R.I.P. Don Costa

[plasticbastard]

Brief message from his sister, Sara. Don passed away about a month ago
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cnSK2sw7XM

[DemonFilth2001]

That sucks. Awesome rocker.

[Bono Nettencourt]

He's the guy Ozzy punched out at the US Festival, right?

[DemonFilth2001]

He's the guy Ozzy punched out at the US Festival, right?

Not sure. I know he had a cheese grater duct taped to the back of his bass. He’d rip up his chest a knuckles on it. Bleed everywhere. True rocker.

[Z28]

Rest in Peace Don!
https://youtu.be/BbxFv6NUUoo

[aznsquirt]

This is kind of a big deal to me if only because I spent an inordinate amount of time trying to track him down over the years.

He was quite the character, and I've read it all. I only wish we could've gotten an interview with him in later years and heard his side of everything.

RIP

He's the guy Ozzy punched out at the US Festival, right?

No, he headbutted him 2-3 weeks before the US festival.

And then Don showed up to the US festival thinking he was there to play a show and Sharon fired him on the spot.

[SW]

I know he had a cheese grater duct taped to the back of his bass. He’d rip up his chest a knuckles on it. Bleed everywhere. True rocker.

True idiot.

What about Don Costa?

[cowpins]

Jake E Lee talks about the whole ozzy thing here.

https://rockcelebrities.net/the-reason- ... s-bassist/

[Z28]

This is kind of a big deal to me if only because I spent an inordinate amount of time trying to track him down over the years.

He was quite the character, and I've read it all. I only wish we could've gotten an interview with him in later years and heard his side of everything.

RIP

He's the guy Ozzy punched out at the US Festival, right?

No, he headbutted him 2-3 weeks before the US festival.

And then Don showed up to the US festival thinking he was there to play a show and Sharon fired him on the spot.

Same here, I wanted to know his story

[FreddyFender]

His name came up a lot recently - never even heard of him until a couple years ago.

[risingfarce]

Jake E Lee talks about the whole ozzy thing here.

https://rockcelebrities.net/the-reason- ... s-bassist/

So, why was he fired?

[Tommy2Tone84]

He's the guy Ozzy punched out at the US Festival, right?

Not sure. I know he had a cheese grater duct taped to the back of his bass. He’d rip up his chest a knuckles on it. Bleed everywhere. True rocker.

I’ve never read he ripped up his chest, just his knuckles. A sad story. It sounds like he had talent for days. Mark Kendall has said in interviews that he was very business minded too and a great guy but went off the deep end a little.

[Tommy2Tone84]

Jake E Lee talks about the whole ozzy thing here.

https://rockcelebrities.net/the-reason- ... s-bassist/

So, why was he fired?

According to Mark Kendall, who got him the Ozzy gig through George Lynch, Don kept going up in front of Ozzy while he was trying to sing and showboat for the audience. Apparently Sharon had a respectful discussion with Don about it, asking him not to do it while Ozzy was singing but told him he could go up to the front of the stage and perform while Ozzy wasn’t singing. But he continued to do it so they fired him. Jake claims that Ozzy head butted him in the back of the bus and about a week later humiliated him at the US Fest by firing him there with Daisley waiting in the wings. While petty and extreme, I don’t think the reason for his dismissal was out of line at all.

[risingfarce]

Jake E Lee talks about the whole ozzy thing here.

https://rockcelebrities.net/the-reason- ... s-bassist/

So, why was he fired?

According to Mark Kendall, who got him the Ozzy gig through George Lynch, Don kept going up in front of Ozzy while he was trying to sing and showboat for the audience. Apparently Sharon had a respectful discussion with Don about it, asking him not to do it while Ozzy was singing but told him he could go up to the front of the stage and perform while Ozzy wasn’t singing. But he continued to do it so they fired him. Jake claims that Ozzy head butted him in the back of the bus and about a week later humiliated him at the US Fest by firing him there with Daisley waiting in the wings. While petty and extreme, I don’t think the reason for his dismissal was out of line at all.

Fired for upstaging the star after being told not to do it anymore is warranted.

