By Jeb Wright

Bob Daisley has played with the who’s who of hard rock.  From Widowmaker, to Black Sabbath, to Rainbow, to Ozzy Osbourne, to Mother’s Army…the list goes on Ad infinitum.  It is not just bass playing that has made Bob famous, however, as he is a bit of a wordsmith as well.  He penned lyrics to many classic songs that appeared on the famous Ozzy Osbourne albums Blizzard of Ozz and Diary of a Madman.  Truth be told, Bob has done much more than that, but rather than spoil the story, I will leave it for him to explain below and then direct you to the point of purchase for his newly released autobiography For Fact’s Sake. 

The book details Bob’s illustrious career from the beginning to the current day.  He includes what it was like to work with the famous bands he has been in and details the backstabbing business deals that he has endured throughout his time working with Ozzy. 

The story is not one of bitterness, as Bob remains philosophical about his life.  He understands what was taken from him, but he also is grateful for the life he has lived.  His trials, tribulations and successes are all spoken about with total honesty.  The timeline to his story is presented in glorious detail, as Bob referred back to his rock and roll diaries which he has kept since 1976 to ensure the book is as accurate as possible. 

From the Diaries of the Madman, the Rock & Roll Rebel himself, Bob Daisley, comes this interview, For Fact’s Sake. 

Jeb:  I am very thrilled you wrote this book.  You have had an amazing career. 

Bob: I’ve heard that from a lot of people, so I am really pleased about that.  People are actually thanking me for writing it, which is a really great thing and it makes it all worthwhile.  It is nice to hear that people are enjoying it so much and getting so much out of it. 

Jeb: The whole story with Ozzy…that is a huge story, but it is not just that.  I think it is cool that you didn’t use a ghostwriter and, since you kept such a great diary over the years, that makes the documentation so precise. 

Bob: The diaries really came in handy.  I started keeping a diary in January of 1976.  The timeline is correct and accurate.  There is no guesswork, or estimates in this book, as I just looked everything up.  There were a few blank pages throughout the diaries, where I got busy, or forgot to write in it, or whatever, but all of the main dates were there.  The photographs are great as well.  I took most of the photographs when we were working, but they are in the studio, or on the road, or whatever. 

Jeb: The photographs make it like a Bob Daisley Family Rock Album. 

Bob: They are personal photographs and there are music photos as well.  There are a lot of behind-the-scenes photographs.  I didn’t want a photograph section where you read about something and then you have to go to the photo section to find what you’re looking for.  I wanted the photographs integral within the text, so that is what I did.  My webmaster, Simon Rice, did that for me and he spent hours and hours doing that.  It is difficult; it becomes like a Rubick's Cube, as when you put them in, then it moves everything out.  It was a big job, but he did great on it. 

Jeb: Your writing style makes this book come off as very genuine.

Bob: It is genuine.  I think that is the difference between writing it yourself, and using a ghostwriter.  Not everyone can do it as not everyone can string a sentence together.  I’ve always been interested in the English language and Grammar and it helped being a lyricist as well.  I think that makes a difference, telling the story yourself, from your own words, from your own heart and mind.  All I had to do was remember the truth and the truth is the truth, so I just told the truth.  I didn’t bad mouth, or slag anyone off, or whatever.  It was just me saying, “This is what happened. Make up your own mind.”

Jeb: A lot of people try to be Politically Correct.  You are not that way.  You talk about things that pissed you off and hurt your feelings. 

Bob: I didn’t want to come across as bitter, as I am not bitter.  I wanted to tell the story of everything that happened, and everyone that was involved, and how things happened, and when they happened, in a sort of straight and honest way.  It is up to the reader to judge for themselves.  I didn’t want to sound judgmental; I am just telling you what happened. 

Jeb: You got fucked by Ozzy’s camp.

Bob: Oh yeah sure, royally.

Jeb: But you don’t come across as resentful.  You come across as a happy guy.

Bob: It is best to look at things philosophically, rather than to get all screwed up over them.  It’s the old story; shit happens.  Some shits are way bigger than others [laughter]. 

