Brian Tichy: Playing for Ozzy, and Fronting Ball

As a kid most of us only dreamed of the chance to play with Ozzy Osbourne. We'd sit in our rooms banging away at our drums to one of Ozzy's many records. For Brian Tichy, playing for Ozzy is a reality.

Prior to Ozzy, over the past 10 years Brian played with Foreigner, Slash's Snakepit, Zakk Wylde's Pride & Glory, Gilby Clarke, Sass Jordan, Glenn Hughes (Deep Purple), Nicklebag, and Vinnie Moore. He currently fronts his own band, Ball, playing guitar and singing.

Q. How did working with Ozzy come about?

Well, I guess a little bit of luck and hard work all put together. The Ozzy thing came in a round about way. Playing with Zakk Wylde and "Pride and Glory" was a direct Ozzy connection. Over the years you meet people. I got to know Zakk, Mike Inez and Randy Castillo and I knew some people in management. Joe Holmes and Robert Trujillo are in the band now. I kind of knew everybody and someone told me they were looking for a drummer. This was in March this year. And I thought "Man, I'm too close to this. I just want to get a shot." I'm in LA and it's all LA based, so I called a few people and the first person to call me back was Joe Holmes. We had met a few years ago, he had seen me play with Slash. He said, "You should come down next week, we are setting up a day to have people come play." So that was it. I went down and played and it went well. The band and I played together for a while and then Ozzy came down. I played with him and it went really well. They went to a final audition and ultimately, for a month, chose another drummer. I guess I was the number 2 guy for them. They went into rehearsal with him. I guess something wasn't feeling right and they called me back. It was probably over the course of 6 weeks from auditioning to actually becoming part of the band.

Q. Did you know Ozzy before the audition?

I met him once at Zakk Wylde's house. It was Zakk's son's christening. Honestly, I don't think if you mentioned my name he would have remembered me. It was just one brief meeting, you know. I don't think that had anything to do with auditioning for the tour now. I just went in as a drummer trying to get the gig.

Q. Did you do any rehearsing before the Ozzfest Tour?

Yeah, we did six weeks of rehearsals in LA and a couple warm-up shows. One warm-up show was in Vegas. And then we began the tour.

Q. Was the warm-up show just like the regular shows?

The warm up show was at the Hard Rock in Vegas. It could hold about 1,200-1500 people. They announced it a couple days before the show. We were on a smaller stage without all the Ozzfest antics going on. Then there was a KROQ show at Anaheim stadium with Godsmack, Stone Temple Pilots, Limp Bizkit, and KORN. We played 3 songs. Then, Black Sabath came on and played 3 songs. For lack of time in-between sets I got to play on Bill Ward's drums. That was pretty awesome. We also played a KROQ show in New Jersey with the Howard Stern entourage watching from the sides.

Q. And you are from New Jersey. What was that like going back to where you grew up to play with Ozzy Osbourne?

Playing with Ozzy in general is amazing. It doesn't matter if you are playing in a little bar in the middle of nowhere. The first show, and the first audition, where he actually sang and I was keeping time to his vocals was trippy. I grew up on the guy and I have all the records. I grew up playing drums to those records so that is a big part of me. Whether is was Zeppelin, AC/DC or Ozzy and Sabath.

Q. You had to put Ball on hold. Was that a tough decision?

Actually it worked out great because we signed with Time Bomb Recordings in January, and by the time we got recording it was April. So I did my record all through April. Joe Travers and Fingers, the Bass player are on half of it. The day I finished recording was the day they called me about the Ozzy gig and said "Hey can you come back down in a couple of days." Time wise it worked out great. Then we got into rehearsal mode and tour mode. There was a couple week period where I had to rehearse during the day with Ozzy and then go mix my record at night. But it worked out cool. You know, initially my label didn't want the record to come out until next year. It was the way we saw the schedule. It was best to release it in January-February. So in my head I was like "Shit, I'm going to record and the have the rest of the year. There might be some Foreigner stuff going on and some odds and ends, but I have six or seven months before Ball will get started." So the Ozzy gig came and it was just perfect timing.

