Pete Mertons interview

[GUITARIDOL5682]

I believe I first met Randy in a rehearsal studio in London called John Henrys. I believe it was December, 1979. I am a bit vague on the dates, there has been a lot of water under the bridge since then. We were rehearsing for the Blizzard of Ozz album. We rehearsed there for a bit and then we went to Shepperton Studios, and we rehearsed there for a time. Again, I can’t remember how long it was. It was very interesting then because we stayed at a local pub outside of the rehearsal studios. There was some fun and games.



I really didn’t know what to make of him at first because he was so small and petit and a real good looking guy. I thought oh oh, what do we have here? Here’s an American dude coming on our soil. He was a beautiful guy with a beautiful infectious laugh and a real sweet guy.



At John Henry’s Rehearsal Studios in London, was the first time I heard him play. It was loud and it was good, there is no doubt about that. It was excellent.



The first thing we did was go to the pub. We drank vast amounts of beer and if he could keep up with us, he was definitely in. He wasn’t a big drinker, only a glass or two and that was it. He was very funny and had an infectious laugh. Once he started laughing, you couldn’t stop.



He couldn’t understand my accent being from Birmingham, England, and he was from California. The first time I spoke to him he asked me what my name was and I said “Ken”. He called me Ken for about the first week thinking that that was my real name. He didn’t know I was joking and other people were calling me Peter. He didn’t quite get it, and then he got it. Anyone else we met after that, he used to call them Ken to mess with their heads. It was good fun.



Ozzy was the biggest prankster of all. He was so much fun especially when he has had a few drinks. He was a real funny guy. When we were at Shepperton, we were all staying in a pub, and it was getting wild. We had a lot of fun guys. Imagine living in a pub? They rehearsed for a couple of hours and had the rest of the time to stay in the pub. It was good fun.



I knew Ozzy from the Black Sabbath days and we clicked. We got down to business and had good times.



Randy was just like a Brother. It wasn’t like I was going to work for him, we were together all the time. Whether it was a work day or not, we used to hang out together all the time. He was like a real loving Brother.


I knew his girlfriend at the time, Jody. I met his Brother once or twice and I met his Mother a couple of times, and I think that that was about it. We were in England a lot of the time doing the Blizzard of Ozz.



I think he was homesick and he missed his girlfriend and his Mother and his family. He was homesick for sure. We had a lot of fun. We made him feel right at home in England. England became his second home for a bit. We lived together for a while in a place called Kensington Gardens in London in what was like a bachelor pad. That got a bit wild. I remember coming back from the pub one night with Randy and Ozzy, and someone had some mallard ducks out to dry out and season on some railings and we stole them and proceeded to get on the roof of the apartment and shoved them down the chimney. But the chimney’s were blocked so all they did was stay behind the block rotting. They are probably there to this day. Rotting and smelling good.



It was me, Randy, Bob Daisley, and Ozzy. Ozzy wasn’t there a lot of the time, he used to come and go. Lee Kerslake really wasn’t there either because he had a home in London. Randy was a nice and clean guy. He was real nice.



I never knew any of the ladies personally. They used to drift in and make a sandwich and drift back out again.



Randy was not really a ladies man. The ladies loved him because he was a sweet and good looking guy, but he had Jodi.



No, Randy was not a ladies man. He had his girlfriend at the time, but the ladies loved Randy and he was such a beautiful looking guy. The ladies loved him, that’s for sure.


I could tell the way he moved on stage and the way he played, that he was different. His mannerisms, and the way he kept to himself and he was always spot on; his hair, his clothing, and everything, and his guitars. Everything about him was spot on.



If it was windy outside, he wouldn’t go out. If it blew his hair out of place, that was it, it was over with. He always looked after his hair, and he had good hair as well.



His hair was always immaculate and was never a bit out of place. It was like he had a helmet on. If it was windy outside, he wouldn’t go out. He never wore a hat. He had good hair the boy did, that’s for sure.


Not to me, he didn’t talk about his influences that much. We were just having a fun time. I didn’t get into it heavy with him at all. We were just there to have a good time.



