It’s the most wonderful time of year and we’re here to make it even more joyous by sharing the news that Ozzy Osbourne’s upcoming album is chock-a-block filled with A-list stars. Musical royalty, if we may.
Making up part of the star-studded list is Chad Smith of the Red Hot Chilli Peppers. Smith played on Osbourne’s album Ordinary Man which was released earlier this year and has already recorded some tracks on the upcoming album.
“There’s a bunch of people involved,” record producer Andrew Watt told Guitar World of the new album. “I can’t say for sure until the end, but I started doing a bunch of basic tracks with Chad and [Metallica’s] Robert Trujillo, who used to play in Ozzy’s band. And [Foo Fighter’s] Taylor Hawkins also came in and played a bunch on the record as well.”
Watt agrees with us that the whole thing is pretty fucking awesome. “I think it’s so cool for a rock fan to be able to listen to half an album with Chad Smith on drums, and then you flip it over and you get to hear Taylor Hawkins.”
While Ordinary Man was produced at warp speed, unfortunately, we’ll have to wait a little long for Osbourne’s next album, thanks to the pandemic which Osbourne takes very seriously.
“This time everyone’s moving a little slower and we’re taking a little more time,” Watt shared. “And the songs, there’s some songs on there that are like eight or nine minutes long that are these really crazy journeys. I’m really excited about it.”
“It’s been hard with COVID and everything to keep [Ozzy] safe,” Watt explained. “We all test every day before we work, and it’s just me, Ozzy and my engineer.”
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Despite no indication of when the album will be done, Watt is positive it’ll be a banger.
“The last album was really special for everyone involved. And so there was no point in Ozzy or me doing this again unless we thought we could bring something new to the table. And I feel like we’re achieving that.”
