NUMBER ONE MOST-REQUESTED ...and all that shit

dio and did some stuff on the album for us. She did something on "Goddamn Devil" and "Everything About You." She just came and did all these little things for us, and we just taped her in a little room. But then she was like, "Oh, but I wanted to do a video!"; she was all kind of sad. And so sure enough when we did the video we gave our video producer her number. We were on the road at the time with Ozzy, so we couldn't hang out for a week in L.A. to do the video. We were in Denver when we did the video, we had planned it out since that was the only place we would be for more than two days. And then he actually filmed her stuff back in L.A. and just mixed it in.

How many dates did you actually play on the Ozzy tour, since a large part of it was cancelled?

We did about 30, about two months' worth. It was actually over a three-month period, but in between there was a month break when he cancelled because his wife got sick. In that break we went to England and Germany for about a week. We actually were going to do ten days in the U.S., but we did like five or six shows when Cordell [Crockett, UKJ's bassist] broke his leg. So we cancelled the last few shows and got back on the Ozzy tour, with Cordell sitting on a stool for the first part of the tour.

How would you compare opening up for someone like Ozzy Osbourne to doing small club dates?

It was probably the best thing that's happened to us so far, because being on a chart, at so-and-so a number, that's great and all. But this was always my dream as a kid, to get a band and open for one of my heroes. And Ozzy's totally one of our biggest influences ever, Randy Rhoades is one of the reasons why I started playing guitar.

And it's just such a big production. You learn so much. There's like thirty people running around on the crew, and we've got like three. It was really cool in terms of meeting all the people working for him and all the bands, like Faster Pussycat, Slaughter, Ozzy's band, Ozzy, Motorhead, they're all really cool and everybody got along. Tours are really cool when they're like that--it was like that with Scatterbrain too, we were always together and it was kind of like a family. It wasn't like "business acquaintances" or anything like that. Everybody hung out and it was like a family.

The big difference, of course, is when you go out on stage. We were opening the show, so a lot of people were still filing in. But still, you gotta think, there would be between two and ten thousand people in the arena, and it would be like half-full. And if you're looking at a half-full club, it doesn't really compare. This still was a lot of exposure, in terms of numbers of people.

It went pretty well. We were a little nervous of course, since Ozzy fans are obviously really die-hard and we were just the MTV guys. But when we played "Everything About You," we got a lot of response.

There were some really amazing shows. The best show was in Omaha. It was indoor, and it was all-ages and general admission. And general admission for the band is always better. As a kid too, I always liked general admission, I hated seated shows, because I always liked to make my way up to the front and maybe stagedive or something. It's great for us too because the people are right up in your face. The people who really want to be there are right there. They're not sitting up in some seat rocking out where you can't see them. And that was a really good show, because everybody was there already for us and it was packed.

By the end, for the last leg of the tour, we got second slot. We were actually between Motorhead and Ozzy, which was pretty scary. They're two legends, so it was quite an honor.

It was cool because being second slot, you go on a little later and there's more people so you get the lights and stuff. It really makes for a different atmosphere.

Was it hard to make the transition from clubs to arenas?

Not really, because you're still playing the same songs and you're with the same band. Usually when we play live we have a pretty good vibe onstage just as a band. If there's no crowd, or the crowd's not into it, we'll just have fun with each other.

The main difference is that first you're kind of nervous because there's all these people, but that goes away pretty fast. And then you just start worrying about where to be at what time, because it's a bigger stage. And so it took a few shows to really get into it. There was some equipment trouble in the beginning.

Also, we only got like two days of rehearsal before we went out on the Ozzy tour because we were doing the album. We weren't even finished with the record when we were touring with Ozzy, so the first week of Ozzy shows, we were flying back after each show going into L.A. to record for a day and then flying out for the next show. We did that like seven times. I've never flown so much in my life!

What kind of advice have you received from the likes of Ozzy and Rob Halford (lead singer of Judas Priest who does backing vocals on "Goddamn Devil")?

Oh yeah, all these guys who have seen it all and done it all, they always give you these little "words of wisdom." They talk a lot about staying true to yourself. Don't let the label make you do this or that. Just remember that as long as you're doing well, everyone's going to be nice to you, but the second you start not doing well, you'll find out who your real friends are in the label and in the industry, when you see the hard times.

Kirk Hammett (Metallica's lead guitarist) has been really cool to us. He's sort of protective of us, he always calls and asks "Have you guys seen any money yet? Who's your accountant? Let me give you some numbers of some really good people." So he's been kind of keeping an eye on us. They got ripped off a lot in the beginning, and they've been doing it for ten years now, so he's seen a lot and wants to make sure other bands don't get screwed over.

In an recent interview with Rolling Stone, Red Hot Chili Peppers' bassist Flea had some rather unflattering things to say about Ugly Kid Joe. How did you feel about that?

I think it's really stupid because he's been doing that a lot, putting down a lot of bands. He put down Extreme, he put down us, he put down Def Leppard, he just puts down bands like off the tip of his tongue in major press.

What he said was really ridiculous. He said "I know exactly where they're coming from." He hasn't got a damn idea where we're coming from! I like the Peppers, they're a band I've always liked, but as far as I'm concerned, musically we're nothing like them at all. I think they're really great, with their attitude and all they've done, but musically they're not like our big idols. It's not like they're such great musicians or their songs are so fantastic. So it didn't hurt that bad because it's not like I have posters of them all over my wall.