Dave: What's happening after Ozzfest?

Ozzy: There's talk of a Sabbath tour. It looks like I'm going to be doing that. But I don't really want to make that many promises. I want to do an album. I want to do an Ozzy album. I want to do a Sabbath Album. I want to do a Sabbath tour. But I don't know when I want to do them. But it looks like more than likely I'll be doing a Sabbath tour.

Dave: When will you know about the Sabbath tour?

Ozzy: I don't know. There's a Sabbath album coming out...live album...in the fall. With two new studio tracks. The studio tracks are called "Psycho Man", and the other track is called "Selling your Soul". The live album has songs on the album we never really played before, so it's not just the classic Sabbath stuff. I've heard the live album...and I'm not a live album person, and believe me, It's a real good live album.

Dave: How does it feel being back with Black Sabbath?

Ozzy: It's kind of a different emotion, you know. A different emotion. It's fun. The beauty of it all is at the end of the day, we're all friends again. If it wasn't for them, I wouldn't be here and if it wasn't for me they wouldn't be here. We started this whole thing way back in '68. It's just amazing that the demand is still there, for me and them. It's just incredible. Better than ever.

Dave: It took awhile to get back to the point where you could play with them again.

Ozzy: There was a lot of anger there. There was a lot of jealousy, a lot of mistrust, a lot of "Oh they're gonna fuck me over" or "Am I gonna fuck them over?". It was a battle for many years. An emotional battle....who could out compete. We'd get to the fucking front door and then just say, "It ain't happening." and walk away. Then my wife said to me at the beginning of the last Ozzfest, "What do you want to do with Black Sabbath?" I said, "Well, I tried to get involved with the last reunion and I'm not a fucking manager. I'm gonna tell you, as my manager, that I'm in. Now you've gotta sort this shit out." Everyone's got a manager, everyone's got an agent. You haven't got one captain of the ship. If you had one manager to do the whole thing and you'd say, "Yeah, I'll do that" it'd be alright. But every single one of us has managers. No managers can always agree on the same fucking things. So Sharon dealt with that. And that was the way it was pulled off. Bill Ward never made the first Ozzfest. We did the two Birmingham shows we recorded with Bill Ward. Unfortunately, we just did a European tour with Black Sabbath and before we got on the road, he had a heart attack or something wrong with him and he couldn't make it. I'm hoping that if I go out with Black Sabbath again that Bill Ward will be fit enough to do it. I'd love it for Bill to do it.

Dave: After the Sabbath tour, do you have any plans to take the current band into the studio?

Ozzy: If I go on the road with Sabbath, I'm going to get living accommodations while I'm on the road that we can be jamming out some stuff and I can phone in from time to time and they can send me some tapes out. So I can kill two birds with one stone. I'm desperate to do an Ozzy studio album. One on my terms, not on the record company's. I want to have more freedom, because as my career is getting on I'm getting more and more fucked up with people advising me what I should be doing and I know that I have an emotion. I have a feeling. I have a vibe that I want to sound like. I don't want anybody to tell me what I should sound like...tell me I should sound like Korn, or Marilyn Manson. I started it. I'm too old to reinvent.

Dave: When we had dinner in Boston a few weeks ago, you had a very interesting question that you asked some people. "If you had a choice, would you go 100 years forward, or 100 years back?" I never heard your answer to that question.

Ozzy: I think I would go back. I like watching documentaries of when my father was young. I would love to have what I've got now...the knowledge I have know...and to go back and say, "Look, it's wrong to do that" so that you could at least map their future out a little better. The future...it would be scary because you'd be going into a new world. I do think about my future and what this fucking world is going to lead to. But there's not a lot I can do to prevent what is going to happen. But if my life ends today...I've lived a great life.

Dave: I've noticed that you have a documentary crew taking some pictures...

Ozzy: I just said to Sharon, "This is too good to miss!" So we hired the documentary crew. Even if it doesn't get sold, or used, or whatever. One day, someone might see it and know what it was like back then. I'm a guy that if I had it my way I'd have them with me all the time. My life should be documented. So if someone says, "What was it like at Ozzfest?" ten years from now, we've got it on film. And why not? It's not a big deal anymore.

Dave: I've noticed that you have the entire family with you on the road...

Ozzy: It's not a very good idea. They all come in pissed off at each other. It doesn't work. I just try to stay out of the fucking way.

Dave: Have you had any difficulties raising your kids in a rock & roll world?

Ozzy: Not really. I've never known anything different. If I'd started off as a fucking mailman or something and then had a hit record then it would have been different. But I've always been Ozzy. All their lives have been with this.

Dave: Do you ever talk to your kids about your music?

Ozzy: Sometimes. I'm very honest to my kids. If they ask me any questions, I don't give them a bullshit answer. I try to be as honest with them as I can.

Dave: Do they listen to your music? Do they like it?

Ozzy: They have no choice, really, I play it all the fucking time! They're weird, because they have their own likes. My daughter likes Marilyn Manson, different bands. I don't force myself upon them, I don't say, "You must listen to Diary of a Madman". They've heard it all, thousands of times.

Dave: When you're not listening to your music, what kind of music do you like to listen to?

Ozzy: I'm listening to a lot of Sinatra right now. I always want to listen to people when they die, for some reason. I'm not morbid. I just wonder what it was about. He was a great singer, Frank Sinatra was. For what it was worth. I really admire his talent.

Dave: Do you have a favorite artist?

Ozzy: Anything from The Beatles. I listen to all kinds of things. I have an album for the tour. The last tour it was, "Flaming Pie" by Paul McCartney. This tour I've been playing a lot of Sinatra. I don't listen to a lot of new stuff 'cause there's no melody. It's got to have a melody for me.