The Metal Voice spoke to NIGHT RANGER and former Ozzy Guitarist Brad Gillis about his time with Ozzy and NIGHT RANGER’S new Best of Album that will be released Aug 28, 2026 on Frontiers s.r.l.
Gillis also talked about why he was not present at Ozzy’s last show.
When asked if he was invited to perform at Black Sabbat/ Ozzy Last show, Back to the Beginning?
“I couldn’t go. I was on tour with my band (Night Ranger). I couldn’t put everybody out of work, you know, and everybody wanted you to pay your own way, whatever. But here, I’m paying my own way. I’m on tour. What do I do? Do I cancel the tour and put 15 people out of work, you know? So, I couldn’t do it. I got an email inquiring if I was interested in coming and I thought about it. I would have loved and I thought I can’t do this. I had wanted to but we’re on tour, you know and the place we were playing the night of the actual show was a big festival. We had 8,000 people there. Um it’s what it was. Um and I would have loved to make make it and been part of that, but it’s what it was.
Iconic hard rockers NIGHT RANGER return with ‘Best Of,’ a career-spanning collection that brings their biggest songs to life like never before. Featuring refreshed 2026 remasters of fan favorites such as “Don’t Tell Me You Love Me,” “Sister Christian,” and “(You Can Still) Rock in America,” the album pairs iconic hits with highlights from the band’s modern era. Packed with soaring melodies, powerhouse performances, and unforgettable hooks, this ‘Best Of’ collection is a testament to a band that continues to thrive decades after its debut.
Jimmy Kay from Canada’s The Metal Voice sat down and spoke with Night Ranger’s guitarist Brad Gillis at this year’s M3 Rock Festival on May 5, 2024.
Brad spoke about the legacy of the band’s album Dawn Patrol and smash hit ballad Sister Christian as well as his time with Ozzy Performing and recording the live album ‘Speak of the Devil’.
When asked about the legacy of their debut album Dawn Patrol “It got us out of the gate. We were lucky enough to get a record deal back then but because we were more of a kind of a hard rock band, we released ‘Don’t tell me love me’ which was a hard rocking song and the radio picked it up on it. It had double guitar solos and the big long outro and we were lucky to be right in that Gap where hard rock with Melody uh was viable for radio. So Dawn Patrol (album) was huge for us. We came out right when MTV came out so they didn’t have enough content for their 24/7 format so they played the video from ‘Don’t tell me you love me’ 20 times a day. It was great, it put a face to the music and we went out with Kiss for our first tour and it was awesome. To be able to still be doing it 42 years later is freaking awesome.”
When asked why Ozzy’s Live album ‘Speak of the Devil’ (1982) has stood the test of time despite being put together so quickly “We kind of took it to the next level and maybe overplayed. The timing was right. The sound was good. I ended up having this stereo set up with slight delay on my guitar. I cranked my amp to freaking 10 man, the speakers were singing. I still sign these records all the time and love that people still enjoy that record, it was a time in my life that I’ll never forget. We had to get it together (rehearse) because it was live. You realize when you do a live show with a band you’re rehearsing before you record that live show for release. So these songs were new for us to play live and we got it together. Ozzy never even showed up (rehearsal); he was never even there. So we got it together. We just kind of overplayed it cuz there were no rules back then.”
When asked if he mapped out his solos on Speak of the Devil “No. I’m off the cuff with that stuff. Tony Iommi was a great player and the stuff he came out with was so Innovative back then. He started heavy metal pretty much. But I would definitely stick to some of the classic things he did but like I said then I go nuts and Rudy (Sarzo) would go nuts. And we kind of turned into a kind of a live jam band at a few points on the ‘Speak of the devil’ record . Max Norman did pick the best out of the sound checks and the two live shows for the record but the mix was huge and my guitar tone was huge. It was the time in our life that everything was you just do want and just do it well.”
When asked about the legacy of smash hit power ballad Sister Christian “Wow, I got to tell you man it’s been in so many movies and so many like cartoons, American Dad, all kinds of movies and stuff. So that’s been quite a legacy for that song. We play it live and everybody sings along. We played shows with big country bands or Kid Rock and there’s these kids, they are 18 years old or younger and they’re all singing the ‘Motorin’ (Chorus) and it’s like wow. It’s definitely a Timeless classic song for us.”
Jimmy Kay from Canada The Metal Voice recently spoke to NIGHT RANGER guitarist (Ex Ozzy Osbourne) Brad Gillis about his time with Ozzy during the recording of Speak of the devil and Night Rangers new album Don’t let Up which will be released on March 24, 2017 on Frontiers.
Watch the interview here:
When asked on his audition for Ozzy Osbourne
“I saw Ozzy play in 1981 in Oakland California with Randy and I was pretty much blown away by Ozzy and Randy and those records coming out so I was playing a couple of songs in my set list with my band.”