The first English tour we did started in Newcastle. It was the first show they did and Annie Lennox came to see us and….they were there to give us moral support. That first show was good, really good. The crowd was excellent, and they hadn’t seen Ozzy since the Black Sabbath days. It was good. Loud, very loud in a small city hall in Newcastle.



Everybody was a new band member. Ozzy was the front man and it was all kind of new. Lee Kerslake, and Bob Daisley, Randy. But a lot of people were focused on Ozzy a lot of the times because he was the front man.



Same as me and Randy. The relationship between Ozzy and Randy was the same as me and Randy. It was like a Brotherhood. It was in kind of like a click. It was all like Brothers. It was really something different. I think Randy gelled with Ozzy more than anyone else. Randy and Ozzy were very tight.


All of the performances were really something else. All the performances they did, there was always something going on. I used to like when we went to Florida and down that way. We would all go in the sun with the nice blonde ladies and the ocean. It was always a good time down there, and California as well of course.


Life on the road was tough at times but we made what we could of it. We were stuck on a bus but we had fun. It was like a camaraderie kind of thing. We all hung in there and were up all night and party all day but it was fun. I enjoyed life on the buses.



I saw Jodi a few times with Randy and we used to hang out at the pub, and I saw her in California quite a bit when we came here. She is a beautiful sweet lady, and I haven’t seen here for twenty years. I’d love to see her and get in touch with her. I hope she is doing well, she is a beautiful lady.



I didn’t know Randy at all until I met him in England. I didn’t know about Quiet Riot or anything and I never saw him with Quiet Riot. I don’t know what he went through over here with Quiet Riot or if he was famous or if they had hit records.



Randy’s time with us, he was just a normal, straight ahead guy. He didn’t get too big for his boots or cocky or anything like that. He was just like a normal Randy. He was all around good fellow.



I don’t know if I should talk about back stage antics because of Randy’s Mother. Myself, Randy, and Ozzy had this nasty habit of getting people drunk and shaving their eyebrows off or the side of their head. It was something we were addicted to and we couldn’t stop it. We used to take anyone we knew to the pub and get them drunk on purpose. We would add a sleeping pill here and there to make sure they didn’t feel anything. And then we would shave off the hair and one eyebrow or half a mustache. To catch that moment when they woke up and they say, “what the fuck”. There was one guy who traveled to England and he was going back to California and they thought he had chemo therapy because half of his hair was missing. He was a very good friend of mine and Ozzy’s and his name was Bobby Thompson who passed away not too long ago. He was Ozzy’s tour manager. But he was game for it and was always in on the joke and was shaving as well. Everyone had to go shave. I had my eyebrows shaved several times. We used to call ourselves the eyebrow club. If you didn’t lose an eyebrow, you weren’t in the club. We would never touch Randy because it would have been devastating. We only did it to people we didn’t like or who were a pain in the ass. We would get them drunk, give them a sleeping pill and then whack one eyebrow off. We used to plan it all out and it was hilarious. It takes exactly three weeks to grow one eyebrow back. I had mine shaved so many times, it was unbelievable. The best thing about losing an eyebrow is, when people look at you, they can’t quite understand what’s the matter with you.


We used to have a keyboard player named Lindsay Bridgewater from Ipswitch, England. He was such a goofy guy we just had to mess with him. We were forever shaving his eyebrows and he played on stage behind a curtain, but Ozzy used to dress him in black tights and leotard and leopard skin jacket and he would have to wear makeup and he was behind a curtain and no one could see him; only the band members and the crew. We would just be cracking up. One time I told poor old Lindsay that there was a bad circuit of electricity and he would have to play the concert with one foot in a bucket of water or else he would be electrocuted. For an hour and fifteen minutes he played the keyboard with his foot in a bucket of water. Lindsay took a lot of the brunt of it because he was so easy and a funny guy. Lindsay was always trying to grow his eyebrows back.



Randy was always kind of in the background giggling and egging us on – more and more he would be saying. It is hilarious to watch someone lose their eyebrow. The best is when they wake up in the morning and then call the wife to tell them what has happened.



With Randy, we would never touch him physically….



