In a new interview with music writer Joel Gausten, Black Sabbath touring keyboardist/rhythm guitarist Adam Wakeman discusses a variety of topics including his long-running involvement with Ozzy Osbourne, his new album with his band Headspace and his work with former Whitesnake members Neil Murray and Micky Moody. An excerpt from the chat appears below:

Gaussten: You've been with Ozzy for a long time now. How would you compare working with him in his solo capacity to what you're doing now with him in Sabbath? Are there differences in how he approaches things and his way of working musically in those situations?

Wakeman: "Well, it's very different for me. It's now, I think, 13 years that I've been in Ozzy's band. It's great; you're very involved, and he's a lovely guy. He won't tell you too much what to do, but he'll tell you if he wants something changed. That's the way that I would describe it; he lets you have your freedom. He knows what you can play; if there's something that bugs him, then he'll tell you. But he's not going to come and dictate to you what to play, which I really like because there's more of a trust in the band. Sabbath is very different, really, because I'm offstage; that's the first major difference. It's like doing a show but not doing a show; it's a very weird experience, but fantastic. I'm playing a lot more rhythm guitar through the show, which is great. I'm looking up and seeing Tony and thinking, 'I used to do play 'Paranoid' in a school band when I was 15, and now I'm here chugging along with Tony and Geezer.' That never fails to touch me; that's quite an emotional thing."

Gausten: This is being billed as Sabbath's final tour. Of course, there has been a lot of reflection among fans as to what Sabbath means and where Sabbath will be in the history of music. Because you have been so intimate with the Sabbath material, what do you think makes their music so timeless and important to the history of Heavy Metal?

Wakeman: "They're one of the few bands that can truly say they started the movement. There are a lot of bands that sort of caught on very quickly and continued it and changed things, but Black Sabbath really were there at the start. For me, I think the main reason is because it came from somewhere so genuine; they weren't trying to get on a reality TV show and be famous and not really know why. They were the guys from Birmingham; they had no money, and their way of expressing themselves was by developing their music. That was it; it was 100-percent about the music back then. They scraped about from one day to the next. You can't recreate that; it comes from somewhere so genuine. I think that is what is embedded in the music."

Gausten: What has been the greatest lesson you've learned from working with Ozzy or Sabbath that you carry with you now to other projects?

Wakeman: "That's a good question! I think you sort of learn something every tour or every gig with different artists you work with. For me, I think it's the honesty and integrity with Ozzy and Sabbath. Whatever people think of them or whatever people read or watch on the TV, they are absolutely honest people. They won't lie and say something is happening when it's not. If they are going to do something, they're going to do it unless unforeseen circumstances come along. Obviously, Ozzy can't sing with sinusitis, so things have to get postponed. I know that there's an honesty to it, which makes you feel very humbled by it all. I've worked with pop artists where they'll know the shows aren't happening and they won't even tell you. They might have been canceled months before, but they keep you hanging on because they don't have the same value on loyalty as Ozzy and Sabbath and these sort of older legendary acts seem to have. They definitely seem to value people more, and I'd like to think I do the same. I treat people with the same kind of respect, and that's definitely something I learned from this."

The complete interview is available at JoelGausten.com.