Q. So your record is still due out in early next year?

Yeah, we mixed it and just mastered it last week. We had a couple of days off from the tour so I went home and mastered it. And it will be out in February. (Editors note: The label is switching distribution and Ball's CD will be released in the summer).

Q. Did this tour with Ozzy help with distribution deals or anything else with Ball?

Playing with Ozzy naturally just increases your notoriety or whatever, you know.

Q. Last time we had talked you mentioned Ball was doing well in Japan.

Yeah, I got a licensing deal for the demos in Japan. So we just fixed those up and mastered the demos and released them in Japan. They were never intended to be released, but the label, Big M.F., dug how they sounded and they weren't that bad so we just tightened them up. And then just through playing shows in LA and that demo, the Time Bomb guys liked the show and the demo so they offered us a deal. So we got a proper budget, went into the studio and took our time with it.

Q. What is your connection with Joe Travers?

We went to Berklee School of Music in Boston together. I think I was there a couple of years before him. My third year may have been his first year. We met there and I think we lived on the same floor in the dorms. The first year we just knew each other. We weren't great friends. But a couple years down the road we did become great friends. He ended up going out to LA years before me and when I would be in LA touring, we hooked up a couple of times. He turned me on to an amazing video of Miles Davis with Tony Williams from the mid-60's. Then, when I moved out to LA I realized he lived two minutes from me. We started hanging out and jamming and little by little I realized I wanted my own band. I wanted to play guitar in it. I tried singing, tried getting that all together. When I finally got a bunch of the demos down. I asked Joe if he wanted to go out to the clubs instead of just screwing around jamming in my room. He's awesome. He's one of those drummers. He's just one of those guys. He has a huge vocabulary on the drum set. It's actually pretty amazing. He can go from the Miles Davis, John Coltrane thing right up into every detail and every nuance of Frank Zappa to Led Zepplin and Marilyn Manson. He just listens to so much music. I don't know how he finds time to do anything else. He's doing the Duran Duran gig right now. Yeah, everyone is at opposite ends and we all meet in the middle somehow. He's just one of those amazing drummers. He sounds great in Ball. He plays his ass off. But he also sounds great in Duran Duran, which has nothing to do with my band. And he sounded great when he played with Dweezil Zappa, which has nothing to do with either Ball or Duran Duran. You know what I mean? He's one of those multi-talented kind of guys.

Q. What interested you in drums at an early age?

I thought everyone thought that the drums where the coolest thing in the world. To be able to play drums, I believed everyone wanted to do that. As a kid when I saw a set of drums or I heard drums on the radio I was like, "that is the shit. That was probably what everyone wants to do" Whether you get the chance to do it is a different thing. So there was no if and or buts about it. It was like "you have to play drums!" My parents fortunately got me a set and dealt with the noise from 4th grade on.

Q. Did you take lessons?

Yeah, that was the deal. My parents said they would get me a real set if I took lessons which helped a lot. I grew up on metal pretty much, all rock. I was self taught in the way of playing rock drums, no one was telling me what to do on the set. But I was learning jazz and all my rudiments and all that stuff. I was doing that for years, which helps. It gives you the edge, instead of only knowing how to play to an AC/DC record. If somebody needs you to be in a different situation, you will have some tricks in your pocket.

Q. So you actually studied rudiments and all that at Berklee?

At Berklee I went mental. I dove into the whole Bozzio, Weckl, Gadd, Tony Williams thing... All stuff that was going on at the time. I knew of these guys but I had never really listened to them. So when I got there and people started turning me on to all these drummers I was just blown away. So I just lived it, 6 hours a night, 6 days a week, behind the drums, just working your ass off at getting better. And every few months I was ten times better. I could tell. It was just that nobody had turned me on to these things before, so when I got there it was some new shit to check out. I was like, "oh my god" and I engulfed myself into all of it. It was the late 80's and the rock seen was pretty beat and it was all that poser rock kind of stuff going on. There was Zeppelin. Van Halen, AC/DC and Sabath, but I didn't like the new shit. Fortunately, along came Jane's Addiction, Chili Peppers, Soundgarden and Living Color. It was a breath of fresh air.