Ridge Farm Recording Studios outside of London. Now, that was a happening place. That was where we discovered magic mushrooms. The keyboard player discovered magic mushrooms with the help of me and Ozzy. We had him spinning around in the field and we thought it was hilarious. Lindsay Bridgewater teaches classical music now in Ipswitch.



Ridge Farm Studios was the same. A pub always had to be near by. We were forever in the pub. But that was kind of like a hippie place. It was run by hippies who were always smoking weed and they were always giving us this hippie food to eat. We couldn’t get a decent bacon sandwich because they didn’t believe in it. It was fun times. A lot of pot smoking going on. Pot and booze. Lots of booze. My choice of dink at the time was coniack and vodka and rum and whiskey and beer in moderation of course. And the occasional joint every now and again.



Randy’s favorite drink was a white Russian. It was like a horrible milky thing with alcohol in it and a flower stuck in it. You couldn’t gulp it. It was one of those women sippy type drinks. It would take forever to get messed up on that. You end up bloated before you get a buzz. That was his drink of choice. He would have two or three at the most and then he would start giggling. He wasn’t a heavy drinker at all. A couple of girlie ones with a flower and then he would be gone. He would be falling off his little high heel shoes.



He was just funny. Randy was so funny when he was drunk. He was just giggling all the time like a little girl. He was hilarious and petit. He wore women’s small size shoes because guys shoes looked like boots on him. He was hilarious when he had a couple of drinks. I saw him drunk once or twice. I can’t remember where it was. Very rarely was he drunk.



Randy liked to be in control at all times. Me and Ozzy were all over the place. Falling down and acting goofy. When he saw me and Ozzy get out of it, he used to walk away because he didn’t want to get heavily involved. We were the original fall down drunks. And then get back up and drink some more. He was the type that would go to bed. Me and Ozzy would never go to bed we would just stay up.



I don’t think Randy was controlling. He was very shy. He kept to himself and practiced in his room.


When Randy got on stage, he was like a different person because he was interacting with Ozzy. They were both going at it. You are going to change with Ozzy next to you, you can’t help it. He will make you change. He looked wild on stage, but he wasn’t wild. He looked the part.



I was at the studio with them (Ridge Farm) for the recording of Blizzard of Ozz with Randy, Bob, and Lee.



The studio work is very tedious boring work for me. I set up once and then get on with it. I wasn’t in the studio half the time. I would go in there and have a cup of tea, see if strings need changing or and amp or anything like that. They would just call me over from the main house if they needed me. I just wasn’t into it. That’s why I was a tech and not a musician. I would rather be on the side. I couldn’t play a guitar to save my life, otherwise I would be famous.


Randy’s custom pedal board was built by someone in California. It was a noisy thing. Every time he turned it on or touched it, it sounded like a chip pan frying. It never did work right. It did, but it made a horrendous noise all the time. Maybe that was how it was to supposed to sound, I don’t know. For me, it always sounded good.



He liked everything at number 11. We would just make everything as loud as it would go.



Randy’s sound had to be just right. We would sound check every day, rain or snow or shine. We would stay until it was right. I would be there all day waiting for him to come and he would spend an hour there with the sound guy, the monitor guy, and they would all get it right. He would walk into the audience so he could hear what it sounded like (before anyone was in there). He liked what he liked and if he didn’t like it he would tell you, and we would get it right.

Randy’s favorite effects - there were about 8 of them on the pedal board; a wah wah, a distortion, eq, etc. He dabbled in all of them until he got what he wanted.



The only thing I remember about the Long Beach show is that the curtain wouldn’t come down. We had a big fat guy yanking on the curtain trying to get it down for the start of the show. It got caught on the hooks. I don’t think he ever played without his pedalboard.


My function at the show was after the sound check, Randy used to have an amp and his guitars in a dressing room of his own and he would be hanging out in there practicing. Then, the guitars and pedalboard would go down to the stage and get hooked up. Like on the one tour with the castle, I was on the side dressed as a monk. I had black tights on and a monks outfit with a hood and ballet shoes and trying to tune guitars. All of the road crew had the same outfits - that’s Sharon Osbourne for you. It was good fun. We had a few guitar changes as the show went on. A couple of the songs were down tuned. We would pack it up, and then go. That was about my stint.