You emailed me and told me that you were sorry when the book ended because you couldn’t keep reading it, and I have had that sort of feedback from others.  It brings you up, virtually, to the present day.  The cut off was when I started writing the book in 2009, but then you have the Epilogue, which I had to add important dates to that cutoff point.  It really comes right up to when it went to print, which was earlier this year. 

Jeb: As a writer, I know how emotional it can be to look back over time and write about it.  You don’t just remember facts, you remember, and relive, feelings and emotions.

Bob: Man, I will tell you that I remember sitting there typing away and I would remember exactly what happened, and how it happened, and I would be laughing out loud because there are some funny stories in there.  Other days, I would be trying to capture the emotion of an event that was either very sad, or very tragic, and I would be typing with tears running down my face.  It was therapeutic and cathartic and I relived a lot of moments writing the book. 

Jeb: Did the intensity of the emotions surprise you?

Bob: It didn’t surprise me, as I knew when I was coming up to certain things that I would have to relive this, or that.  You have to relive it to put it into words.  You can’t skim over it, or pretend it didn’t happen that way.  You have to relive it and that is what gets the emotion into the writing.  I’ve been blessed with a very good memory.  Some things are sort of freakish, the details that I remember.  With that memory, and the diary, it made the job easier to get everything down in detail. 

Jeb: One thing in the book that jumps out is all the people who have died along your journey.

Bob: There are so many people that have gone, and it is so sad.  There are so many gone over the years.  Some have died of illnesses of when they got older and some were taken when they were very young. 

Jeb: The one that really got me was how close you were to Gary Moore. 

Bob: Yes, that was really unexpected because there had been no warning signs.  Some people get diagnosed with things and you get a little warning, but Gary really was out of the blue.  He was on holiday in Spain, on the coast, with his new German girlfriend.  They had a few drinks the night before and she woke up in the morning and he didn’t.  He was only 58. 

The thing about Gary was that I always thought that we’d do something again, together, and I looked forward to that.  We kept in touch. In 2003, we did The Power of the Blues, which was released in 2004.  We did some shows together after that and then he went and did something else.  I always thought we would get back together one day and do something else, but it was not meant to be. 

It was the same with Jon Lord.  We planned to do another Hoochie Coochie Men album and he was up for that and we were looking forward to doing that.  Jon got diagnosed with the Big C and then he didn’t last much longer after that. 

Jeb: When you put this all into one book and you look at all the things you’ve done…are you personally impressed with yourself?

Bob: I suppose impressed is not an accurate word, but at the end of it all, because you live it and you take it as it comes, day by day, week by week, year by year, it is just the way it is.  When you put a condensed version of forty years into a book and you look at the photographs and you read the stories and you think of all of the different things you’ve done…I did sit there at the end of it and think, “God, did all of this happen to one person?” 

I do feel sort of blessed in a certain way that I’ve worked with so many great people and that my career was so successful.  I had a lot of great opportunities and a lot of great experiences.  It is not over yet, but the highlight of my career is when I was a young person.  Many of the things I did kind of turned iconic, especially the two albums, Blizzard of Ozz and Diary of Madman, to be involved with something like that really is a blessing. 

Jeb: You really came into your own as a lyricist on those albums.  Did you know all along you had that talent? 

Bob: It wasn’t really used that much; I’d written some songs myself and written the lyrics when I was with Widowmaker.  I didn’t get much of a chance with Rainbow because Ritchie [Blackmore] and Ronnie [James Dio] were self-sufficient in that area.  It was a bit of a closed shop, as they really didn’t need any outside help, or input. 

When we formed the band, Blizzard of Ozz, no one else in the band was really a lyricist.  Lee [Kerslake] had written a few songs himself, but his lyrics were really quite basic.  Ozzy [Osbourne] wasn’t a lyricist at all, as Geezer Butler used to write the lyrics in Sabbath. Randy [Rhoads] wasn’t a lyricist. As great as a guitar player and musician as we was, he was not a lyricist.  I just thought that I had better wear the lyricist hat, or otherwise we would have to go outside the band and source lyrics from someone else, which we didn’t want to, do. 

