Ozzy Osbourne will not go gentle into that good night. Why start now? The metal legend who has been sidelined for much of this year due to ongoing issued tied to a neck injury told Metal Hammer in a new interview that he is working on another album. And, despite canceling his oft-delayed No More Tours 2 tour and announcing his retirement from touring, he is also hoping to be back on the road next year.
“I’ve done two albums fairly recently [2020’s Ordinary Man and 2022’s Patient Number 9, both produced by Andrew Watt], but I want to do one more album and then go back on the road,” Osbourne, 74, said. Osbourne said he’s set up a home studio at his house in the U.K. and would like to work with Watt (Rolling Stones, Justin Bieber) again. “I’m just starting to work on it now, and we’ll be recording in the early part of next year,” he said. “I want to take my time with this one!”
Though Ozzy has had several surgeries to deal with a nagging neck/spinal injury, Osbourne said he had his “final” one earlier this month and is feeling much better. “I’ve had all the surgery now, thank God. I’m feeling okay – it was just dragging on,” Osbourne explained of the procedure to help relieve pain from an injury he suffered after a late night fall in 2019. “I thought I’d be back on my feet months ago, I just couldn’t get used to this mode of living, constantly having something wrong. I can’t walk properly yet, but I’m not in any pain any more and the surgery on my spine went great.”
He’s feeling better, but Osbourne said he still can’t travel, so fans should not expect him to pop in for a guest appearance at the all-metal Power Trip festival in California’s Coachella Valley on Oct. 6-8; Judas Priest have stepped in to perform in Ozzy’s place. “It’s brilliant. [Priest singer] Rob [Halford]’s a great singer and they’re a very good band,” he said of the fellow Birmingham hard rock icon. “He’s been a very dear friend of mine and he’s one of the greatest rock singers of all-time.”
Despite his enthusiasm, Osbourne assured the magazine that he will not be there to see sets by AC/DC, Guns N’ Roses, Iron Maiden, Metallica or Tool. “If I can’t do the gig, I don’t really want to be there,” he said. “Plus I know they’ll just be like ‘go on, get Ozzy up’!”
This story originally appeared on Billboard
