, because he may well be one of the hardest-working men in music right now. On top of helping Ozzy Osbourne write songs for his next record, he’s just putting the finishing touches on Shot To Hell, his first Black Label Society album.

Produced by Zakk and Michael Beinhorn (Ozzy, Korn, Soundgarden), and recorded with longtime pals Craig Nunenmacher (drums) and John ‘J.D.’ DeServio (bass), Shot To Hell takes the ferocious hard rock of such BLS albums as 2003’s Blessed Hellride and 2005’s Mafia to a whole new level of “brewtality”.

During the recording of Shot To Hell, Zakk and crew turned Ameraycan Studios in North Hollywood, CA into a cross between a Guitar Centre and a teenage boy’s bedroom, complete with a Mellotron a Hammond B-3, a ton of Marshalls and just about every guitar Zakk owns. Pictures taped up on the walls of Randy Rhoads and Jimmy Page were there for inspiration.

In the two decades since Ozzy plucked him from obscurity (at a gas station job in New Jersey) and hired him to be his new guitarist, Zakk has established himself as a guitar icon on the same level as Rhoads, Page and Eddie Van Halen, thanks to the impressive work he’s done with Ozzy, as a solo artist, and as the leader of Pride & Glory and Black Label Society. He’s won practically every guitar magazine award there is, and he’s regularly cited as a major influence by the latest wave of metal guitarists. For Zakk, such recognition is humbling and gratifying, especially since he and his late pal Dimebag Darrell were about the only guitarists still flying the flag for seriously shredding solos during the nu-metal Nineties.

Happily for fans of gut-busting, ear-blasting, engine-revving rock and roll, Zakk won’t be retiring from performing or recording any time soon. If Shot To Hell is any indication, Black Label Society still has plenty of juice left in the bottle.

Dates:
Thursday, September 21 – Perth, Metro City
Saturday, September 23 – Adelaide, Thebarton Theatre
Sunday, September 24 – Melbourne, The Palace
Monday, September 25 – Sydney, The Enmore Theatre
Thursday, September 28 – Brisbane – The Arena
Saturday, September 30 – Auckland – St James