Headbutting him was assault.

Firing him in front of his family and friends was a cunt move by Sharon.

[aznsquirt]

So, why was he fired?

According to Mark Kendall, who got him the Ozzy gig through George Lynch, Don kept going up in front of Ozzy while he was trying to sing and showboat for the audience. Apparently Sharon had a respectful discussion with Don about it, asking him not to do it while Ozzy was singing but told him he could go up to the front of the stage and perform while Ozzy wasn’t singing. But he continued to do it so they fired him. Jake claims that Ozzy head butted him in the back of the bus and about a week later humiliated him at the US Fest by firing him there with Daisley waiting in the wings. While petty and extreme, I don’t think the reason for his dismissal was out of line at all.

Fired for upstaging the star after being told not to do it anymore is warranted.

Headbutting him was assault.

Firing him in front of his family and friends was a cunt move by Sharon.

To be pedantic, it wasn't necessarily him doing it, it was him bragging about doing it to a roadie who went to Sharon with it.

It's likely he actually was, though.

I think there's literally ZERO video footage of Ozzy during the time he was in the band. I've never seen any.

From the second video his sister posted, it sounded like he was highly estranged and she doesn't have a great impression of him other than basic sisterly love.

I'd love to hear all the details.

From everything I've ever read it seems like he was quite over the top and got totally disenfranchised with life after things didn't work out and he lived a pretty grizzled life after that.

[aznsquirt]

Some very obscure things I've picked up over the years:

- Everyone who speaks on him claims he was a great bass player.

- Don Costa was referred to Ozzy via George Lynch

- There was a period during the whole hollywood rose/la guns clusterfuck period where allegedly part of the reason Tracii left L.A. Guns was that he was planning to start a band with Axl, Tony Richards, and Don Costa.

[Psychobolia.com]

...allegedly part of the reason Tracii left L.A. Guns was that he was planning to start a band with Axl, Tony Richards, and Don Costa.

That would have been a bitchin lineup!

[aznsquirt]

...allegedly part of the reason Tracii left L.A. Guns was that he was planning to start a band with Axl, Tony Richards, and Don Costa.

That would have been a bitchin lineup!

hahaa yeah, I totally thought the same when I heard that.

[Demon Kogure]

It's weird how nobody has mentioned that he was an early member of W.A.S.P.

He used to hold out his cheese-grated knuckles so the people in the front row could lick the blood off them

W.A.S.P. got their entire schtick from this guy

[HueyRamone]

I think there's literally ZERO video footage of Ozzy during the time he was in the band. I've never seen any.

I wonder how many shows he did?
Some photos at least...

[Z28]

How come nobody saw him in the 90's or 2000's? 10's and 20's????

[DemonFilth2001]

Is it the photo? Or does his ribcage really go down almost to his navel?

[aznsquirt]

I think there's literally ZERO video footage of Ozzy during the time he was in the band. I've never seen any.

I wonder how many shows he did?

His first show with Ozzy was 12 Jan 1983 in Helsinki and his last show was 8 April 1983 in Glens Falls NY, which was about 35 shows. Europe, Eastern/Midwest/South US and some Canada dates.

Here's a decent bootleg from his time in the band: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lwn7RQPnOSc

The closest he came to getting something off the ground was the project M 80 with Niki Buzz from Vendetta: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mEkbCVHAlQ

Definitely the kind of music you'd probably expect to hear from someone of his lineage. His bass playing is actually quite good, and he def shows off some chops.

He definitely wasn't just a showman who just strapped a bass on. It's honestly kind of hard to believe he never landed anywhere decent after the Ozzy gig. It does sound like he got disenfranchised and quit the whole scene relatively quickly after the Ozzy thing, though. I'm sure he had his demons.

I do remember wrt the Tracii guns thing, this was all from Raz Cue, La Guns original manager, who tells the story. He claims Don was quite flaky and he was trying to get Tracii to believe it. He was never sure why it fell through, but that was his guess.