I remember we were writing songs and putting musical ideas together.  We didn’t have Lee yet, as we were still auditioning drummers, at that time.  There weren’t really any sets of lyrics written, at that point.  I came down one morning and Ozzy and Randy had tried their hand at writing some lines in a song, but they were pretty awful, they were sort of cheesy and corny and cliché.  I decided that I had better write the lyrics, so I did.

Jeb: “Crazy Train” is worldwide known.  “Mr. Crowley,” “Suicide Solution,” “Diary of a Madman,” “Flying High Again” and all the others…did you start writing and think, “I am on a roll here.”

Bob: Not at all; no I didn’t.  I just thought, “Well, these will be okay.  At least they are not corny and they are not cliché.  At least they are not just another love song.”  I wanted to avoid the boy/girl love song, as it has been done to death and is in so many songs. 

I’d just come out of Rainbow, which was a heavy hard rock band, and Ozzy had just come out of Sabbath.  We were trying to direct Randy more towards that type of stuff, as he had been in Quiet Riot and, at that time, they were a bit more pop rock, or glam rock.  I was writing lyrics for a bloke that is coming out of Black Sabbath and he’s got to sing them, so I knew they had to be different from your average cliché rock lyrics, or love songs. 

I just wrote about a lot of obscure things.  I used to read- actually I still do read- really philosophical things.  I would read about Buddhism, or I would read parts of the Bible…I would read all sorts of things for inspiration.  I tried to be a bit philosophical in the lyrics and have some kind of message that would touch somebody, or at least make them think.

Jeb: You speak of your Buddhist beliefs in the book.  Having those beliefs must have helped you when you realized the amount of money that you got screwed out of. 

Bob: Oh sure, yeah.  Being focused and being down to earth and keeping your feet on the ground really did help.  It really helped to keep my feet on the ground and it helped to keep me on the right side of the ground [laughter].

Jeb: You read how the business end of working with Ozzy and Sharon Osborne never was fair.  You read how you tried, legally to rectify it and then you got screwed over again.  Yet, the next chapter you go back and work with them again.  Then it happens again and the next chapter there you are working on the new Ozzy album.  As you read this you want to go, “Bob…STOP!”

Bob:  My missus, Vicki used to say that.  She used to say, “Bob, you need to tell them to fuck off.” As I explain in the book, it’s not that simple.  There are reasons why I went back and sometimes it got complicated on why I went back.  I was sort of tricked into things and lied to and that sort of thing.  I suppose, all in all, it was a good experience, throughout.  If I had said, “fuck off” as early as some people would have told me to, then I wouldn’t have had the experiences of creating the music and songs that I did.  Above all, we created some good stuff. 

Jeb: Did the four of you, Randy, Ozzy, Lee and you, ever have a signed document describing how the money would be split up?

Bob: They were drawn up, but not signed.  The contracts were drawn up.  Don Arden was managing the band and David Arden, his son, was doing the day to day management as well.  Sharon was not involved at that stage. When we did the initial deal, David came down to Ridge Farm…we’d already started recording.  We’d written the songs, we’d got Lee—we auditioned all of these drummers and finally got Lee.  We’d gone to Ridge Farm and started recording and David Arden came down and we had a meeting and we agreed on percentages and the contracts were to be drawn up.  They were sent to our lawyers and they said this needed changed, or that needed changed, and they would go back and forth and have things tweaked and fine-tuned.  Eventually, not quite a year later, after the tour that we did in September and October, with the first album, Blizzard of Ozz, we started writing the album that became Diary of a Madman.  A lot of people think, and I don’t know where they get it from, that the two albums were done together, but they weren’t.  They were done about a year apart, or eleven months apart, or something like that. 

We went into Jet Records offices while we were writing the second album and we said, “Hey, we still don’t have our contracts signed and we are now writing for the second album now.”  It was in place, but before we got the chance to get everything signed and finalized, they got the album out of us and they got rid of Lee and me.  See, they wanted to get rid of Lee and I wouldn’t agree.  They kept on asking me and I wouldn’t agree.  I could not agree with something that in my heart I thought was wrong.  So, they got rid of both of us.  They, then, asked me back. 

Jeb: You talk in the book about ‘The Holy Grail’, which are recordings that you have from that time period.

