| 1. What are you currently up
to? |
I have recorded
Currently, I'm waiting for the release of the "Living Loud" album
which should be soon. We'll (Living Loud) be doing some live shows
here in Australia to coincide with the release and maybe more in
other territories later. In November last year, I recorded an album
with Gary Moore which will be released in the UK in spring of this
year. I'll probably be doing some live shows with Gary through the
summer to promote it. It's a blues album but with balls and
aggression, a good 'n'.
|
| 2. What has been the highlight(s) and low point(s) of your career to
date?
|
Definitely, a highlight of my carreer has just taken place. The
recording of the Living Loud album has been a real "up" for me, it
turned out better than we had even hoped for. As for low points,
well, the obvious I guess, and that's the removal of Lee's and my
performances from the classic "Blizzard of Ozz" albums Blizzard and
Diary. The band when formed was called The Blizzard of Ozz and they
WEREN"T Ozzy solo albums as the O$bournes would have people believe.
Having to sue for what's rightfully yours and then have this happen
is a downer but "we shall overcome".
|
| 3. Living Loud is out soon. Could you take us through some personal
highlights please and who chose the Ozzy covers?
|
I chose the B.O.O. covers and was pleasantly surprised at how the
idea was received by the others, especially Steve and Jimmy. The idea
of re-doing some of those songs was NOT in retaliation to what the
O$bournes did to the originals, Lee and I had spoken for years about
re-recording some of those tracks but with various "guests". As it
turned out, the line-up we ended up with was perfect and we knew it
was going to work from the first hour we got together at Steve Morses
studio in Florida.
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| 4. What would you hope to achieve with Living Loud in the coming year
or so? |
Just to be accepted for what we are and what we've tried to do and
that's make music that we totally enjoyed. We all loved working
together and as one "listener" put it when some tracks were played to
him - quote, "this reeks of enjoyment".
|
| 5. The Hoochie Coochie Men. Great blues rock album - how was it
received by the press/fans and will there be a follow-up at some stage?
|
I'm not sure if there'll be any more Hoochies albums but I'd like
to think there will be. The stuff we did with Jon Lord turned out
great but we're here and he's in the UK. So far it's been received
well and blues is something I really enjoy playing. As Willie Dixon
put it "Blues is the roots, everything else is the fruits".
|
| 6.
Given all the styles of music and bands you've been involved over
the years with is there any style of music you'd like to play and/or
unfulfilled musical ambitions left?
|
Jeff Beck has always been one of my heroes, I'd love to do
something musically with Jeff. I used to call him Jeff Best. |
| 7. Rainbow - What are your fondest memories of the days in Rainbow?
Did the band get much input musically or was it mainly Ritchie Blackmore's band.
|
Rainbow was definitely Ritchie's band and the direction/ writing
was down to Ronnie and Ritchie. I really enjoyed my time with
Rainbow, it was such a professional and smoothly run outfit. It was a
great opportunity for me to soak up all the musical ideas and enjoy
such a great musical situation. Ritchie was an inspiration and a
brilliant guitarist, I got on well with him. I was very sad at the
loss of Cozy Powell, we'd talked prior to his death of doing another
Rainbow thing again. Oh well, it wasn't meant to be.
|
| 8. What has been your best career move and why? |
It's difficult to pinpoint one career move as being the best as
there have been quite a few "good moves" in my years and I always
feel very fortunate as to where I ended up and with whom. I suppose
joining Rainbow would have to be one of them as that helped to give
me credibility for future ventures and taught me a lot. Forming The
Blizzard of Ozz with Ozzy and Randy (and later, Lee) also turned out
to be a good move. Quite often I'd do something if it felt good
without analysing it too much and then, obviously, hope for the best.
Often "the best" was what I got.
|
| 9. Who would you like to work with in the future and who would be in
your fantasy band line-up?
|
Sometimes you might think you can put a bunch of your Ideal
musicians in a room together and because they're all so good in their
own way, that it will be just great. Quite often the reverse happens
and it's a diaster. I felt very relieved when the Living Loud band
gelled immediately and we knew we were on to a winner. As for the
rest of the answer to this question, see answer # 6.
|
| 10. Message for your
fans... |
I've always tried to be true to myself as music goes, as it's always
been so important to me. I would never want to insult any of you as
the O$bournes have done, their's was a blatant disregard for music,
the memory of Randy Rhoads and the record-buying public. What we did
with Living Loud is from our hearts and I'm sure you'll feel that in
the music when you get to hear it. We did not try to recreate any of
those Blizzard songs, just put a new lease of life into them in our
own way. It was for us and of course, for you all. I hope you enjoy
the new album.
Many thanks, Bob Daisley.
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