Q. So what was it like when you moved to LA? Did you know many people?

It was the easiest move anyone can make cross country. I was already playing with Zakk Wylde. I was already in Pride and Glory. And. I had already been out there playing on a couple different records. Before I moved out there, I was playing with guitar virtuoso Vinnie Moore. He is an instrumental shred guitar god. My bass player buddy JD and I were touring with him in clubs around the country and we actually got a chance to open up for Rush for ten shows at the end of '91. That was amazing, because I also grew up on Rush and here I am playing my Tama Swing Stars and there's Neil Peart's kit behind me. That was heavy, you know. So I did that and then when I finished, when the hell was it, It was like 93, I started going out to LA. I did a record called Rats for Sass Jordan. She's a bad ass bluesy rock female singer. I did a lot of different stuff with her guitar player Stevie Salas. He was doing really well in Japan on his own. He had played with Rod Stewart and had his own band going. He hooked me up with the Sass Jordan thing and I was also recording drums for him. I went out with Sass to Canada and then when I got back Zakk Wylde called me and said to come back to LA to join his band Pride and Glory. He had just left Ozzy and started his own band. This all happened around the same time in '93. I did the record with Zakk and then sometime in the middle of the tour, Stevie Salas was looking for another roommate, It worked out really well. My drums were already out there, since I was playing with Zakk. I just threw my clothes, guitar and CD's together and moved out to LA.

Q. Sounds like you had some great connections.

Yeah, it was definitely an easier moving experience than what most people think of when moving to LA. "I'm not happy where I'm at, I want to make it in the business, OH.. I'm just going to move to LA". I wouldn't even know what to do if I have to move there blind. You know, pull up in your car, looking for an apartment and trying to figure out what is going on in the city. I didn't have it like that. I had friends that had moved out there previously, and other people I had played and recorded with.

Q. Have you done any session work since you have been in LA?

You know why I haven't done any sessions? Because Josh Freese has taken them all! (Laughing) Wherever you turn, Josh is there. He's done so many records. We ran into him when Perfect Circle was rehearsing in LA. Ball was getting ready to record in the same rehearsal studio. I don't know Josh that well but he's a really nice guy. And he's a fucking great drummer. I would love to do session work. If the phone was ringing, I would be psyched. But it's a who-you-know type of thing. If you can get on a record that has a hit single that helps a lot.

Q. What is it like the be headlining Ozzfest with Ozzy? How is it different than playing with Foreigner?

Foreigner was great and we played all over in large amphitheatres. But this is bigger because it's Ozzfest and it's always sold out. Ozzy is still valid He's the godfather of metal.

Q. Is Ozzy demanding on his drummers?

Yeah, he makes me do his laundry and pick up his dry cleaning (laughing). "Brian! Where's my coffee???" (laughing) No, he's great. He basically just wants you to pound it out.

Q. Do you think that growing up on rock made it easier to play?

Yeah, if I had grown up on jazz I definitely think this would be harder to play. But this is the style I've listened to and played all my life. Ozzy is definitely a big part of what I grew up listening to.

Q. I noticed that you are here at the show rather early. Is this a typical day for you?

I've been coming here earlier than usual because there is a lot of people in the bands that I have become friends with. I haven't been able to see them play because they go on early. Bands start at 10:15 in the morning. We usually get here around 3, when Tommy Lee's band starts. So I see a lot of the bands from then on. But all the bands that have been playing around noon I don't see. I made a point in saying that "before the tour is over and after we get out of the Texas heat and on the west coast I'm going to make a point of coming early". There are a lot of new bands coming up that are kicking ass. I know them personally and I may have heard some of the music on CD or watched one of their videos, but they are playing everyday. I want to go check them out. And I'm also here early because Zakk Wylde's band Black Label Society just started playing on the tour last week in Seattle. They are doing the last week of shows on the west coast. I haven't seen his band. Every time he's in LA, I'm out of LA and we just haven't connected. He's a great guy and a great friend so I wanted to get down here and support him.

