Phil Varone recalls his horrible audition for Ozzy Osbourne solo band

Former Skid Row and Saigon Kick drummer Phil Varone showed up in an interview recently. Looking back at his audition to join Ozzy Osbourne solo band in 2000 during his conversation, the drummer reflected on the audition, saying it was like he never played drums before in his life.

Phil Varone was guested by Meltdown of Detroit radio station WRIF just recently for a brand new interview. He also revealed the horrible audition for Ozzy Osbourne‘s solo band he had in 2000.

Phil Varone started telling the audition and said:

“Rachel Bolan from Skid Row, he and I had a band called Prunella Scales. So we did a record in ’97. And then in ’98, I decided that I’m just gonna call it a day and buy a restaurant, which was like… That was the worst damn decision ever. And I lost everything from that. I took every last penny I had and put it in this restaurant and that went under ’cause I didn’t know what I was doing. It’s like life lesson after life lesson.

In 2000, I moved out to L.A. ’cause I figured, ‘I’ve gotta be out in something. I’m gonna give it a shot.’ And I was living over at John Corabi’s [ex-Mötley Crüe member] house. I heard that Ozzy was auditioning drummers. So I called Vinnie Paul — the late, great Vinnie Paul from Pantera — and I go, ‘Vin, can you get me into this audition?’ They were only auditioning a handful of guys. And Vinnie calls Sharon Osbourne and gets me an audition. Incredible, right? I go down there. Crabby [Corabi] comes with me for support. And boy, I don’t know what happened, but it was like I never played drums before in my life. It was incredible. I got Popeye arms, which means I just tensed up so bad, I couldn’t hold the drum sticks. So I was probably like a monkey back there — I could not play. And it was all the great songs — ‘Crazy Train’ and all the stuff that we played as kids. And it was brutal,” recalled Phil Varone the unlucky day he missed the big chance of joining Ozzy Osbourne alongside his band and continued.

“Do you know, till the day Vinnie died, and I saw him two weeks before, he’d bust my balls about that damn audition. Every time I saw him, he’d go, ‘Dude, what the hell happened with that?’ ‘Cause Sharon Osbourne called him and went, ‘Vinnie, what is this? A joke? This guy can’t play for anything.’ She got mad at him ’cause she thought that he was doing a joke on her, like playing a joke. That’s how bad I was. And Crabby — God love him — he was, like, ‘Ahhh…’ I figured he can help me ’cause he auditioned for Mötley. He was giving me pointers. Yeah, it was bad. I knew when I walked out of there and Crabby was, like, ‘Ahhh…’ But soon after I joined Skid Row. So it all ended up okay.”

Phil Varone was also the founding member and the drummer of the band Saigon Kick from 1988–1996 and from 2012–2015. In the meantime, the talented drummer joined Skid Row in 2000, after four years he had parted ways with his former bandmate Sebastian Bach. But another four years later again, Phil Varone also quit Skid Row to pursue a new career of acting and stand-up comedy.

Throughout his career, Phil Varone has also been in the movie industry alongside his ongoing musical career, producing and starring in the feature-length documentary “Waking Up Dead,” which was released in 2007. In the meantime, he has earned his worldwide fame with VH1’s hit show “Sex Rehab With Dr. Drew” and “Strange Sex” on the Discovery channel during recent years. And besides all, Phil Varone has also stepped into the publishing industry as well, releasing his first book titled “Un-Philtered: Real Life On and Off the Rock ‘N’ Roll Tour Bus” in April 2013.

Ultimately, you can also hear out the conversation of Phil Varone talking about his audition for Ozzy Osbourne among other things, down below.