Turning the tables on Ozzy

As the son of Ozzy Osbourne, Louis has been destined to pursue a musical career since, at 6, he appeared on the cover of his father's second solo album, Diary of a Madman.

But 26-year-old Osbourne - Ozzy's elder son, from his first marriage, to Thelma Mayfair - has avoided following in his Dad's heavy metal footsteps and has established himself as a jet-setting house music DJ who trots into Auckland next week.

"My family are all rockers," he says. "None of them likes or understands my dance music and while I don't dislike rock music, it's not what floats my boat.

"I caught the dance bug quite badly after I started going clubbing every weekend when I was 16. About four years later, I got interested in the deep, New York wild pitch house sound. That was what inspired me to buy records for DJ-ing and it was a natural progression from there."

While you shouldn't expect him to drop any Black Sabbath numbers into his set, Osbourne favours the darker side of music.

"I play the techy side of house and the funkier side of techno, including tech-house, funky techno and tribal house."

He claims to have drawn not a bean of influence from his Dad's impressive back catalogue but cites Deep Dish and fellow Birmingham DJ Steve Lawler as primary influences.

But Osbourne admits his infamous musical roots have naturally enhanced his DJ profile, especially after The Osbournes television show, being repeated on TV2, turned the life of Ozzy, his second wife Sharon and their two children Jack and Kelly into a trashy, compelling soap opera.

"I was doing what I was doing long before The Osbournes series was conceived and I'll be doing what I'm doing long after it's gone," says Osbourne.

"There's a wave of excitement about my family. In one way it's fortunate but, in another, it's unfortunate. At the end of the day, I do what I do for the love of the music.

"I can't say that my dad hasn't got me any publicity but I've been doing what I've been doing for eight years now and my family hasn't affected my DJ-ing in any way. It might have affected the publicity I get, so my profile improves, but I'd like my profile to be improved by people writing to magazines saying what an amazing night they had when Louis Osbourne was DJ-ing.

"The fact that I'm some rock star's son is a double-edged sword. You'll always get promotion but unless I'm good, it doesn't make a lot of difference. If I'm crap, people aren't going to book me again."

Unlike his older sister Jessica, Louis has made a fleeting appearance on The Osbournes. " "I was spending time at my dad's house because I didn't have anywhere to live. To start with, you see the television cameras and you shy away from them but, in the end, it's just a house and I'm not going to not see my family because there's a television camera there.

"It's an all right show and you don't see too much. All the good stuff doesn't get filmed. It's a creation. It's all edited."

Louis was raised in Birmingham, England, where his mother still lives, but like Ozzy, Sharon, Jack and Kelly, he is based in Los Angeles, where he lives with his girlfriend, when he's not travelling.

"Although I haven't got any decks or any sort of musical set-up at home, so it's a bit restrictive on that front. I need to settle down. I've been transient for a while but now I know where my career is going. I've been of no fixed abode for about two years.

"Most young men want to travel the world, party and get laid, and I've made a career out of it so I can't complain."

And, other than those musical differences, Dad probably doesn't have complaints about his son's job description either.

* Louis Osbourne plays the Deep Hard and Funky Party, St James, Auckland, Friday.