Brad Gillis recalled getting a crash course in Randy Rhoads’ guitar playing as he became the second electric guitarist to replace him in Ozzy Osbourne’s band. The Night Ranger guitarist would take to the stage less than a month after Rhoads’ tragic death in 1982 — but first he’d have to learn the set in as little time as possible.
It helped that Irish guitarist Bernie Tormé had been rushed in to keep Osbourne’s tour on the road.
“I’d be standing at the soundboard for those shows, watching Bernie play,“ Gillis told Metal Mayhem ROC. “Because [otherwise] I sat in my room.”
But Gillis wasn’t simply whiling away his time there. Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne had provided him with the perfect tools for studying Rhoads’ guitar style.
“Sharon and the team got me a little boom box cassette player, and I had two board cassettes — which I still have — with Randy on it, from February of 1982,” Gillis reveals.
“You could hear everything crystal clear because it was recorded from the board straight to cassette,” he adds. “So I would sit in my room all day, every day for four days.”
In order to remain focused, he didn’t attend the band’s soundchecks, but he did go to the shows, which featured a stage set appropriate for the Prince of Darkness.
“I’d stand at the soundboard and look at this castle and bombs going off, and fireworks. And this castle! I’m going, ‘Oh my God. I’m going to be up there!’”
On the fifth day, Gillis told the vocalist that he felt able to take the stage. He did so on April 13, 1982, in Binghamton, New York, after a solid soundcheck beforehand.
“I said I was ready, and went in and did seven songs out of the 18 song set,” Gillis said. “Ozzy didn’t even show up for the soundcheck!”
Gillis — whose primary guitar for the tour was his red 1962 Fender Stratocaster fitted with a Floyd Rose tremolo — remained with the tour to its conclusion on August 8. Roughly four weeks later, Gillis was back on a flight to New York City to record what would become Speak of the Devil, a live double-album featuring Black Sabbath tunes recorded with Ozzy’s current band.
Although Gillis continued with Ozzy for the first few dates of the Speak of the Devil tour starting in December, he left at the end of the month to focus on Night Ranger, which by then had secured a contract and released its debut album. He was replaced by Jake E. Lee, who would remain with Osbourne for the next five years.
“I just want to play hot rock,” Gillis told Guitar Player of his decision to leave. “Whether it has melody or if it's heavy three-chord metal doesn't matter: I just want to play my ass off.”
