Many years before .com, there was .net.

I’m Walter Mrowczynski III, (aka Skull Dragon, Lord Skull Dragon, Skully) I’m a fan of the band and I’ve been running a fansite for them since July 4, 2001.

Back in 2000 when I was an administrator on the official Pantera forums I met a local metal head that sent me an .mp3 of Counterfeit God. I was hooked immediately. I was already a fan of P&G as well as Ozzy, so it was pretty much the next step. I also grew up in Jackson, NJ just like Zakk, went to school with his family, and had several of his teachers in school including legendary band director, Bud McCormick.

At the time in the year 2000, I could barely find anything on the internet about Zakk or BLS, BlackLabelSociety.com did not exist yet and ZakkWylde.com was hardly ever updated. I eventually started tabbing out guitar parts for the first 2 albums and putting them on my personal website. After I created several guitar tabs and people kept asking for more, I realized that there was a market for them. So July 4th, 2001 I decided to create my own ZW/BLS website, BlackLabelSociety.net. Shortly after I started up the website, I was contacted by a relative of Zakk’s that I coincidentally went to school with, she put in a good word to Zakk and Co. and that would be the start of a wonderful relationship for many years. Fast forward 9 years later where they accepted my monthly retainer proposal to do the official ZW, BLS, and fan club websites. That was unfortunately short lived because certain people the camp was working with were envious of me becoming the official website guy, so they made up stories or put a negative spin on things in an effort to make me look bad and eventually make me lose my position. For about a year I was I was strung along with the prospect of being their official web guy only to have it snatched away by someone with a smooth sales pitch and a startup company. In a nutshell, they were the typical client; They wanted something out of nothing, they didn’t want to supply content/artwork/ideas, they didn’t want to give access where access was needed, and they were less than helpful giving feedback on designs and mockups despite the fact that EVERYTHING had to go through them first.

Despite ample noted concerns from me, 2 years later those same people that talked shit on me screwed the band over and the band stopped their affiliation with them. I was I told that I was right about said people, but was never brought back in a position where I was previously that included having access to breaking news or being able to get passes for shows on a tour. It’s interesting though, anybody who they have had on their team that ever had any issues with me; whether it’s a tour manager, PR people, social media people, forum admins/mods, or even web designers, (to name a few) are no longer associated with the band, and not surprisingly, many (from what I’ve heard) had left on less than ideal terms. I like to think that I’ve always been a pretty good judge of character when it comes to working with these “professionals” and after many years of personnel changes you can always tell a lot about ones motives by how they treat you, what they tell you, and if they fulfill on their commitments.

In addition to enjoying hanging out with the band in the event I am able to score passes or go to a signing, I have always loved doing this site because I feel that it challenges my abilities as a web developer working on a grand scale with a website that millions of people are going to see. After the band & management took notice and started involving me in certain aspects, it’s always been a “Let’s see how far this thing can go” and “What else can I do to help this band?” type of mentality. I hope one day that I can be involved at an official capacity again and certain people can let bygones be bygones. Although, from what I’ve gathered by what I’ve been told and what I’ve observed, I don’t think they see value in websites anymore now that we live in a social media world. Or, they enjoy the free work. You be the judge.

For what it’s worth, this site has always been a step ahead in terms of web technologies compared to the official sites. I had Forums on my site a whole year before the official site had them. I had a Facebook page for this site in 2009 before the official site had one. (they actually had Facebook take my page down because I got in on the social media craze first and had more Fans/Likes than they did) I used dynamic Content Management Systems to build the website close to 5 years before the official sites started using one. I have never used slow and vulnerable Flash technology on this site. My Website has always stayed up to date with the latest News, Tour Dates, and Video content whereas countless times I’ve seen the official sites come up with new designs and left to die; almost as if maintenance and upkeep weren’t vital to a consistently active artist involved with several different side projects. Heck, right now in 2019 they are currently using the wrong font on the .com site, Marriage instead of Old English.

The website has been listed in the original Spitfire/Eagle Rock releases of 5 albums, 2 DVD’s, concert tickets distributed through Live Nation, printed on countless promo materials worldwide, and has been mentioned on various radio stations all around the world. My name, Walt Mrowczynski, has also appeared in the Thank You’s of 2 albums, TBH and HMV6.