Drummer Tommy Clufetos Explains Why Last-Ever Black Sabbath Show Felt Like ‘Just Another Gig’, Opens Up on Working With Ozzy

“When that machine was rolling, you got to the last gig, and it felt like just another gig.”

Drummer Tommy Clufetos said that he’s learned “so much” from working with Ozzy Osbourne, and explained why the final Black Sabbath live show felt like “just another gig”.Throughout his career, Tommy Clufetos didn’t make a name for himself primarily as a member of any single band, but he more than compensated for it with legendary stints with rock legends like Alice Cooper, Rob Zombie, Ted Nugent, and Ozzy Osbourne. Speaking of the latter, Ozzy gave a pretty big shoutout to his longtime drummer last year, when he included Clufetos in his dream supergroup, alongside Paul McCartney and John Lennon and/or Jimi Hendrix on guitar.

When asked in a new interview with WRIF’s Meltdown to comment on the fact that The Prince of Darkness himself would stick with him even if he had all the drummers in rock history to choose from, Tommy said (transcribed by Ultimate Guitar):

“That makes me feel really good. Ozzy, he knows what he [is doing]; he gets it. I mean, the guy has been doing it for 50 years. He’s had enormous success. When I’m behind Ozzy, we go to war together. It’s like I was watching —I like to look up to my elders, put it that way… You can pick up a lot of things from older musicians because they’re five times more experienced than you are. And if you watch, you can pick up a lot of clever tricks.”

“I’ve learned so much from Ozzy… You can go, ‘Oh, in 20 years, I’m going to use that trick they just did.’ It was one split second. All these little showbiz tricks. I have a lot of things in my back pocket from working with very experienced, talented people, and I’ve been so lucky for that.”

“Every gig should be important”

Given his history with Ozzy, Clufetos was also chosen as Bill Ward’s substitute for Black Sabbath’s reunion tour. Asked how playing on the last ever show of giants such as Black Sabbath felt like, Tommy said:

“I get asked that a lot, [but] it’s not my last gig. I wasn’t involved with the band for 50 years. So of course, I don’t have the same feelings that [the original members had], but to me, it just felt like everybody was… The Sabbath thing was such a machine. It was rolling. When we did a soundcheck, when we walked the stage. It was bam, this is what we were doing.”

“I have never played with four guys where everybody was [so] on the same page. It was a machine. We all moved together. And I was happy to be a part of that. It really reaffirmed what I felt about music, and how it should be done. So when that machine was rolling, you got to the last gig, and it felt like just another gig. To me, [when someone asks me], ‘Aren’t you excited to be playing in Detroit?’ Well, yes, but it’s still as important as playing in Idaho, as far as I’m concerned. It’s an opportunity to play your music for people, so every gig should be important…”