Metal Shock Finland (World Assault )

The Metal Voice’s Jimmy Kay and Alan Dixon recently interviewed legendary songwriter and bassist Bob Daisley (Rainbow, Ozzy Osbourne, Black Sabbath) about his Book ‘For Facts Sake’. Bob has appeared a few times on The Metal Voice going in depth about his career with Gary Moore and  his court proceedings and time with Ozzy.

This time Bob talks about the making of Black Sabbath’s ‘Eternal Idol’, convincing Motley Crue not to fire guitarist Mick Mars, plus writing with Steve Vai for Ozzy and a lot more

When asked about the making of Eternal Idol
“I have never really worked with Tony before this album. Tony is great,  I love his playing, his writing, his sound. Everything that he plays is a classic riff, they just pour out of him and they are just not throw away riffs, they are all really really good valid riffs. It was great for me. I enjoyed it, it was 1986. Eric Singer was on drums and Eric and I got along very well. Ray Gillan was the vocalist (at first). We all got on fine. “

When asked if he wrote the lyrics with Ray Gillan at the time
“Ray had some scratch lyrics written and a couple of the others put bits in. A lot of them (lyrics) weren’t that great. They asked me to write the lyrics for the songs, which I did. There are some lines I left in there of Ray’s. “

When asked about the exit of Ray Gillan
“I don’t know the full circumstances cause I wasn’t with the band at that point but when Ray left I don’t know if there was a fall out or what happened between him and management or Tony or whatever it was. But his vocals have already been recorded but they didn’t use them because they knew that they were replacing him with Tony Martin. So they got Tony Martin to re-do everything and released it that way. It went for years and years without anyone hearing the Ray Gillan’s version. They were Ray Gillan’s melodies and phrasing and that is what came from Ray’s heart. Tony martin did an admirable great job of replacing what Ray had done. The initial thing came from Ray. When you hear Ray’s version, it’s the version.”

When asked if he got paid for Eternal idol
“I did get paid but I was weary of the whole situation because I knew everyone was unhappy and I thought why go into a situation plus I was very happy working with Gary Moore at the time. I think the Sabbath album Eternal Idol is underrated and is a very good album.”

When asked about a seance he did with Randy Rhoads during the Blizzard of Ozz Era
“That rehearsal place was reputed to be haunted and it probably was, there were little things that happened and I wrote about them in the book. I think one night we were in that mood and we would sit down and have a seance and we did the letter and numbers and the glass and all that. Some things came out. It did say things to Randy (Rhoads) that freaked us all out. We threw all the bits of paper and numbers and glass into the fireplace and put salt on the table. Cause it was not a good vibe and it was not good news and was not a good prediction, it was pretty awful.”

When asked about the time he and  Steve Vai  tried to write an Ozzy  album 
“That was an honour as well and it was great but it didn’t really work out for Ozzy and Steve Vai for whatever reasons. I don’t know the full details. I was at home and I got the phone call will you come and co-write the next album (Ozzy).  I loved the idea of working with Steve Vai and Ozzy together. So we went to Steve Vai’s studio in L.A. and we began putting down tracks with Steve on some of the stuff and then we went to New York and began writing and rehearsing in the Sony studios. But then all of a sudden it all fizzled out, the plug was pulled. I’ve got some recordings from those sessions. It was mostly me, Steve Vai and the drummer Deen Castronovo a very good drummer.”

When asked how he convinced Motley Crue not to fire Mick Mars 
“That night after the show Mick Mars went on our Bus (with Ozzy on the Bark at the Moon tour) and I went on their bus so I was the only one from Ozzy that went on their bus. And they were having a meeting. What they were planning on doing was getting rid of Mick and getting another guitarist in and they asked me for my opinion. So I said if you want my opinion for what it’s worth I would say do not try to fix something that is not broken. I said I have seen it before with Lee Kerslake in the Blizzard of Ozz. I said you got a chemistry there, you got a functioning unit, Mick Mars is part of that don’t Fuc*k it up. Don’t do it.  I think I saved Mick that night cause they were serious about getting someone else. Mick was good for the band, he was part of the sound of the delivery of what they did.”