Prince of Darkness Ozzy Osbourne is back in the saddle after a year out and has no intention of quitting anytime soon.
He tells Jam: "Sharon gave me the year off and when I retired before, you've got to have something to retire to. You can't just go, 'I'm wealthy, I've got a house here, and a house there, and a car here, and a car there.' And you drive around the house and you drive around the streets, you drive around a few things, and then what?
"
One thing I learned was you've got to have something to retire to. My father got early retirement, he died a year after. The routine that we build ourselves into is our mechanism, and once you throw a spanner in the works, you throw it off."
Ozzy also explains how there is no bad blood between him and Zakk Wylde after the Black Label Society guitarist’s departure from his band.
He adds: "Zakk was just helping me out for a while, he's got his own band, he doesn't need me. He's a road dog. He's on the road all the time. When I told him I wanted to get a permanent guitar player, he said, 'Go.' We haven't fallen out, at all."
And Ozzy is delighted with Gus G, Wylde’s replacement. He says: "He's a great little guitar player. He just stood out. What really impressed me about him is he plays all the old stuff as it was. You get guys come in, and go, 'It'd be better if you played it in this key.' People get too clever and they give themselves a boot out of the position. You get Gus along and he played as it was.
"He did a good job on this album - Kevin Churko and I basically put the foundation down, and he just filled the holes. I'm really excited to about working with him on the next album."
Although going on the road with new band members might throw others, Ozzy has no fears about Gus G joining the Oz crew.
He adds: "You live with them more than you do your family when you're touring. I've had some wild experiences. I've had people suddenly find God halfway through the tour. 'Oh, God, here we go.' 'I don't like inverted crucifixes on a T-shirt.' And I go, 'Are we a fashion show or what?' I've had it all over the years. I've had a lot of crazy stuff."
Thanks for the report to RockRadio.