He also had an INCREDIBLY bizarre project called "Damien" that I can't seem to find any clips of, but I've heard it before. He was attempting to make the most extreme over the top thing in the shock rock type vein, and from my memory it's basically just pure loud noise.

[aznsquirt]

How come nobody saw him in the 90's or 2000's? 10's and 20's????

He full on disappeared after about 1984-1985 in a huge, huge way. The last thing timeline-wise I've ever pinned to him musically is the M 80 project and the rumored situation with Tracii. That would've been at the very end of 1984.

I read something on a forum way back, like 20 years ago, where someone had supposedly tracked him down and knocked on his door sometime in the 90s. He said his wife or girlfriend answered and said that's no longer his life and he has no interest in talking about it or meeting them.

The son of his long-term girlfriend posted on YouTube that he been working as a painter for like 40 years, and that "the drugs and booze really took their toll" on him, and that he has bad paranoia. You can see him post a bunch of things about Don in the comments here, and you can see his "new" relatives trying to get into contact with his family in the most recent comments.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMvROGIZEdI

Clip also has decent footage of Kendall talking about Don.

BTW, this a really fun read overall about the early days of GnR/LA Guns/etc. where Raz Cue talks about Don briefly:

https://razcue.com/new-singer-hired-the ... ired-1984/

Shortly after midnight, a bassist named Don Costa showed up to the Tropicana looking for Tracii. Don was a great-looking wild man and extremely talented musician, somewhat of a local legend from bands such as Dante Fox, Great White, and ever so briefly a member of Ozzy Osbourne’s band.

It wasn’t said explicitly, but Don was there to recruit Tracii for his newest band. So when he told Tracii, “You’re way better than Jake (E. Lee),” I didn’t think anything of it. Lots of people wanted Tracii in their band, but I figured he would never leave a band named after him, that weeks earlier released an EP of his songs.

I soon realized that Tracii was no longer interested in L.A. Guns.

Would be interesting to Tracii's take on Don and that situation some day.

I know way too much about this guy, lmao.

[HueyRamone]

I know way too much about this guy, lmao.

In case you havent read it,and in honor of his passing, here's the Kerrang article that he was in. I always thought that cheese grater stuff was apocryphal, but here's the proof! Also, the fact that he had to check his drummer out of the special needs home is classic. As well as the fact that he had a band name, but no members (apart from maybe the slow drummer) and 3 song titles, but had already decided where his first show would be, his tour up the coast and a show in england.

[Demon Kogure]

[Love_Industry]

He also had an INCREDIBLY bizarre project called "Damien" that I can't seem to find any clips of, but I've heard it before. He was attempting to make the most extreme over the top thing in the shock rock type vein, and from my memory it's basically just pure loud noise.

The other two guys in Damien were by the way Witch drummer Punky Peru and Ampage guitarist/vocalist Henry Stone. I think Costa said that they only played one show.

And yes he was too shock rock for his own good. Everyone knew WASP and Alice Cooper were theatre but a guy grating up his knuckles mid show and killing rabbits or puppies on stage is a bit too real.

[DemonFilth2001]

Again. Does his rib cage really go down to his navel?

[Tommy2Tone84]

It’s too bad he was off the charts. It sounds like he really could play. I’ve read his name and read about him for years. The cheese grater thing sounded laughable. Ozzy should’ve done everything in his power to keep Bob Daisley happy and in his band. Lee as well. Outside of Sabbath, he never had a better band than the Blizzard of Ozz.

[aznsquirt]

He also had an INCREDIBLY bizarre project called "Damien" that I can't seem to find any clips of, but I've heard it before. He was attempting to make the most extreme over the top thing in the shock rock type vein, and from my memory it's basically just pure loud noise.

The other two guys in Damien were by the way Witch drummer Punky Peru and Ampage guitarist/vocalist Henry Stone. I think Costa said that they only played one show.

And yes he was too shock rock for his own good. Everyone knew WASP and Alice Cooper were theatre but a guy grating up his knuckles mid show and killing rabbits or puppies on stage is a bit too real.

Good info. I recall there being one Damien show lined up at the Woodstock that got cancelled because of him getting the Ozzy gig.