It was kind of like a medieval black thing with a hood, black tights, and leather ballet shoes. It was ridiculous. The drum roadie was dressed as a henchman and stood by the side of the drums with a big axe. We used to hang a midget as well. He used to come behind the drums with a noose, and Ozzy would say “there’s Ronnie Dio” and then we would hang the midget, which was the highlight of the show. We had some nasty habits.



John the midget was a small guy with a hump on his back. He used to catch flack and Ozzy used to make him dress up in the same monk outfit with fake blood on his face, and Ozzy would kick him in the ass on stage. He was a terrible drunk. He was always falling off his bar stool. We did one show and he was so drunk on the bus and we had had enough. I put him under the bus with all the luggage and he stayed under there and it was like 10 below zero. We forgot about him and left him in there until we got to the next town. We went to the pub and forgot he was in the luggage bay. It is a wonder we didn’t kill him. He passed away because he had a problem being so short. He (eventually) committed suicide. He was a piece of work because he couldn’t hold his liquor. We used to prop him up on a high stool so that when he fell, he fell a long way. We would get extra kicks out of it. He was a fun guy and enjoyed himself. It was a good gig for him, getting hung up at Ozzy’s shows.



No, Randy never talked to me about any other musicians because I don’t play the guitar. We didn’t interact much about that.



Randy never talked about that. I knew he was good and everyone else did too. Every show, people would turn up to take pictures of his guitars and interview him. Everyone knew he was the next greatest thing.



Just the way he played and the way people looked up to him. Other people could tell he was going places.



With his Jackson guitars, we had problems keeping them in tune. I was always putting fairy dust in the nut. The guitars struggled to stay in tune.


As long as everything worked and everyone was happy…..



I was always on Randy’s side of the stage. All I could hear was his guitar blaring in my ear. I couldn’t hear the keyboards from where I was. I didn’t have a monitor for the keyboards. All I heard was Randy whaling away. I never heard Don or Lindsay play. Don Airey wore the same monk outfit as me.


With Bob and Lee, I really don’t know what went down. It was Ozzy and Sharon’s decision behind closed walls. I don’t know if they argued about money or what it was about. Then Rudy and Tommy appeared. They are both good friends of mine.


I think there was a different vibe when Tommy and Rudy came. They sounded a lot better. The drums definitely sounded better.



I think Lee was a bit sloppy. He was overweight and I wasn’t too keen on Lee at all. But he liked his gin and tonic.



When Tommy and Rudy came, I really liked that band. It was really good. More so than Bob and Lee. It was my belief that Randy enjoyed the change and it was a breath of fresh air. Change is as good as a rest.


I have a lot of memories of Ozzy. I grew up with him in Birmingham, England. We went to school together, he is like a good friend or Brother or Father. He looks after me with Sharon when things were really hard and I was going through a divorce and getting kicked out. They kind of took me in and let me stay at their place in England after I stopped touring. I was lost for a bit and there was an alcohol and drug haze at the time.


Rudy Sarzo is a beautiful guy. A religious and lovely man. I have a lot of respect for him. I see him quite often and saw him last year. I always have time for Rudy. Rudy used to keep to himself a lot. He was a very religious person and I never once saw him drunk. I saw him fall a couple of times but he always got back up.



I didn’t interact too much with Don. Keyboard players are a bit weird to me. They sit down, same as the drummer, and everyone else is standing. They sit on their asses all night. Good guys though.



I don’t remember a lot of Jake Duncan. He traveled with Ozzy most of the time on a separate bus and I was with the crew.



Sharon is a beautiful woman. She took care of me when times were hard and I see them to this day. They are beautiful people and they really looked after my folks before they passed away. I have the greatest respect for both of them. Very loving and giving, beautiful people.



I can’t remember if Randy had any time off for his wisdom teeth.



When we were on the road, I used to go with Randy and a guitar to a teaching class. On a day off, we would go down there and he would teach a few kids or play for them. I think he wanted to get back into classical music or teaching. I didn’t go into the sessions with him. I used to leave him and wait for him because I could find better things to do on my day off.



Randy loved to go and teach other people and always did it when he could.



