TRIVIUM frontman Matt Heafy revealed that his band faced harassment from the Ozzfest crew in 2005 after they refused to participate in Sharon Osbourne‘s feud with Bruce Dickinson.
During the festival’s Los Angeles stop, Osbourne convinced a group of people, including nurses from her chemotherapy treatment, to throw eggs at Dickinson during IRON MAIDEN‘s set. This incident occurred after Dickinson made negative remarks about The Osbournes reality show.
In a new interview with Metal Hammer, Heafy stated that TRIVIUM faced repercussions for not taking Osbourne‘s side in the conflict.
“Some days we were opening at 9 in the morning, but I remember on the last IRON MAIDEN day the tour was going to continue but we were asked by some of the Ozzfest crew, ‘Hey do you want to egg IRON MAIDEN?’ It was like, ‘Why the hell would we do that?'”
“We got bullied by the Ozzfest crew; they’d drive their golf carts right up to our faces, shoot dirt at us,” Matt continued. “Paolo [Gregoletto, bassist] almost got arrested at one of the shows. It was a strange time; we paid $30,000 to get bullied like we were in high school!”
TRIVIUM‘s actions against Sharon Osbourne had lasting consequences. Heafy mentioned that only recently, the Ozzfest management reached out to his band with a tentative offer of reconciliation.
He said: “We were actually told recently if we apologized we’d be allowed to do the tour again someday.”
According to reports, tensions arose after Dickinson commented on the sound system and made remarks interpreted as critical of Ozzy Osbourne. Sharon, who manages her husband Ozzy‘s career, reportedly took offense. Some reports claim she responded by directing actions that d isrupted IRON MAIDEN‘s performance, including issues with the sound system, delaying their mascot’s entrance, and allegedly encouraging the crowd to throw objects at Dickinson.
The reported comments included Dickinson referencing bands that wouldn’t be “in a reality show,” possibly referring to Ozzy‘s involvement in MTV‘s “The Osbournes” and “Battle for Ozzfest.”
In 2022, Ozzy and Sharon were interviewed by Consequence where BLACK SABBATH singer was asked if he felt he was underrated as a singer, compared to other legendary vocalists like Dickinson, Rob Halford and the late Ronnie James Dio.
“Bruce Dickinson is a great singer, but as a person, I’ve worked with him, and he’s not very nice,” Ozzy responded. “Ronnie James Dio is no longer alive. He was a great singer. I didn’t really know him so well. I’m not one of these guys who says many things about people. The truth is the truth. I met Ronnie James Dio a couple of times. He took my [BLACK SABBATH] gig. But at the same time, I can’t complain because I did great on my own.”
“But I don’t sing for a judge. I sing for my fans,” he continued. “If my fans don’t buy my music, that would tell me my singing isn’t any good anymore, but they’re still buying my records. I’m my own worst critic. I don’t rate myself more than Ronnie James Dio or Bruce Dickinson. That’s not my gig. I don’t care. I have fun doing what I do. My goal is to turn my f**king audience on. And that’s what I try to do. I’m not interested if someone thinks I’m a f**king joke. That’s fine. That’s their opinion.”
Sharon, who was interviewed for the same Consequence cover story, was far more harsh towards Dickinson, saying: “Bruce Dickinson is a f**king prick. Well, no, he’s not a prick because a prick’s nice. He’s a f**king a**hole. Because the situation is he was on a tour called Ozzfest. And Ozzy Osbourne was paying him every night to perform. He accepted the gig. He knew what he was doing. He accepted the gig. And every night he would go onstage and say bad things about Ozzy. And the crew and everybody in all the other bands would be like, ‘Are you letting him get away with it?’ And I’m like, ‘I sure am.’ But the last gig was [just outside of] L.A. And I thought, ‘You motherf**ker, now you’re gonna get it.’
“And so I had about 20 people in the audience and a lot of them were nurses from Cedars Sinai, because I had cancer at that time. And they were all my chemo nurses. And they all came down, and they f**king pelted the sh*t out of him. And my thing is, you play, you pay! And the thing is, if you’re being paid to do a gig, but you don’t like the person, then f*ck off. But don’t stay, take the money, take all the good that’s coming to your band through being on a festival, doing 24 shows and still slagging the person that’s paying you. It’s like, ‘No, that makes you a f**king a**hole.’ And he is. And he’s never apologized, he never even went up and said hello to Ozzy. The thing about him is that he is just so jealous. And always has been of Ozzy. And that’s his problem.”
“Because the thing is about Bruce Dickinson, he’s hugely successful. He’s got a great fan base, a great fan base that have been loyal. The band are great guys. All the band are great. And they do great. You know, they’re a great band, you can’t take it away, and neither would I take that away from them. But the thing about Bruce is, he is unknown to the public. Bruce Dickinson could walk into anywhere and nobody would know who the f**k he is. Do you know what I’m saying? He’s a faceless singer to the general public. People aren’t scrambling to get him for an interview. And the thing is, he’s not interesting. But the thing is, Ozzy is original and Bruce isn’t and that’s what eats Bruce away.”
Reeder, the visionary behind Metal Addicts, has transformed his lifelong passion for metal into a thriving online community for metal aficionados. As a fervent devotee of black metal, Reeder is captivated by its dark, atmospheric, and often unorthodox soundscapes.