BOB DAISLEY On December 17th and 18th, 1983 a Heavy Metal Rockpop Festival was organized in the Westfalen Halle (Dortmund). It was fully recorded for German TV. On the 17th Iron Maiden, the Michael Schenker Group, the Scorpions, Krokus, Ozzy Osbourne and Def Leppard were to be seen. I can't mention anything about this day because we went on the 18th (when Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Def Leppard, Quiet Riot, the Michael Schenker Group and Ozzy Osbourne performed). OZZY OSBOURNE managed to shed a tear from many hard rockers with his legendary set. Jake E Lee in particular was the pacesetter and really surprised me. Bassist Bob Daisley told us his life story. "I had a time when I went against everything, I didn't wear a uniform at school and I let my hair grow out and because of that I was kicked out of school. I started to immerse myself more and more in music. With my guitar lessons it was soon over. I just found basses a lot cooler. Soon I came into contact with what is called "the better bands" because I have a lot of talent. Actually I like working in the studio a lot more than working "on the road". The long time that you are on the road are very demanding, but I continue to do my work with love. I like to be at home with my wife and child and then I like to be inspired by the peace and nature to write new songs." Because Bob has a great sense of humor and is a happy talker, his time at RAINBOW was soon addressed. "It was like this, actually Ritchie wanted to take a year off to write new songs and to relax. Cozy Powell wanted to record a solo album and on top of that Ronnie James Dio was not so happy with this situation. Problems arose. Ronnie and Ritchie weren't friends then. Oh yes, David Stone would most likely be fired, but I don't know much about that. Ronnie called me a few days later to say that the band was breaking up if I wanted to help set up a new band with him and Tommy Aldridge. That was the original idea, Ronnie and myself to continue together. And while Ronnie was looking for the rest of the group members, Ozzy left Black Sabbath. Ronnie was then asked to sing at Sabbath, so that Ronnie and I couldn't form a band. But instead of Ronnie — Ozzy and I got a group together, ha ha ha, that was a funny situation. The original setup was Ozzy, me, Randy Rhoads and Lee Kerslake. In this line-up we made two albums: "Blizzard of Oz" and "Diary of a Madman". Even though my name is not mentioned in the second, I did play along. After recording those two LPs, Lee and I decided to return to URIAH HEEP with Mick Box. But when Ozzy came back from America, where he had become quite popular in the meantime, he asked me to help write material for his new studio LP. Well, I wanted to do that but HEEP didn't have the time to miss me. I then came to Ozzy's band for the second time. Even though my first intention had been to just stay with HEEP and take some time off to write new Ozzy material. Despite the fact that I left HEEP, I have always had a good time, HEEP is almost like a close-knit family. But also working with Ozzy is very nice, he hasn't changed a bit and we are still good buddies. "Said bassist Bob Daisley, who could still squeeze whole stories out of his throat if Carmine Appice hadn't come in noisily. Heavy Metal Demons no 6 (Dutch Rock Magazine) - January 1984