By Carl Begai

Keyboardist Adam Wakeman, the son of YES keysman Rick Wakeman, recently did an interview discussing his new prog metal band HEADSPACE. Formed in 2006, the band – also featuring vocalist Damian Wilson, guitarist Pete Rinaldi, bassist Lee Pomeroy and drummer Richard Brook – issued their debut EP in 2007 and are now gearing up for the release of their first full length, I Am Anonymous. Wakeman also offered a look into his current status as a member of OZZY OSBOURNE’s band and how that will affect his activities in promoting Headspace when the album in released.

“I would love nothing more, as I know the other guys would, than to dedicate 100% of our time to be out touring with Headspace and making more records. Part of the problem with not being 20 years old anymore is that we’ve got families, and mortgages to pay. We have to balance the time we allocate to each thing. Ozzy is going to be relatively busy this year, but it’s not going to take over the entire year which is good. We will have some time to promote Headspace.”

For the record, Wakeman has been an integral part of Ozzy’s creative team for the last several years and not merely a disposable body for the stage. Osbourne’s last album, Scream (from 2010) featured several tracks co-written with Wakeman in the mix.

“I co-wrote five tracks with Ozzy and Kevin (Churko / producer), and I think they included another track that I wrote with Ozzy on the re-issue. I was quite lucky at that time because Zakk (Wylde) had left the band and they hadn’t quite decided on a new guitar player. It came down to Kevin, who is a multi-instrumentalist and producer, and had been in the studio for 12 or 16 months working with Ozzy. He asked Sharon if they’d be happy with me coming in and getting involved in the songwriting. I wasn’t involved from the start; I came in more towards the end of the production. I play guitar as well, so that worked out while they were still auditioning guitar players. By the time we finished the album they’d settled on Gus G (FIREWIND), who came in and re-recorded the guitars and solos.”

And while an Ozzy band member’s shelf life traditionally comes with no guarantee as to how long they’ll last within the ranks, Wakeman makes it clear that he’s “absolutely” still a part of the crew.

“I spoke to Ozzy a few months ago and he was still keen to get the band into the studio. For the moment he’s focused on the Sabbath album, obviously, but he wants us to keep writing and coming up with ideas. I think with the next album that Gus will be much more involved. Towards the end of the last tour Ozzy was very happy with the band, and wanted us to be proactive with the writing. He was talking about booking a couple weeks at certain studios where we could kind of go back to how it used to be. Get together, come up with some ideas, and see how things progress.”

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