Bob: I have about six to seven hours of stuff.  I was the only one who taped things.  I had a sort of boom box kind of thing that I recorded and I used to bring it along to our rehearsals.  I didn’t do it for posterity because no one knew at that time this would be such great stuff.  I didn’t go, “Oh this is going to be iconic stuff and I’ve got to tape it all.”  It wasn’t like that.  We were experimenting with the songs and we were auditioning drummers and we were writing songs at the same time.  We were experimenting and adding bits, changing bits and taking bits out so we didn’t forget what we did.  The famous last words are, “Oh yeah, that’s a great bit.  We’ll remember that tomorrow.”  You come back the next day and you forgot it.  I just taped everything we did. 

I’ve got those rehearsals and writing sessions.  I’ve even got tapes of us at Clearwell Castle just after we got Lee.  We are just sitting around laughing and being daft.  We had a roadie then called Stuart Hopkins and he’d gone up to London to pick up Randy’s new pedal board.  I’ve got a tape of when Randy plugs it in and uses it for the first time. 

Jeb: Are there any albums you were on that you were surprised were not bigger than they ended up being?

Bob: I hoped that Uriah Heap would go bigger than it did when I was in it.  After Lee and I got shafted and we reformed Uriah Heap with Mickey Box, Pete Goalby and John Sinclair…that was a good band. We came up with two really good albums.  A couple of the songs were being shown on MTV. That’s when we needed the push and support from our management and record company and we really didn’t get it.  I was hoping that would happen, but it didn’t quite happen. 

Jeb:  “The Other Side of Midnight” is a great tune.

Bob:  That was on Head First.  The other album we did was Abominog.  They are good albums.  They sound a little dated now, as it was the ’80s, but the songs and performances still hold up.  I get a lot of comments on those albums on Facebook and people emailing the website.  People really enjoyed those albums. 

When Abominog first came out, Ozzy and I were still on good terms.  I was in London and the album had just come out and he phoned me from L.A. and said, “I’ve just heard your new album…the Heep album and I love it.  I am going to walk up and down Sunset Strip with a sandwich board and tell everybody to buy it.”   I left after Head First, before the tour, to go back and do Bark at the Moon with Ozzy. 

Jeb:  I thought Widowmaker might have been bigger.

Bob: That is another band that gets a lot of favorable comments.  Kelly Rhoads, Randy’s brother, I speak with from time to time, and he told me that Randy really liked Widowmaker.  Kelly and Randy may have even come to the Starwood and saw us there, possibly. 

The second lineup with John Butler on vocals, I thought was quite good.  The album Too Late to Cry I thought was a good album.  There were some crazy things that happened on the road.  I wanted to be more serious about getting on and doing things professionally and there were squabbles and there were drugs and there were daft things happening.  I loved the band and the guys in the band, we all got on well together, but when I got the offer from Ritchie Blackmore, as I explain in the book, the decision was kind of made for me. 

Jeb: How close did you get to a Rainbow reunion with Ritchie, Ronnie, Cozy [Powell] and you?

Bob: Very close.  It was getting serious.  I’d spoken to Cozy several times.  I’d spoken to Ronnie who had spoken to Ritchie and it was getting close to, “let’s do this” and that is when Cozy got killed.  The keyboard player wasn’t even mentioned, that would have been down to Ritchie.  It could have been Tony Carey, or Don Airey or David Stone. 

Jeb: You worked with Don on Blizzard of Ozz. 

Bob: With Blizzard of Ozz we just knew some of the songs needed keyboards so we said, “Who’s available?  Oh, Don is good.  Let’s get him.”  A lot of people think that Don is on Diary of a Madman, but he is not, as that is Johnny Cook.  Johnny and I played together in Mungo Jerry in 1973.  At the time, we were at Ridge Farm recording Diary of a Madman and we thought, “Some of these songs need keyboards.  Who can we get?”  We thought of Don Airey, but he was touring with Rainbow.  I think it was Jet Records, or it could have been Max Norman who suggested Johnny.  Max and Johnny had worked at Ridge Farm with Bad Company right before us.  It may have been Max and then Jet Records arranged it.  He was only there two, or three days and he played on what we needed and he left.  That is how it was with Don Airey as well.  We got Don down, and he played on the songs we needed keyboards on. 

