Kevin Churko might not be a household name yet, but he's well his way to becoming one of the most sought after producers. He, along with Zakk Wydle, were successful and instrumental in jump starting Ozzy Osbourne's flat-lining solo career with the latest album Black Rain. Obviously since I'm not the only one that feels that this is Ozzy's most consistent effort since No More Tears, they have helped Black Rain chart in the top 10 landing at number 3 in its debut week. The album went onto sell a whopping 152,000 copies in the United States alone! Recently we had a chance to interview Kevin Churko and find out how he landed the gig and what it was like working with Ozzy and Zakk, writing songs with them, and a little bit about his background in the music business. And Kevin was even gracious enough to answer a last minute addition that a fellow Sludgeaholic was inquiring about. Anyway it was a blast and he answered everything. Read on.

 

Kevin you’re a colleague of Mutt Lange. How did you meet Mutt and what did you pick up in the time you’ve spent working with him?

 

My brother, Cory, was a multi-instrumentalist in Shania’s (Mutt’s wife) band. I had actually auditioned to be the drummer in her band. I failed horribly and didn’t get the gig. However, by that time, I was firmly just working in the recording studio anyway. The drum audition was really just an opportunity I couldn’t pass up. In my bio, it was clear that my interest and experience were all coming from a technical studio background. A year or so later during the tour, Shania had mentioned to my brother that Mutt was a little frustrated with his engineer/programmer. Things weren’t working out. Cory gave her my name and number again and she said she would pass it on to Mutt. To my surprise, a few weeks later he called me out of the blue at 4 am. I still remember it like it was yesterday. We talked a couple of times and then he flew me to Switzerland for a ‘trial’. Mutt was amazing in every way and a huge influence on me.

 

What interested you in getting into production?  Correct me if I’m wrong but don’t most producers start off as musicians or songwriters then get into production?

 

I was on the road permanently drumming in bands from the time I was 14. Production and writing was always my goal. I never wanted to be the star. I was happy doing the work. I saved forever to buy my first 4 track recorder (Tascam 244). Actually I had to convince my brother to go halfers on it with me.

 

You’ve worked with the likes of Britney Spears, Michael Bolton, Celine Dion, Shania Twain, The Corrs and now Ozzy Osbourne. How did you get involved with Ozzy Osbourne?

 

Ozzy had a friend of mine, David Frangioni (Audio One) design and build his home studio. After it was finished, Ozzy had some concerns about the size of the drum room. David wanted to show Ozzy how great the drums could sound. He called me in to set up, play and record for Oz. That was my intro to the Osbournes world. Oz recorded his cover album with producer Mark Hudson. Mark already had a full time engineer but I helped out occasionally when things got busy. I’m not sure I was always on Ozzy’s radar at first, but his longtime assistant, Tony Dennis really liked me and seemed to think I was just what Oz needed. When it came time to start this new CD, I got the call. I owe Tony and David a lot for the intro and support.

 

Black Rain is a return to form for Ozzy Osbourne.  It’s the best thing as a whole that Ozzy has done since No More Tears. There are no liners on the album, so aside from the band who else played on the album?

 

Thanks for the compliment. I really believe in this CD. It wasn’t just another gig for me. There was a lot of blood, sweat and tears, literally that went into this thing. However, it was also the best time I’ve ever had making an album. It’s a shame there’s no liners in the US version. The international versions were all made with inserts and full artwork. I’m actually going to order one from Canada just so I have it.

 

One of the goals we had when we started to record this thing was to just use the guys in the band. My favorite albums were always ones where a small group of guys worked on the whole thing. I mean, how personal or special can a project be when different studio guys are constantly going in and out. An album to me isn’t just a collection of one off singles. It’s about the whole body of work, how one song flows into the next, etc…I was really happy to just use Zakk, Mike Bordin and Blasko on this thing. Each one of them contributed personality and substance to this recording. By pure circumstance alone I had to use two other guys to play acoustic tracks on the ballads. Zakk was on the road and it wasn’t worth flying around just to get a short little acoustic chinga ching thing. Bob Funk played acoustic on “Here for You.” While mixing “Lay Your World on Me,” I realized we could use a little acoustic on that too. My son, Kane Churko, was helping me out in the studio at the time so I just got him to play that track.

 

How much of this album was done on pro-tools? And do you work similar fashion as Mutt where you piece an album together without necessarily having all the players in the studio? 

 

This CD was recorded and mixed completely in pro-tools. I took great care with the sounds going into pro-tools so I wouldn’t have to do too much processing later. The recording process was varied. Zakk, Mike and Blasko are such great players that there weren’t a lot of takes on anything. However, just due to schedules and the way the tracks/writing developed, not every song was recorded with the whole band all at once.

 

So was the majority of Black Rain recorded at Ozzy’s studio then? When did you guys break ground on this record and when did it wrap up?

 

We recorded it at Ozzy’s home studio. I say home studio but it really is state of the art. Ozzy and I loved working there. Zakk Fagan was the studio manager/house engineer/assistant/consultant and also did some great engineering work. It really was a small team of guys making this thing and it was personal for everyone. We started at the end of March 2006 and mastered in March of 2007. However it didn’t really take that long. Ozzy took a summer break for Ozzfest, and then some trips back and forth to visit Sharon who was in London for most of the recording time. We actually thought we were finished at Christmas but Sharon encouraged us to work a little harder and do a few more songs.

 

You also co-wrote most or all the material on Black Rain is that correct? How was the co-writing experience with Ozzy and I assume Zakk Wylde?

 

Yes I co-wrote all the tracks. Zakk is amazing. There are few musicians as naturally gifted as him. Ozzy was also incredible. You don’t go through 4 decades without knowing what the hell you’re doing. He has strong intuition and was the main guiding force on Black Rain.

 

Would you mind if we ran through some of the highlights of Black Rain? Please comment on each of the mentioned tracks.

 

Starting with “Not Going Away” a great lead off track to kick off the album. A bold statement from Ozzy. Was this written around the riff?  It’s sludgy, grinding and memorable.

 

This track is definitely one of my favorites. It was a main contender for lead off single and may be the next. This was one of the first riffs that Zakk came up with. However it was one of the later ones we worked on. Basically we had about 30 ‘riff-tracks’ to choose from when we were finishing the writing. This one may have gotten lost in the shuffle but Mike Bordin called me up and suggested I listen to it again. I had another listen and what once sounded like an ok riff to me became an obvious monster. That’s what I mean about everyone contributing. If we had a session drummer in, do you think he would have been going home and listening to every track recorded? Mike’s opinion was invaluable and he’s the reason why this track was finished.

 

“I Don’t Wanna Stop” is a brilliant track to send to radio, contemporary yet still Ozzy.  Was it hard to get Ozzy to embrace something this current sounding?

 

No. Not only did Ozzy love this one from the start, he championed it. There was some talk about this one not going on the CD. Ozzy believed and fought for it as did I.

 

“Black Rain” great song, what’s this about? I get a little confused.  Is it about pollution? Or the Iraq war?  The harmonica is a great accent as is the sitar that gave it a Middle Eastern feel to it.

 

It’s about war in general but mostly the current Iraq war. However the title also refers to the black rain that the Hhibakusha reported some minutes after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. Thankfully, there’s no atomic warfare in the Middle East yet.

 

The sitar is actually Ozzy’s voice. I had him sing a long note and then loaded it into a sampler and played it through some effects. He howled when he heard it.

 

“The Almighty Dollar” features a fantastic bass line. For some reason this reminds me of Pink Floyd’s “Money.” Who came up with the bass line and what do you remember of this track coming together?

 

Actually I’d have to take the blame on that one. Obviously “Money” is a stellar track but it wasn’t an influence on “Dollar.” To be honest, I just started playing the bass absent-mindedly after the drums were done. I kept evolving the part till it ended up as you hear it. The whole middle section came to me as I was waking up one day. I’m not religious but it was a gift from somewhere. I got lucky on that one. It’s my favorite track on the CD.

 

“Here for You” to me on the same par as “Mama, I’m Coming Home” or “Goodbye to Romance” one of two ballads on Black Rain.  I hope there’s a music video for that song. Who played piano on that one?

 

Zakk started the whole thing off on piano. He’s a great player too.

 

“Trap Door” has this hypnotic rhythm to it. I can’t get enough of that. What’s that one about?

 

I’d rather leave that one up to the listener. It may have different meanings to different people.

 

Is Black Rain a concept album?

 

Not really. Ozzy just told me one thing when we started. He said, “I want to make album I really like. I want to be able to play this CD over and over.” Trust me, he played it over and over.

 

How was it working with Zakk Wylde? He’s been very protective of Ozzy and he was critical of the producer of Down to Earth.  Granted, Zakk didn’t have any creative input on that effort.

 

I began this record as an engineer and evolved into producer. I think it worked out well that way. I didn’t come in too strong. I really respect Zakk and I gained his trust and respect slowly. I think also he realized my intentions were true. Blizzard was a big record for me when it came out and the fact that I could be a part of an Ozzy and Zakk record was a huge privilege I didn’t take lightly.

 

Did you have any advice for Zakk regarding his trademark squeal? Like less here? Or even less there?

 

I had more influence as the project progressed. However, Zakk knows what he wants and how to get it.

 

What was highlight of this project?

 

Having Ozzy call me long after the CD was finished and actually thank me for helping him make a great record. That meant everything to me.

 

What’s in the store for you? Any gigs on the horizon that you’d like to talk about?

 

I’m really excited about some new projects I’m currently working on. However, I have this thing about talking about them too much before they develop.

I don’t want to jinx ‘em.

 

One last thing at the tail end of the song "11 Silver" you can hear Ozzy ask "Is that the last song?" was that kept on there for a specific reason? What’s the story behind that?

 

Well that was originally literally the last song he sang and the last song on the CD. He was literally asking me if this was the last song. Then Sharon encouraged us to do more. In the end it worked out better sequenced as song 6 instead of the last song. We just grew attached to the end. It gave us a chuckle.

 

Kevin, Thanks a million for taking the time to answer some questions. I thank you and Pivotal Rage thanks you. We hope to hear some more of your work in the world of hard and heavy in the future. Any parting words or something you’d like to plug?

 

I’ve been lucky in life to get to work with two of my idols, Mutt and Ozzy. Both of them not only lived up to any expectation, they far surpassed it. I love Black Rain and really hope the fans give it a chance.