In a new interview with Classic Rock, Ozzy Osbourne talks about Black Sabbath, sobriety, burying the hatchet, beating the booze and sticking it to Lollapalooza. Read an excerpt below:
Classic Rock: How has music helped you deal with the difficult times?
Ozzy Osbourne: "Music is a good release from a lot of things in life. You listen to an old record and you remember where you were when you first heard it. It takes you back to that time in your life."
Classic Rock: Do you think you’re sober for life now?
Ozzy: "I don’t know. I hope so. I take it one day at a time. If I drink, I’ll drink. But I don’t want to drink today. I don’t want to smoke tobacco today. I don’t want to take drugs today. So today’s going to be okay, I suppose. I don’t know about tomorrow."
Classic Rock: How has day-to-day life changed for you?
Ozzy: "Well I don’t wake up in fucking jail any more."
Classic Rock: What else would you like to achieve in your seventies?
Ozzy: "A number-one Ozzy album. I’m coming back to England this year, too. I’ve had enough of living out here [America] now. My intention was never to stay out here."
Read the complete interview at Classic Rock.
Ozzy took to social media in early April to share the news that he has completed work on his new studio album, the follow-up to 2020’s Ordinary Man.
"I'm so happy to let everyone know that I finished my new album this week and delivered it to my label Epic Records,” he wrote on Facebook. “I’ll be sharing all the information about the album and its' upcoming release with you in the next several weeks."
Guesting on a recent episode of The Graham Norton Radio Show, Sharon Osbourne revealed that Ozzy's new album is due to be released in September. The interview with Sharon begins at the 35:23 mark on the player below.
Continuing his long association with Ozzy Osbourne, Zakk Wylde features on the singer's forthcoming album, alongside three legends in Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Tony Iommi.
Asked if he was blown away when he found out he would be co-starring alongside Clapton, Beck and Iommi, Zakk tells Guitar World: "Yeah! I was shocked when I heard it was happening and even more when I heard what they played. They’d already recorded their parts so I ended up re-recording rhythm tracks underneath what they’d done at my home studio. It came out awesome."
Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith revealed that he also plays on Osbourne's forthcoming album, reprising his role from 2020's Ordinary Man record. He also names some of the other musicians due to appear on the album. Check out the interview below.
Smith: "We've got Robert Trujillo (Metallica) playing on some songs, who's been in Ozzy's band. Duff's (McKagan / Guns N' Roses) on a couple again. Tony Iommi and Ozzy have never collaborated outside of Black Sabbath; Tony sent us a bunch of riffs and we took what we thought was the best of 'em, which was fucking great. So Andy (Watt / guitars, producer) on the bass doing fucking great. It's fucking got everything. It's got all the stuff that you would want. Ozzy loves it.
Then Eric Clapton plays a fucking wah-wah Cream-type solo. Then Jeff Beck is on two songs. Mike McCready's (Pearl Jam) on a track. Josh Homme, my neighbor from Queens Of The Stone Age, solos on a track, and then Zakk Wylde is on the record as well, all over it. So it's like if you're a guitar player... pretty fucking good."
