“Gritty, fast-paced and hectic”: Billy Morrison recruits Steve Vai, John 5 and Ozzy Osbourne for his first solo record in 9 years

Billy Morrison, who has been Billy Idol’s guitarist for a decade and a half, has announced his first studio album since 2015. Entitled The Morrison Project, he’s assembled a stellar cast for the record including Ozzy Osbourne, Steve Vai, John 5, Billy Idol and Corey Taylor.

Drowning is the record’s first single and sees Morrison joined by the backing band consistent across the majority of the album. That includes Twiggy Ramirez (Marilyn Manson, A Perfect Circle) on bass and Erik Eldenius (Billy Idol, Cher) on drums.

Guest-free, the metal-tinted track puts the focus firmly on Morrison’s songwriting and performance. The track hinges on a big, power-chord-driven drop-tuned riff.

Its vocal melodies and open chorus deliver an accessible edge that melds Mötley Crüe’s early noughties output with the goth metal of the same era. As such, the dark and grungy track makes it easy to see how the likes of Ozzy and John 5 will slot into the record’s aesthetic.

For the single’s Devin Szell-directed video, Morrison said he wanted something “gritty, fast-paced and hectic” in an “attempt to illustrate what my head felt like at the time [of writing the song].

“I had reached a point two or three years ago where the information flow was so constant, so extreme and so polarizing to me that I couldn’t take it all in,” he expands. “The world was full of unease, fear, and discontent. Riots, a global pandemic, and a failing economy.

“My previous solution,” he explains, “was to numb out, get loaded, feel nothing. So, this time I wrote the song as a cathartic way of dealing with what I was feeling at the time.”

The new record was mixed by Barry Pointer (John 5, Juliette Lewis) and mastered by Dave Donnelly (Red Hot Chili Peppers, Journey). Across its 12 tracks, Morrison is also joined by Al Jourgensen, Tommy Clufetos, and Linda Perry, as well as his Billy Idol co-guitarist, Steve Stevens.

Vai will feature on a song called Incite the Watch. It’s a song he co-wrote with Morrison and Slipknot’s Corey Taylor.

John 5, meanwhile, joins Jourgensen on the Morrison-penned The Ayes Have It. He recently revealed how he chipped a tooth – and consequently upset his mom – trying to recreate Hendrix’s iconic playing-guitar-with-his-teeth trick as a kid. However, it’s unclear whether his appearance on The Morrison Project racked up any additional dentist bills for Mick Mars’ Mötley successor.

The Morrison Project releases April 19 via TLG/Virgin Music Group.