Scott McLennan of Australia's Rip It Up recently conducted an interview with legendary BLACK SABBATH singer Ozzy Osbourne. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

On going vegan in 2012:

Ozzy: "I tried it, but I didn't last more than a week or two. I'm eating more meat now than ever! The only meat I haven't touched is the horse they're eating over here. I'll eat anything..."

"I'll tell you what I really missed — meat! How can the guy who bit the head off several creatures suddenly turn full circle and now live on vegetables? That doesn't sound right. I was Satan last week, now I'm on some fucking do-it-yourself gardening experience. These days I'm on a very low-carb, high-protein diet and I've dropped 30 pounds and I exercise like a freak. I'm 65 this year. God only knows how I got that far — I should have been dead a thousand times."

On working with producer Rick Rubin on BLACK SABBATH's first studio album with Ozzy since 1978's "Never Say Die!":

Ozzy: "Every time I've seen him for the past 15 or 20 years, Rick Rubin's always said to me that if SABBATH ever got back together, he wanted to produce us. Before we went into the studio, people were telling us that he's always got five things going on at the same time, so he'll be in there one day and then you won't see him for three weeks. All I can say is that whenever I was in the studio, he was there. Rick Rubin is the producer and he knows what he's doing. If this is anywhere near as successful as the Adele album [Rubin co-produced], I'll be happy!"

On the possibility of Rubin sorting out an Ozzy-and-Adele collaboration:

Ozzy: "I'd die a happy man, I think she's fucking great. She's not fucking botox-faced, she's a normal, healthy girl who speaks in her native accent."

On BLACK SABBATH guitarist Tony Iommi's lymphoma diagnosis:

Ozzy: "Tony's fine, but he can only go out on the road for six weeks at a time as he has to have infusions or some shit for his immune system. I was amazed that during his chemotherapy he was still writing songs. My heart goes out to him, because when Sharon [Ozzy's wife/manager] had cancer a few years back, she was so sick from chemotherapy she could barely get out of bed. It's like having a football kick to the nuts. The chemotherapy is worse than the cancer — Sharon was like [the possessed child Regan in] 'The Exorcist', having seizures all the time. Tony is doing really well, though."

On never forgetting his poverty-stricken West Midlands upbringing:

Ozzy: "You're not going to believe it, but if I'm passing I frequently go back to my old house and sit on the doorstep for half an hour in the middle of the night. I'll be going from Liverpool down the M6 and I'll pull off in Aston for the memories. I can remember sitting on that step when I was a kid wondering what I'd be when I was a man. It's all Pakistanis living there now."

Read more from Rip It Up.