JUDAS PRIEST Guitarist K.K. Downing's Steel Mill website spoke with legendary drummer Lee Kerslake about his past with URIAH HEEP and OZZY OSBOURNE among other things. Here are a few excerpts from the chat:

You have now semi-retired from playing, right?

Kerslake: "Yes, I’ve semi-retired because of illness but I’m getting over it. I’m better now. I’ve had a lot of illnesses which I’ve refused to let take me over and beat me. But there are certain things you cannot beat, old age and everything that comes with it. You can’t deny that. That’s why I had to retire. I have rheumatism in my neck bones, from shoulders to the brain. So because of this I have a headache 24/7. It’s bit of a pain but I’m not going to complain because that’s my life. I’ve had a tough life, I’ve lived hard and fast and I’ve enjoyed it. And I’m enjoying it now probably more than ever. I’ve got a band called MASTER’S PROJECT in Switzerland. They are semi-professional guys and we’ve done club gigs and some festivals, it’s went down well. We supported NAZARETH and ended up playing three encores! So that was quite a thing for me."

Your first album with Uriah Heep was the all time classic Demons & Wizards. While making it, did you have any idea you were creating something special?

Kerslake: "No, none of us had any idea it was going like that. It’s unbelievable how fast the songs were written and recorded in those days. It was genius. It made things a lot easier as Ken would come with a crutch or a format of a song and we’d play and arrange it right there in the studio. We’d listen to playback and think 'Wow that’s pretty good!' We never thought it would sell gold in America or go top-20, ever. But we did the album and DEEP PURPLE’s manager said to our manager Gerry Bron they wanted to put Uriah Heep in as a support band in America. And I had never been to America so it was great. We went there in January 1972 and by the end of those two months we were in the charts and headlining our own shows!"

With Ozzy Osbourne, you recorded two of his most classic solo albums: Blizzard Of Ozz and Diary Of A Madman.

Kerslake: "Yes and I wrote the songs on Diary Of A Madman with Randy and Bob (Daisley). Then my mother fell seriously ill so I had to leave and take care of her. But that was a great time and those were great records. 'Flyin’ High Again' was one of my ideas, 'Over The Mountain' was another. The basic tracks were just Bob’s words, my vocals – though some of the words I wrote – and Randy’s playing. It was unreal. And then we got Don Airey to come in and do the keyboards. Soon after I was back out on the road with Uriah Heep in America. And suddenly the album was number 10 on the charts! We’d done it again!"

Being on the road with Ozzy must have been an experience since he was a quite wild man?

Kerslake: "Yes he was wild guy, but I was only with him on the English tour. I didn’t go to America because before that we had a big fight with his wife Sharon and she got rid of me and Bob. It was really unfair but there you go, and that was that. And I’m really glad in one way because I probably would have been on that plane with Randy. I used to love flying, so I could have been killed. I wish Randy had never been on that plane either, I wish he never would have stayed with Ozzy. Because he was going to leave Ozzy, he was going to study classical music and would have wanted to work with me and Bob. And that would have been brilliant. But I didn’t know that until later on."

Read the entire interview here.