“In 1982 I was playing around the Bay Area, doing a lot of cover songs. I remember driving down the road in ’82 and hearing about the plane crash with Randy in it and it pretty much freaked me out because my dad was a pilot and I flew all the time with my Dad, it just seemed like a tragic loss. I was playing later that night and did a little tribute to Randy and there was this guy in the audience that say me play and his name was Preston Thrall. Preston said to me do you want me to let them know (Osbourne camp), you might want to audition. I said sure but thought everybody in the world would want that gig. Preston told Pat Thrall and Pat told Tommy Aldridge and Tommy told Sharon and sure enough I got a call two days later from Sharon and I thought someone was screwing with me, so I said put Ozzy on the phone. I grabbed a piece of paper and a pen and I was shaking and he listed 18-19 songs and I wrote them all down.”
“I flew to New York on a one way ticket and $150 dollars in my pocket, no credit cards. Ozzy was playing Madison Square Gardens that night and Bernie Torme was the interim guitar player. I get a call from the road manager and he said hey you want to come up to the suite and meet Ozzy. Ozzy said go get your guitar and I said Ozzy I don’t have an amplifier and he said go get your guitar. I came back to the room with it and I sat on the end of the bed and Ozzy said what song do you want to play and I said lets do Flying High Again , I’m playing with no amplifier and Ozzy is singing and Ozzy stood up and gave me a big hug and he said Brad thank you for helping me out, I love you and he walked out looked out and said I found my new guitar player.”
When asked about the pressure of playing with Ozzy in 1982, replacing Randy Rhoads and Bernie Torme
“I was on the road for four days and I practiced in my room with a live cassette that they gave me from a board mix of Randy Rhoads and with a little amplifier and I leaned the songs everyday and I would go to the shows and watch the show. I remember the first night going in sitting at the soundboard watching the show I thought, with the big castle and all that stuff going on, sold out every night and I thought OMG I am going to be up there soon and it kind of freaked me out, it was a very scary scenario I was in. On that firth day I told them I was ready and I did my first show. ”
“Rudy even told me, what Ozzy told him that it was hard for him looking over and not seeing Randy next to him and it was hard for him to accept another guitar player. I felt a lot of pressure not only from the somber mood of the band but with the audience a couple of kids were flipping me off and it was a real tough scene for me playing those shows. Then two weeks into the tour we did a live broadcast throughout the states and after that live broadcast everybody heard it, all of a sudden I started to get a little love from people.”
When asked if Ozzy started picking on him on tour as stated in Rudy Sarzo’s book Off The Rails
(Rudy Sarzo’s book pg 268 it wasn’t until one month after the crash that Ozzy began to enter the anger stage. At this point Ozzy began drinking heavily again and started acting resentful towards Brad and urged Sharon to look for another guitatrist. it was rather disturbing to watch Brad , who was doing such a great job, being verbally abused by an inebriated Ozzy)
“Ozzy never really picked on me, it was all good, Ozzy actually encouraged me and was glad I was helping him out. The only problem for me was towards the end of the tour that is when we recorded Speak of the Devil record. Rudy Sarzo decided to leave and go to Quiet Riot and I had an offer to go back to Night Ranger that had a pending record deal and then Ozzy started getting a little defensive towards me and it got kind of weird and rough. I rolled the dice and I left and came with Night Ranger and sure enough we got our record deal and here I am today with the same band Night Ranger 35 years later releasing a new album and touring all over the country, we are going to Japan pretty soon.”
When asked if he would record another album with Ozzy Osbourne again
“Sure I would go in and do a record with Ozzy Osbourne, no problem. the problem that would be is that Night Ranger is my top priority. You got to realize that Ozzy has let go 6 guitarists since I left the band. I kind of like the idea that I am with a band that I am with a band that has longevity”
When asked if Night Ranger was pushed into being to be a ballad band after the success of Sister Christian from the record company
“I came from a hard Rock and roll background, when we released SISTER CHRISTIAN it was such a massive hit that the record companies felt well this is their niche, so they ended up releasing ballad after ballad, cause we really had no say on what they released. By 1989 it got to the point where we were kind of tired of it all, touring 200 plus shows a year we saw our audience dwindling. we were losing our male audience hard rockers and that’s when we decided to break up in 1989, we just needed a break. Then we got back together in late 1995 and that’s when it started moving again.”
Frontiers Music Srl will release “Don’t Let Up”, the new studio album from NIGHT RANGER, on March 24 2017.
Night Ranger has sold worldwide 17 million albums, have played over 3000 live shows and more than 1 billion in radio audience, NIGHT RANGER is proof that powerful songs, plus accomplished musicians is the perfect formula for continued success.
THE ROCK ALCHEMIST – Italian Rock Band from Turin with a strong sonic identity that blends modern rock with progressive, hard, alternative, and pop elements!
Kimmo Kuusniemi’s SARCOFAGUS return with a Historic 2010 Concert Video Premiere on YouTube! Click image to watch the video