Jeb:  You have been in bands, and you have done some work like you just described.  But I think you are a ‘band guy’ over ‘just coming in and doing parts’.

Bob: Definitely.  I’ve done a few sessions and a few bits and pieces of where I wasn’t really a part of it.  I have always felt that when the chemistry locks in and the rapport between us is good, then it makes more of a band situation.  Even in Black Sabbath, where I was just called into play because their bass player has some personal issues to take care of… I got the phone call from Jeff Glixman, who was in Air Studios in Montserrat.  He said, “Would you fancy doing a Black Sabbath album?”  When I got down there and I got along so well with them all, it ended up feeling like a band, which is why they asked me to join.  I was with Gary Moore at the time, so I stayed with Gary. 

Jeb: You have played with many great hard rock guitar players.  When you look back with hindsight, is Randy the most special because he came and went so fast?  Is it Gary because he could play so many genres?  Is it Tony Iommi because he invented heavy metal?  Who is the most special to you?

Bob: It is a difficult question to answer.  Usually people just come out and ask, “Who was the best?”  I just think they are all the best.  Randy was the most suited and the best guitar player for the Blizzard of Ozz.  Ritchie Blackmore was the best guitarist in Deep Purple and Rainbow. Gary Moore was the best in the Gary Moore Band.  It is kind of like that.  It is a chemistry thing.  It is sort of like when you lock in with people and something special happens you can’t really change that. 

Some things look good on paper and you say to bring in this person, or that person, and they can do this or that.  It looks great on paper, but then you put them in a room and nothing happens.  When you get the chemistry firing up together, then that is when it becomes special.  You can say who is best, or whatever, but you can say that John Bonham is technically a better drummer than Ringo, but if you put John Bonham in the Beatles then it wouldn’t have been the Beatles, you know? 

Jeb: It is an unfair question.

Bob:  It’s not unfair, and I like how you worded it, but I just don’t think there is an answer.  Randy was a very special sort of guitarist and a special person.  I think what makes him even more special is that there is no more of him.  He left people wanting more. 

Jeb: Jeff Watson is a good player and you worked with him.

Bob: Oh man, he’s a great guitarist.  Jeff and I had a good rapport as well.  I would go to his house and we would just sit on chairs together and we’d come up with ideas.  We’d look at each other and say, “Where did that come from?”  We’d come up with these weird things and the chemistry worked.  I think he is underrated for sure. 

Jeb: Steve Morse is in your band Living Loud. 

Bob: Oh man, that guy is brilliant. 

Jeb: He is brilliant not just technically, but all the way around. 

Bob: For sure, when it comes to music he really knows what he’s talking about.  He’s very quick as well.  You can say, “This needs a part right here” and boom, it’s there. 

The first time that Lee and I worked with Steve is when we did the Living Loud thing… it was just instant.  We were like, “This is working.”  Originally, Lee and I were thinking of doing some of the Blizzard of Ozz and Diary things as a tribute to Randy and having different guitarists come in.  Brian May had said yes, and Gary Moore said he would play on a track or two.  There were a couple of other people as well.  We were even going to have different singers on it.  Once we started working with Steve Morse it started feeling like a band and not like a project.  We decided to do the thing as a band.  It worked very well. 

Jeb: Glixman produced Kansas and Steve Morse played in Kansas. 

Bob: Kansas?  I am not that familiar with them.  I know they are a good band and that Jeff worked with them, but I didn’t know Steve Morse played with Kansas.  Really?

I have listened to a lot of Dixie Dregs stuff that he did.  I love that album they did called What If.   Man, that first track, “Take It Off the Top” I used to just blast everyone out of the house. 

Jeb: What is it about you that makes you click in so many different musical settings?

Bob:  I may just work well with other people and they may notice that I bring out things that didn’t come out before.  When I was first in London and I was only 21 I went to an audition where this band was auditioning bass players and guitarists.  After I did my audition, the drummer came over and whispered in my ear, “You’ve got the gig.”  I actually didn’t take it because I had set my sights a bit higher, but it was a nice feeling.  The next guitarist stepped up and there was going to be another bass player audition with him.  The guitarist pointed to me and said, “I want to do my audition with that guy.”  I think that is the sort of example of why things work with certain people and why I’ve been chosen, or why it has worked so often with various people.  You can’t make it happen, as it’s either there, or it isn’t. 