Q. Are you friends with Tommy too? The interesting thing about Tommy Lee is he was a drummer and now he's fronting Methods of Mayhem, which is what you are doing with Ball.

Those guys are great. Tommy has Steven Perkins on drums and he's a great guy. He has tons of energy. I have tons of respect for Tommy. I was a kid when Motley Crue came out. I don't know many kids into rock drumming that were not influenced by Tommy Lee. He was definitely a big influence for me. You look back 15 years and I can't think of another drummer that stands out in Rock more than Tommy Lee. At least I can't think of any. You know what I mean. He's doing 360's on his set, and he's got all this pyro going on and he's got a killer groove.

Q. So what is the plan for Ball? I know you play guitar but since you and Joe Travers both play the drums will you be doing any drumming like the drum jam at the beginning of Tommy's set?

Yeah yeah, we do a whole drum jam thing. It started because there is at least 2 drummers in the band. One day we ended up bringing some percussion to the show, more than I thought. Everybody had a percussion instrument to play so we ended up doing a full-blown percussion jam. You know what, the bass player in PowerMan 5000, Dorian, is a great friend of ours and a great drummer. When Joe Taylor wasn't available to play bass, Dorian filled in. He had some percussion laying around. I told him to bring the Conga to the show and I'll just bash it around during the solo. But he also brought bongos, so I thought, "Cool yeah, we are all just going to jam." In the middle of this slow, droning song, it kind of breaks down and we go into this whole jam section. I guess it's kind of a Zeppelin meets Santana type of thing. We have no idea what we are going to do and we never talk about it before we go on, we just play and see where we end up. Hopefully we land on our feet together. I know Tommy is doing the double drum thing at the beginning of his show and I think that maybe if Ball had a tech or something, we would have another drum set up there. For now percussion is cool. I'm basically the singer, the guitar player, the guitar tech, the tour manager and accountant. (Laughs).

Q. So what are you playing now?

It's all DW Drums, Zildjian Cymbals, DW Hardware, Zildjian Sticks. Remo heads. I've been using all that stuff forever and it's all killer.

Q. Any stand outs on the tour?

One of the coolest things didn't even have to do with the show. It was actually doing the hi-hat pattern to War Pigs and Ozzy singing the melody, "generals gathered in there masses". (singing) And I'm going, "szzzzzzttt szzzzzt szzzzzt" on the hi-hat. Just sitting there doing that, thinking this is such a classic metal song and I'm sitting there getting to do the hi-hat while Ozzy sings. That was one of the coolest things. Just being a part of it is overly cool. Because it's Ozzy.

Q. So does Ozzy have any plans for after the tour?

I think they are planning on getting together and seeing if they have some stuff for another album. I know they have been working on some stuff this summer.

Q. Is this something that we might be seeing Brian Tichy on?

Hey, you know what, that would be awesome. We'll see. As far as right now today, I don't think there is a definite schedule of where everyone is going to be but they are trying to figure something out and get something together.

Q. So what about Ball?

Well, we'll get home in September and my stuff will come out in February. I'll have a few months to be around LA. If I'm part of Ozzy's recording process that would be another amazing experience. In the meantime I'll be putting my band back together and doing a couple local shows.

Q. Will there be a tour supporting your Ball Album?

Yeah, we just need to get the stuff out to radio and booking agents and see if people dig it. Maybe I'll tour with some of my buddies from this tour.

Q. On the demo that I heard of Ball, I was told that you were drumming, playing guitar, and singing.

Yeah. I can play guitar, play drums, and play bass. So instead of wasting someone else's time on something that might really suck I just did it myself. That is how it started. Luckily I have great friends that are great musicians. It made it an easier vehicle to take live.

This interview was conducted by Ty Parker and originally published on DRUMStuff.com. Republished here by the author with light formatting.