The last time I saw him was at the last gig. We just said “see you tomorrow” as if it was just a normal gig. We had to drive thousands of miles through the night and I went to sleep on the bus. Then we got word that the show was cancelled. It was a great shock. I think I had already set up all his equipment and had to take it down and put it in the truck. Sad times.



I can’t remember. I think I was on the stage setting up. Someone told me the gig was cancelled because there had been an accident, and then information came slowly. I was watching TV on the bus and it was on the news. Everyone was in complete shock. It was so weird. It got back to my wife in England that people had been killed. It was all weird and we didn’t know what to believe.


I was just in shock and couldn’t believe it at the time until it all sunk in. I had to pack all his stuff and put tape over his name – very sad. It destroyed me. Sharon and Ozzy asked me what I wanted to do. I told them I would finish the tour and work for Rudy. And then after another few months, I decided not to do it anymore. I went to England and they let me stay at their place and I didn’t do anything for 2 or 3 years. I haven’t touched a guitar since. I haven’t tuned one or picked one up.



What happened with Randy just about destroyed me. I wasn’t interested anymore in doing that kind of stuff. I faded away for a bit and lived in the countryside and did nothing. I toured with Ozzy since, but in a different role. No guitar work at all.


With Randy’s passing, it was like losing a Brother. I could not go on anymore. It messed me up and I wasn’t interested anymore. If it wasn’t for Ozzy and Sharon, I wouldn’t be here now. It was hard enough trying to finish the tour with Rudy. Me and Rudy hung in there together.



At the time, I heard that his wife was going to divorce him and he was trying to aim the plane at her but I don’t know if there is any truth in that or if it was a rumor. Maybe he misjudged it, I don’t know what happened that day. I know there was cocaine involved with the driver and it was in his system. I have never been to the accident scene and have no desire to go there.



I don’t think much about his passing, I think about the happy times when we were goofing around. I can still hear his laughter. He had this infectious laugh through the good and the hard times. No one had money and we were cramped into this little apartment. It was still a fun thing to do, like a big adventure. I was real glad I was a part of it and I will never forget it.



It was like one big happy family. It wasn’t always happy but we made fun of it. It was real good times. I will never forget him, ever.



When Randy passed, it never occurred to me that this whole thing would be a living legend. He never got to where he could have been which is a terrible shame.



If Randy had lived he would be teaching classes somewhere and kicking back. He might have done more rock, but not so much. He would have got to the height of that and called it quits. He probably would have settled back and married Jody and have kids.


Brad Gillis was a real nice guy but he had big shoes to fill. And Bernie Torme as well. What could either of them do? The kids at the shows wanted to see Randy and I felt sorry for them. They were getting a lot of abuse and it wasn’t their fault. They were just trying to help. They were both lovely guys.


Hitting the stage without Randy. For me, I buried myself behind Rudy. I couldn’t care less what was going on, on the other side of the stage. I wasn’t listening. I did my thing with Rudy – tuned his bass and coasted along until I could get out. I spoke to them and socialized with them and I felt sorry for them. Some of the kids were hostile and throwing stuff. It was very difficult for everyone involved. Everyone had their own thing that they had to cope with. I took a lot of drugs and blacked it out, and drank a lot of booze. I didn’t have to think about it if I was all messed up. I didn’t do it on stage, I did it in my spare time. I was locked in my room getting high.



I think that this movie will make so many new fans. I can’t wait to see it. I think that what you are doing is good all around; good for Randy, and his family, and Jody, and everyone involved. Its going to be good.



Rachel Youngblood and Randy got along like Brother and Sister. I used to meet her when she arrived at the show with the band. She was the seamstress for the clothes. I remember one time I met her back stage and she asked me where the dressing room is. I said “follow me Rachel” and I would cover up the men’s room sign and open the door for her. I would hear her scream with laughter. That was one of the more good times I had with her. She was a really fun lady. Rachel and Randy got along great. She was a beautiful Woman and a real nice Woman.



I have heard that Marshall is dedicating an amp to Randy, which has only been done 2 or 3 times in their history. On stage, he had 3 Marshall stacks / 6 cabinets, and 3 heads and a white one in the middle. When we did the Diary tour, I used to black out the white cabinets so that you couldn’t see through the mesh. We wanted it all to be hidden. They are probably still like that. When he passed away, I blacked out his name with tape on all his gear. Anyone can take the tape off, and you will see his name there in white paint.