Jeb: I like Mother’s Army, but sometimes I don’t think they quite had what some of the other bands had that you’ve been in.

Bob: We did three albums and the first two were Joe Lynn Turner, Jeff Watson, Carmine Appice and me.  The third album, instead of Carmine, we had Aynsley Dunbar and the reason for that is in the book, so buy it and read all about it [laughter].  Do you think that band didn’t quite come off, chemistry wise, or what?

Jeb: The second album is great. 

Bob: I thought the first album lacked direction a bit, as we were sort of feeling our way of what direction we wanted to take, and what the material was going to be like.  By the second album, I think we were finding direction and the third album was much harder and more rock. 

Jeb: I just don’t keep coming back to these albums.  I bought two of them, Bob so it’s all good [laughter].

Bob: Well, alright then!  You can actually get a three album set for quite a good price, as well.  Edel, in Germany, re-released the three albums together.  There are some great moments on those performances.  There is a possibility that because we only came together…it was more of a project than a permanent band.  Carmine lived in LA, Jeff lived in San Francisco, I was in England and Joe was in New York.  We were pretty spread out and we would just come together at Jeff’s house and get done what we could get done.  Maybe that is it.

Jeb:  I have some hardcore rock fans that tell me I am an idiot for not loving those albums.  Fans of Mother’s Army LOVE that band. 

Bob: For sure, if you listen to those songs and the performances, then you can’t really fault it.  There are some great moments and great song ideas there.  I am proud of a lot of that stuff. 

Jeb:  Were you with Joe when he sang for Yngwie Malmsteen?

Bob: We were on Odyssey in 1987. 

Jeb:  That is what I love about the book.  There are so many bands and albums.  Do you remember the movie Forest Gump?

Bob: Yep.

Jeb: There are the pictures of him with all the famous people at famous times…that is what I kept thinking of as I was reading the book.  You were there always!

Bob: [Laughter] Except its real! 

Jeb: You even claim you told Gary Moore to make a blues album.

Bob: Oh yeah, that was my idea.  He actually said that in one of his interviews.  He acknowledged that.  He said, “Yeah, that’s Bob’s idea.”  We were in Germany in 1989 when Neil Carter was in the band, the drummer would have been Chris Slade.  Gary and I were sitting in the tune up room.  We used to just mess about with a lot of the blues standards.  We would mess about with stuff like what Eric Clapton did when he was with the Bluesbreakers with John Mayall.  I said to Gary one night, “Gary, why don’t we do a blues album?”  He sort of shrugged it off at first, but the seed was sown.  He started thinking about it and it sprouted.  He got really serious about it after that. 

I started sending him tapes and suggested songs for him to do, one of which was “Oh Pretty Woman” by Albert King.  The solo in that, is note for note, how Clapton starts the solo in “Strange Brew.”  It really is the same solo.  Have a listen to the solo in “Strange Brew” and then listen to the solo in Albert King’s “Oh Pretty Woman.”  It’s the same. 

I remember saying to Gary…he’d been doing well… he’d done very well with Thin Lazy and his own stuff as well...  I said, “You watch, Gary…  This is going to be the biggest thing that you’ve ever done.”  When he released Still Got the Blues” he phoned me on New Year’s Eve and he said, “You were right.  It’s done three million and it’s still selling.” 

Jeb: The books title, For Facts Sake, is a great title. 

Bob: The initial title that I had was, “You Couldn’t Make This Stuff Up.”  It would have been kind of appropriate.  You ask people and you get feedback and I asked a few people and some liked it and some did not.  Well, I decided to think of something else.  One morning I just woke up and I thought For Facts Sake because “for fuck’s sake” is a very common saying and is pretty universal.  The book is factual and the timeline is factual.  For Facts Sake is kind of street and it had a bit of humor to it. 

Jeb:  What happened to the songs you made with Ozzy and Steve Vai?

Bob: I’ve got some of those songs on a disc somewhere.  We worked up some ideas and they didn’t get used.  I think maybe a couple of them ended up on Ozzy’s next album.  It just didn’t work out with Steve Vai.  I knew it wasn’t going to happen.  I tell that story in the book, how they handled it, and it wasn’t very nice.

Jeb: Not very nice seems to be a theme…

Bob: Oh yes. 

Jeb: To play the Devil’s Advocate, you bring up the Ozzy stuff over and over.  Some may say, “He’s just bitter.  Could it really have been that bad?”  Despite the fact that you have the diaries and the dates, some won’t believe you. 

Bob: I think what some of that might be is that I’ve burst their bubble.  They have this belief that so and so, whether it’s Ozzy, or Randy, or whoever, that things were a certain way.  You tell the truth and it rubs them the wrong way, or it bursts their bubble of what they thought it was and they go into denial.  They would rather call me a liar, or doubt my accuracy, than face the truth. 

Jeb:  I grew up and bought those albums as a teenager.  Reading the business end of stuff does open your eyes. 

Bob: I suppose because a lot of it was portrayed in the press that Randy came along and saved Ozzy’s career, singlehandedly and that is just bullshit.  Randy is an amazing player but it happened when we all came together.  When we got that final piece, which was Lee Kerslake, then we had the power of the completed puzzle; that really is when it all came together. 

They’ve tried to rewrite history with inaccuracies.  They won’t even acknowledge the fact that there was a band called Blizzard of Ozz.  They just call them Ozzy’s solo records. I doubt very much if anything would have been very credible if it had been an Ozzy solo record.  I mean, what could he do? 

Jeb: You had the lawsuit and it unraveled and fell apart and I think people have to read this book just for that story, as it is something a movie could be made about.   I like the fact that it comes off in your writing how you are more pissed off being slighted with the credits and having your parts redone on those two albums than you are about the money you lost.  

Bob: That’s it.  They stole everything else and then they stole our music.  They shot themselves in the foot for that.  People hated them for that.  I got a lot of comments and I looked at forums where that was discussed and people hated them for that.  Those were two of the most favorite rock albums of all time and they changed them.  It was kind of like getting a cake that was already baked and trying to remove the sugar and eggs and replace them with new sugar and eggs; you can’t do that. 

Jeb: There are points in the book that are non-musical that are very deep and honest.  You talk about your family and you speak of the death of your parents.  That is not something you expect in a rock memoir.  You really could feel the sadness and loss in your writing. 

Bob: I wanted to make this a complete story.  This is more than just me saying that I was in this band, or I was in that band.  This is my entire life.  I start when I was born and I go through my teens and talk about what influenced me, whether it is music, or life incidents, or whatever.  At all the integral parts that are woven into what makes you the person you are, the family relations are things that affect you.  I had to acknowledge that to make the story complete. 

Jeb: Most people don’t know about your Australian band. 

Bob: Kahvas Jute; that was a good band.  We got a lot of recognition when we first put that band together in 1970.  We only did one album called Wide Open.  I really, really have fond memories of those times, that band, that album.  I particularly liked what I played on that album, as well, as it was very free.  In those days, bands used to do a song, but you would sort of jam in it, so there is some of that on the album.  It is sort of controlled jamming, but it is still jamming.  It was a really good album.  

Jeb: Being that you were in Australia, you knew Bon Scott. 

Bob: Oh yeah, during the Sixties he was in a band called The Valentines and they had two singers.  One was Vince Lovegrove and the other was Bon Scott.  They were a bit of a poppy band. 

I used to see Bon on the circuit.  We’d be on the same bill and I would see him often.  Just before I left he was in a band called Fraternity.  He was singing well then.  The next I heard he had joined this band called AC/DC.  I was in London the day that they arrived I went to their hotel to see them and had a drink with Bon.  Bon was a lovely bloke; a really, really nice chap.  He was a down to earth, salt of the earth bloke. 

Jeb:  Before we go, I have to ask you if there is anyone that you didn’t get a chance to work with.

Bob: The one that always comes to mind is Jeff Beck.  I love his playing; I’ve always liked his playing.   I tend to look back more fondly at his playing when he had Rod Stewart in the band with Ronnie Wood on bass.  It was the very early days when he had The Jeff Beck Group and he had those two albums Truth and Beck-Ola.  They are great albums and I used to listen to those all the time.  I used to refer to him as “Jeff Best.” 

