Brad Gillis feels the band kind of overplayed on Ozzy Osbourne’s live album ‘Speak of The Devil’
Night Ranger and former Ozzy Osbourne guitarist Brad Gillis was recently interviewed by Jimmy Kay for Canada’s The Metal Voice earlier this month at the M3 Rock Festival in Columbia, Maryland, USA.
Gillis rose to prominence back in the early ’80s when he filled in as Randy Rhoads‘ replacement in Ozzy Osbourne‘s solo band following a short stint by Bernie Tormé. Rhoads tragically passed away at the age of 25 on March 19, 1982 during a plane accident in Florida, USA. Gillis was part of Ozzy’s line-up which also included Rudy Sarzo on bass, Tommy Aldridge on drums and Don Airey on keyboards, that played on the live album Speak 0f The Devil (1982).
In terms of what was it about Speak of The Devil that has stood the test of time depute how fast that it was put together, Gillis opined (as provided by The Metal Voice with slight edits): “We kind of took it to the next level and maybe overplayed. The timing was right. The sound was good. I ended up having this stereo set up with slight delay on my guitar. I cranked my amp to freaking 10 man! The speakers were singing. I still sign these records all the time and love that people still enjoy that record. It was a time in my life that I’ll never forget. We had to get it together [rehearse] because it was live. You realize when you do a live show with a band, you’re rehearsing before you record that live show for release. So these songs were new for us to play live and we got it together. Ozzy never even showed up [ for rehearsal]. He was never even there. So we got it together. We just kind of overplayed it cause there were no rules back then.”
On whether he mapped out his guitar solos for Speak of The Devil, Gillis revealed: “No. I’m off the cuff with that stuff. Tony Iommi was a great player and the stuff he came out with was so innovative back then. He started heavy metal pretty much. But I would definitely stick to some of the classic things he did but like I said, then I [would] go nuts and Rudy [Sarzo] would go nuts. And we kind of turned into a kind of a live jam and at a few points on the Speak of The Devil record. Max Norman did pick the best out of the sound checks and the two live shows for the record but the mix was huge and my guitar tone was huge. It was the time in our life that everything was you just do [what you] want and just do it well.”
You can listen to the interview with Brad Gillis on The Metal Voice below: