GUS G. Looks Back On Making Of OZZY OSBOURNE's 'Scream' Album: 'You Can Say It Was Nerve-Racking'

Greek guitar virtuoso Gus G., who joined Ozzy Osbourne's band a decade ago, was asked during a recent clinic in Copenhagen, Denmark about the experience of recording the "Scream" album with the legendary BLACK SABBATH singer. He responded (see video below): "You can say it was nerve-racking. They made sure that I was very comfortable. We were recording in Ozzy's house. He had this amazing million-dollar studio in his basement. And they were, like, 'Just take your time. Play your guitars. Take as long as you like.' So it was cool. I was hanging out there for a few weeks with his producer, Kevin Churko. It was great times. He didn't stress me. He just let me do my thing down there. We had a lunch break, and he would come down and take a listen to what I'd done for the day and tell a joke.

"It was also an interesting album for me, because I'm so used to writing the stuff," he continued. "But [the basic music] was already there. It was kind of weird, because the songs were there — the basic song structures — but they had no solo parts, and the riffs were not really there either; just like themes. The producer would come and chop them in Pro Tools. So my job was to come in and replay this and make it sound as natural as possible. I redid all the stuff. I did all the solo sections; there was no solo parts or melodies or anything like that. So it was a very fun experience.

"Of course, when you're there, you can't help but think of all the guys that were there in that band," Gus added, referring to previous Ozzy guitarists like Randy Rhoads, Jake E. Lee and Zakk Wylde. "You're, like, 'Oh my God. How are we gonna release this? How can that thing compare to any of that?' So it's always there; that ghost is there somehow. But at the end of the day, you just do your best. It is what it is for the time being.

"I look at music albums as photo albums, in a way, of your life and where you are at a certain point, how your playing is, how your style [is], how your feelings come out. At the end of the day, you do what you can do for the time being, and then you obviously want to get better for the next album."

Last year, Gus told TrueMetal.it that "it was a little bit of a relief" to find out that Ozzy was getting back together with his longtime axeman Zakk Wylde. "I was just kind of tired of waiting around for all these years, not hearing anything about potential tours or recording activities," Gus said. "Of course, [Ozzy] was very busy with BLACK SABBATH — I understand that — but then in between of all that, there would be all these one-off [solo Ozzy] shows popping up and I had to make myself available for that. But there was never any… I felt like there was no… I didn't see stuff coming up for the future, you know? So, as much as I loved being in that band and working with him, in a way, it was a little bit of a dead end for me, speaking personally. Of course, now he's gonna go on a big tour again and do his farewell thing, and that's great for him, but it was not a creative thing for me."

It was announced in April 2017 that Wylde would be rejoining Ozzy's backing group for all his upcoming solo show dates. Osbourne's touring lineup also includes Rob "Blasko" Nicholson on bass, Tommy Clufetos on drums and Adam Wakeman on keyboards.