Zakk Wylde says that he has no involvement with Ozzy Osbourne 's upcoming album.
Ozzy recently provided guest vocals on Post Malone 's song "Take What You Want" , a session overseen by producer Andrew Watt , and it led to Osbourne and Watt collaborating on the legendary BLACK SABBATH singer's 12th solo LP.
During an appearance on the latest installment of "The Cassius Morris Show" (hear audio below), Ozzy 's longtime guitarist was asked if he had any part in the recording sessions for Osbourne 's next disc.
"No, no — we didn't do anything on that," Wylde said. " Ozz, he just jammed with some friends that he knows. He was just, like, 'Hey, Zakk , I ended up tracking some of the stuff,' or whatever, and I was, like, 'Oh, great, Ozz .' That Post Malone thing [ 'Take What You Want' ] I heard was awesome. Post came down to a BLACK LABEL [ SOCIETY ] show about maybe — I don't know — almost half a year ago or something like that, before the Ozzy thing. But he just came down and he was, like, 'Hey, Zakk , what's happening?' A really cool guy and everything like that. When I heard the track, Ozzy sounds great on it, man. But no, I didn't have nothing to do with the stuff that Ozz just recorded."
Zakk acknowledged that most people probably expect him to be featured on Ozzy 's new album, but he reasoned: "The whole thing is we could always get together and record another thing. So it's all good, man."
Ozzy has not released an all-new solo effort since 2010's "Scream" , having spent the last few years touring with BLACK SABBATH in support of that band's "13" LP, as well as playing a number of solo shows. More recently, Osbourne has been recuperating at home after sustaining a bad neck injury resulting in the postponement of his solo tour.
Speaking about Ozzy 's current health condition and the postponed touring activities, Zakk said: "I just saw Ozzy the other day — he was at my daughter's wedding. He's still doing his rehab and he's doing everything like that. Obviously, we were gonna do these shows right now, but the doctor was, like, 'Nah, you're not ready to get out there and do it.' It's no different than playing sports. If you're not ready to pitch, there's no sense in jeopardizing you making the injury even worse — you know what I mean? — until you're good to go. Then I'll stick you back out on the mound… I don't think it's gonna hurt the fact that no one's gonna show up [ laughs ] when he decides that he's ready to go. It's just, like, ' Ozz , don't worry about it. When you're good and ready, then we'll go and do it, and then everybody will still be there.' [ Laughs ]"
Watt connected with Osbourne after meeting Ozzy 's daughter Kelly at a friend's party and pitching her on the idea of Post and Ozzy collaborating together.
" Kelly played him the tape and he loved it, but then I didn't hear anything for a while," Watt recalled to Billboard . "I kept texting Kelly over and over again, and all of a sudden, we got the text from her that said, 'Dad's going to do the song. He loves it.'"
According to Watt , "Take What You Want" "is a really good taste of Ozzy in 2019, and you're going to get a lot more coming out that's going to blow people's faces off," he told Billboard .
Earlier this month, Ozzy once again postponed his European tour, marking the second time the BLACK SABBATH singer has done so following a series of health issues.
Ozzy initially scrapped his entire 2019 schedule earlier this year, as he recovered from surgery to repair an injury sustained while dealing with his recent bout of pneumonia. The European leg of his "No More Tours 2" trek was then rescheduled for January through March 2020, with the North American dates set to follow in May 2020.
According to Live Nation Sweden , the new European tour dates will now take place "in the first half of 2021." The American dates remain in place for now.
In 2017, Ozzy reunited with Zakk , who played on studio albums such as "No Rest For The Wicked" , "No More Tears" and "Ozzmosis" and who has toured on and off with Osbourne for more than 30 years. Ozzy and Zakk last recorded in 2007 on Osbourne 's acclaimed "Black Rain" album.
Photo credit: Mark Weiss Photography
