ROB 'BLASKO' NICHOLSON On Sharing Stage With OZZY OSBOURNE: 'It Never Felt Like It Was Deserving'

During an appearance on a recent episode of "What's Wrong With Orny Adams", the official podcast of comedian Orny Adams, bassist Rob "Blasko" Nicholson was asked what it was like to stand next to Ozzy Osbourne on stage for so many years and play the opening riff to "Crazy Train", among other classic songs. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "It's pretty wild, because I grew up a fan… For me, growing up, KISS was the gateway drug into all things AC/DC, BLACK SABBATH, et cetera, et cetera. So you gotta understand that I grew up as a kid with an Ozzy Osbourne record in my hands, looking at it, looking at the record and not even realizing that it's a human being. [The first Ozzy album I got was] 'Blizzard Of Ozz', and there's a picture of him on the cover and you look at it and you're, like, 'This isn't even a human being.' Like the first KISS record I had, 'Destroyer', the four of them are on the cover and they're painted by this famous artist. And you look at that and you're, like, 'They're not even humans. They're these weird superheroes descended from Planet Kiss that have ended up here to grace us with their awesome music.' So, as a kid, you're looking at these larger-than-life characters, and then these songs become monumental. And 'Crazy Train' being one of them, or if in the case of BLACK SABBATH, 'Iron Man', 'Paranoid' and stuff. So, it doesn't factor in that I'm playing the song from this record with this dude on stage. It never felt like it was deserving. You look over and you're, like, 'That's the dude and I'm playing the song and there's a hundred thousand people out there and this is actually happening, but I'm not sure that I really am here on purpose.'"

When Adams noted that it must have been "an out-of-body experience" to perform with Ozzy, Blasko concurred. "It is," he said. "And it was every night. And it kind of still is, to be honest. Even Rob [Zombie], with Rob, later on I grew up on WHITE ZOMBIE and stuff. And it was before I was in a band of any value whatsoever. And he was already famous. He was already a famous dude. I joke, like, I'm not a rock star. I'm 'rock star adjacent'… I look at it from — I don't know — a bit of a humble perspective of, like, I'm fortunate that I have the opportunity to contribute to these dudes who are actual rock stars, their career.

"I joked with Rob once. I walked in somewhere and I was getting kind of dressed up and he's, like, 'Man, you have so much style' or whatever," Blasko continued. "And I go, 'Yeah, dude, you know why? Because I don't get up being you every day. You're you. You get to be Rob Zombie every day. There's no extra effort that goes into being that guy.' I gotta put in extra effort. I don't wake up skinny and in shape and 56-year-old dude that's kind of well dressed and fucking did his hair and his makeup and shit to come on a podcast. He can. I can't."

Asked if he ever gets off stage after playing a show with someone like Ozzy or Rob Zombie and thinks to himself, "Yeah, we just killed it. But that wasn't my song," Blasko said: "Fuck yeah. Always. And that's why I'm saying, like, I justify it because I'm contributing to a thing that I love and I'm a part of it, and that's super awesome, but in no way do I think that I had anything to do with it, in the bigger picture. I'm fortunate to get up there and play in front of all these people and play these songs, but at the end of the day, I'm in a cover band. I'm playing someone else's stuff."

On the topic of whether Ozzy and Rob Zombie live up to the fantasy he created in his head when he was first exposed to their music as a fan, Blasko said: "They're real people. I mean, Ozzy, he's an interesting character. Because it's hard to relate to the idea of never having to have any sense of responsibility in your life. He was in BLACK SABBATH at like 18 years old, in a band. I think he worked a job for, like, five minutes because he had to, but he invented a genre of music when he was a teenager. BLACK SABBATH basically invented what is all of heavy metal… So, my point is, is that — I'm not saying that he didn't work for it, because it wasn't like he was just gifted, but the point of it is it happened young. So to be successful young, you really have no sense of responsibility. So that's potentially a weird thing that most people can't relate to. Because I don't think of it in terms of you wake up because you are part of a rich family. That wasn't the situation. But he did something monumental and then that became his life and his career. But the point of it is, is that he had a career at a very young age that enabled him to not have to go roof a house or something."

Blasko has been a recording and touring musician since he was 16 years old. His career began with the seminal hardcore thrash band CRYPTIC SLAUGHTER, signed to Metal Blade Records in 1985. The band released three records for the label between 1986 and 1988. He eventually went on to become the bass player for such heavy metal heavyweights as Rob Zombie and Ozzy. In early 2005, he co-founded the artist management and marketing company Mercenary Management, Inc.

Blasko was a member of Rob Zombie's band from 1997 through 2006, playing bass on the first three Zombie albums: "Hellbilly Deluxe", "The Sinister Urge" and "Educated Horses". He rejoined Zombie's band in January 2024 as the replacement for Matt "Piggy D." Montgomery, who is now performing with Marilyn Manson.

Nicholson originally left Zombie in May 2006 in order to join Ozzy's recording/touring band.

Rob Zombie's current band consists of Zombie, Blasko, returning guitarist Mike Riggs and drummer Ginger Fish, who has played with Rob since 2011.