Jeb: Your second book starts now…

Bob: Oh dear!

Jeb: The future is still going on, Bob.  What is coming up next?

Bob: I’d like to do some writing and recording.  I am not so big on going on the road anymore because I’ve done so much of that.  I am turning into an old fuck now and it is not as fun when you’re old.  I would still like to create and write and record. 

We’ve been talking about doing another Living Loud album.  Steve Morse and Lee would be on that.  We are just looking for the right window of opportunity.  We are all spread out. Jimmy Barnes and I are in Sydney and Lee is in England and Steve is in Florida.  We could probably get Don Airey to play on some tracks, as well, as he is in England.  Nothing is set in stone yet, but it is semi-serious.  I’ve talked to Steve about it.  We’ve been talking about it since we did the first album.  A lot of people come through the website and ask when there will be another Living Loud album.  The first one had those songs from Blizzard and Diary on it but we wouldn’t do anything like that again.  We’d do all original songs again.

Jeb: With Jon Lord passed, the Hoochie Men is probably over. 

Bob: The Hoochie Coochie Men was a band that I loved and I loved doing that album with Jon Lord.  There is a possibility we could do another album without Jon. We could have other guests on it.  I am not sure. 

Jeb: I like hearing that you are still interested in writing and recording.  A lot of guys from your era that I talk to don’t even want to bother, as the industry is so fucked up its not even worth it.

Bob: I just do it for art’s sake.  I have always been like that since I was a kid.  It was a big fad back then; we’re talking around 1963 and 1964.  It was the big British Invasion sort of thing.  A lot of kids started learning to play instruments because they wanted to get rich or famous, or they wanted to get girls.  When I started playing it was just for the music, you know.  The funny thing is that I didn’t even tell people that I played, or that I was in a band. 

Jeb: Last one:  Where can people buy the book?

Bob: The book is available exclusively at my website which is www.bobdaisley.com .  I thought about putting it on Amazon, but they wanted to take too much control.  They wanted to control how much you can charge and how much postage you can charge.  I was going to be losing money.  I do not make any money out of postage, but I don’t want to lose money either.  It is a big and heavy book.  I didn’t want to lose money, as I think I’ve lost enough money for one career [Laughter].

Jeb: I bought the book and to get it over to the USA the postage was high.  It was the most I had ever paid for the book.  Because I know you and love your story, I knew I was going to buy it.  You told me that it would be worth every penny and you were correct, Bob.  I would have paid double looking back!

Bob: I am glad to hear that.  I didn’t want to cut corners with the quality of the book.   I wanted the best quality paper because of the photographs and I had a special effect on the cover.  I didn’t want a cheap product; I wanted a good product.  For what it is, it is not expensive.

Jeb: Martin Popoff reviewed the book for www.classicrockrevisited.com and he said great things about the book.  I emailed Martin and said, “Okay man, is it really THAT good?”  He said it was and that sealed the deal for me.  You need to give Martin a commission because his seal of approval sold you a book! 

Bob: [laughter] That’s great.  So far, I’ve only had favorable feedback on it, whether it be fans, or official reviews, or whatever.  It seems everybody loves it and I am really pleased about that.  Nobody has been disappointed, or had anything negative to say.  It has been one good comment and one good review after another.

Jeb: I will end with this:  Much like your musical career, it is a unique and quality product.  It is memorable and worthwhile, which is what you expect out of Bob Daisley. 

Bob: Well thank you very much.  I am very proud of it and I am proud that it turned out as I wanted it.  I had that vision of how I wanted it.  I wanted it well written so I spent a lot of time on editing and reshuffling things.  My webmasters were both brilliant.  Troy and I edited it together and the other one was Simon and did the placement of the photographs and it just turned out exactly how I had envisaged it. I was really pleased with the end product.  I saw it and went, “YES!”

Visit Bob Online Here: http://www.bobdaisley.com/

Buy For Fact’s Sake Here: http://www.bobdaisley.com/for-facts-sake/order-now