Producer Andrew Watt revealed that Ozzy Osbourne recorded additional songs with late Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins that didn’t make the metal legend’s new album, Patient No. 9.
As it stands, Hawkins is credited with drums and co-writing credits on three songs on the final album: “Parasite,” “Mr. Darkness,” and “God Only Knows.” Apparently, Hawkins recorded even more tracks that were held back for a future project.
Watt made the revelation in a new Rolling Stone profile about Ozzy, stating that there’s “a bunch of other stuff with Ozzy and Taylor, as well, that’s going to be used for another thing.”
The producer tapped Hawkins and the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Chad Smith to handle percussion on Patient No. 9, with Smith taking on the bulk of the tracks (“God Only Knows” features both drummers). Based on Watt’s remarks, the session workload may have been a bit more balanced, even if that’s not reflected in the final track list for Patient No. 9.
Another eyebrow-raising tidbit in the Rolling Stone profile comes from Ozzy himself. Discussing his first solo guitarist, the late Randy Rhoads, Ozzy said that Rhoads didn’t care too much for rival shredder Eddie Van Halen.
“I heard recently that Eddie [Van Halen] said he taught Randy all his licks … he never,” Osbourne said. “To be honest, Randy didn’t have a nice thing to say about Eddie. Maybe they had a falling out or whatever, but they were rivals.”
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Ozzy also opened up about the prop stand he has been using to help him stand upright on stage at his recent live appearances for the Commonwealth Games and the NFL season-kickoff halftime show. Due to the blood thinners he takes, an errant fall could cause internal bleeding, making the medical risk too great.
“I went, ‘Fuck it, I’m going to go for it,’” Osbourne said of the health risk of performing. “I said to Sharon, ‘If I fall over, I fall over. But I’ll try my best not to.’”
Check out the three songs on Patient Number 9 that feature Taylor Hawkins in the players below.