When it was my birthday in 1981, Randy bought me a watch. I have it here although the batteries have run down. On the back, it says, “to Pete, my old china, thank you, 1981 tour, Randy. We used to refer to each other as my old china. He also gave me a guitar strap with his name on it that he didn’t like because it has his name on there spelled incorrectly. He was a loving and generous guy. Very generous with his heart.



I attended Randy’s and Rachel’s funeral. I sat at Randy’s crying my eyes out. Same with Rachel. Rachel’s funeral was something I had never seen in my life because it was all black people and they were all crying. Me, and Ozzy and Sharon were the only white people there, and I think Tommy and Rudy were there. It was a new experience. Randy’s funeral blew me away. I was not in good shape.



What I remember of Randy’s funeral is all the white flowers (gardenias). The whole church was covered in thousands and thousands of those. That’s all I could smell. That’s what he used to have in his White Russians; gardenias. It brought back a lot of memories.



I attended the church and the burial, but our driver got lost. I was in the front and Rudy and Tommy were in the back. He got lost. What a time to get lost. We missed half of it because he got lost. I was pissed.


No, I never saw Randy and Sharon romantically involved at all. Who knows what happens behind closed doors? It is not my place to say.



Randy affected me in a way that makes me want to live now. Before, I could have gone the other way with drugs, etc. I just want to keep living.

RIP Pete Mertons

[stealaway]

Thanks for this!!! Pete Mertons should have been interviewed more!!! I would have surely heard more about technical stuff + guitars of Randy. If he knew about any of that... Obviously some photos of him with Randy would be great!!!

[GUITARIDOL5682]

Pete was not that technically switched on with guitar knowledge. He didn't even play guitar which makes me think if he didn't play how could he tune a guitar. Randy must of tuned all his guitars and he handed them to him as he changed guitars. Ozzy was helping a mate out and he was there to. party with Ozzy. He speaks well of Randy but is not 100% with retelling the memories of that time. Newcastle was not their first gig. I went to that show. So I'm sure some of his other info is clouded or missing facts. It's sad to hear that Pete died a few years ago I think his demons caught up with him and he hit the drink n drugs which was his last time to party.

[GUITARIDOL5682]

Thanks for this!!! Pete Mertons should have been interviewed more!!! I would have surely heard more about technical stuff + guitars of Randy. If he knew about any of that... Obviously some photos of him with Randy would be great!!!

That's the photo of Randy showing Pete some photos he'd taking.

[stealaway]

That's a nice photo! Too bad we cannot see Pete's face
I was also thinking how did Pete tune Randy's guitars if he didn't play himself... Maybe just tuned them with tuners...

[shawn]

Cheers for that guitaridol.

That was excellent and a disappointment. Obviously like you say he is Ozzys mate not a guitar tech. I was imaging that he would have some insight into Rrandy's gear and approach to playing and practicing but unfortunately he seems to have had more memories of partying than anything.

Edit: You have to be a special type of wanker to put sleeping pills in someones drink.

[GUITARIDOL5682]

That's a nice photo! Too bad we cannot see Pete's face
I was also thinking how did Pete tune Randy's guitars if he didn't play himself... Maybe just tuned them with tuners...

Even using a tuner is not a guarantee the guitar is in tune when you hand it over to the player. I know Randy had issues keeping his guitars in tune especially the PDV. If Pete had basic knowledge and couldn't play nothing he wouldn't know if the guitar was in tune when he put it down ready for the gig.

[GUITARIDOL5682]

Cheers for that guitaridol.

You have to be a special type of wanker to put sleeping pills in someones drink.

I did hear that Randy was beasted and did get made fun of during the Ozzy tours. He was spiked with a sleeping pill one time and when he woke up, he went to bed. He didn't realise he had been coloured in with marker pens. More then likely a 'bus stop cock' on the forehead for good measure. If you've ever had this done it's difficult removing it. Worse again if you have to walk some where with loads of people clocking your tecni-colour look.