Zakk Wylde : Booze Saved My Life

Rock Radio is reporting that Zakk Wylde has explained in typical larger-than-life style how heavy drinking saved his life after he developed killer blood clots in his legs during the summer. And although he wanted the news to mean he could keep indulging, his wife made him see sense.

Wylde, who recently said his sacking by Ozzy Osbourne was water under the bridge, is preparing to start work on a new Black Label Society album. He says he sees a positive side to the end of his drinking days.

He tells I Heart Guitar: "We were out on the road with Mudvayne and Static-X and we were having a blast on that thing.

"Next thing you know, I'm hanging out and my leg's frickin' killing me - my left leg behind my knee. I figured maybe I'd pulled a calf muscle but it wasn't like I fell or anything. It wasn't like I was doing David Lee Rock splits off the drum riser.

"I'd be icing down my leg and everything like that. Just taking a leak in the middle of the night was a major production.

"We had a 24-hour drive and I said, 'Before we do this I just want to get an ultrasound.'

"The guy goes, 'Dude, you've got two huge blood clots behind your knee.'

"I was like, 'Dude, you kidding me?'

"He says, 'No, do you do a lot of travel?'

"I said, 'Well, yeah, of course - I'm either on a tour bus or I'm flying or on a ferry or something. I'm a musician - that's what we do for a living.'

"He told me usually airline pilots get this shit, or truck drivers, you know? I said, 'Would drinking have anything to do with this?'

"He just goes, 'No, dude, if anything drinking was thinning your blood.'

"I said, 'Well, good - alcohol is a good thing', but my wife says, 'You're dreaming, buddy-boy. The bar's closed for you, jackass!'"

Wylde says he's now on drugs to thin his blood and hasn't had a drink since he started because of the side-effects. But there's a silver lining to the story: he has more time to enjoy travelling.

"Most of the time when I was drinking it was like, 'Let's go sightseeing', but it's like, 'Dude, if we've got a day off, you and I are going to hit an Irish pub.' But we had a day sightseeing in China. We went up to the Great Wall and the Forbidden City. It was awesome."