Michael Beinhorn is famous for producing Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Mother’s Milk and The Uplift Mofo Party Plan, along with Soundgarden’s Superunknown and Hole’s Celebrity Skin, and discussed working with legendary Black Sabbath frontman Ozzy Osbourne on Ozzmosis in a new Scars & Guitars interview (transcribed by Ultimate-Guitar) why he couldn’t finish the album with her.
I’d like to ask you about some of the albums that you did over the years. My first one is Ozzy [on 1995’s ‘Ozzmosis’]. Can you tell us what Ozzy was like in the studio? Remove the ‘Prince of Darkness’ tag – what kind of bloke was he like to work with?
“I don’t think he enjoyed being in the studio very much. I think he preferred being on tour, being on the road. Obviously, everyone has their personal choice about what they want to do. I mean, I have to say that it wasn’t always pleasant working with him, but he is easily one of the funniest people I’ve ever worked with in my life.
“He has an uncanny ability to be able to tell a story and tell it five times over, and somehow even though you know you’re going to get the same punchline, the same resolution, you would somehow find yourself on the floor laughing anyway. He has a fantastic ability to tell stories and make people laugh. Working with him was difficult and frankly, it was a very hard record to get.”
Is this the genesis of how you started working with [Journey drummer] Deen Castronovo?
“That was quite an experience, it was very interesting working with Deen. Apart from the fact that he’s one of the very best drummers I’ve worked with. I don’t remember how he got in, but he was in, he played a lot.
“Over the course of rehearsing and working with him, we really kind of connected. I came to see what a fantastic drummer he is and how quickly he could adapt to any situation. He’s one of the guys that could hit the drum really hard and strong, but at the same time get a really good tone out of it.”
I hear James LoMenzo [White Lion, Black Label Society, Megadeth, John Fogerty] was initially supposed to be the bassist for ‘Ozzmosis’? Is that the case?
“James who? Maybe, I never heard anything about it. I was under the impression that it was going to be Geezer [Butler]. I think Bob Daisley came in – he’s wonderful, but he didn’t really suit the vibe of the record.”
