Tony Iommi has explained why his old friend Brian May appears on the Black Sabbath guitarist’s new solo album, and why longtime colleague Geezer Butler didn’t.
Iommi also discussed how he came to work with the musicians who make up the band as heard on From the Dark, which is released on Oct. 23.
Asked if he’d wanted bassist Butler to be part of the record, Iommi told Rolling Stone: “I wanted him… but he couldn’t do it. He’s doing his own album, I think. Or at the time, something happened there, so he couldn’t come to England.”
READ MORE: When Tony Iommi and Brian May Kept Jamming, So Black Sabbath Left
He said he decided not to wait for another opportunity because “I wanted to get it done and finally get it out.” He added of his bassist, Becky Baldwin: “Becky lives in Birmingham and she’s a really good player. And she’s certainly a fan of Geezer and she plays in Geezer’s style. And that’s what I wanted. … I thought, ‘Let’s give it a try.’ And she was good.”
Drummer Karl Brazil is also Robbie Williams’ drummer and musical director – but he and Iommi met by accident rather than though the industry.
“I’ve got a house by the beach,” the guitarist explained. “I was walking along the perimeter of the beach,and this guy come up to me and said, ‘Oh, Tony, hello.’ And I thought, ‘He’s just a fan’ [until] he said, ‘We’ve got a mutual friend. Mike Exeter is my engineer… Then Mike, my engineer, he said, ‘Oh, yeah, he’s a good drummer, Karl.’
“I used him on one of my instrumental tracks with the perfume thing I did. And then I thought it’d be nice to use him on the album… Also, he’s from Birmingham, which is really good because I wanted to try and keep it local.”
Singer Jorn Lande’s connection with Iommi and Sabbath stretches back to 2000. “When we’d done the Dio tribute after Ronnie passed away, we had Jorn come and sing a couple of songs with us at the tribute, and I really liked his voice,” Iommi said.
“So I thought, ‘Well, I’d like to use him.’ I liked his voice. I mean, you could go and pick some named people, but I’ve done that.”
Is Tony Iommi Happy with Black Sabbath’s Legacy?
The only “named” person on the album aside from Iommi himself is Queen guitarist May, who appears on the track “Death Wake.” Iommi noted: “We stay in touch all the time. He’s played onstage a couple of times with me, and then we’ve done a couple of album tracks we played on together. He’s a very, very close friend.”
He went on: “I did say to him, ‘Do you want to play on something else?’ He said, ‘No, no. Your solos are good. I don’t need to play.’ But it was great that he did [one]. I just played him a couple of things, and he [recorded] it here at the studio in my house. Then of course he’d play something and go, ‘Oh, I don’t know about it.’ I go, ‘I like it.’”
Asked if he was satisfied with Black Sabbath’s legacy, Iommi confirmed that he was. “I think it was a good thing to finish off when we did the Back to the Beginning one,” he reflected, “because all the bands who were fans of Sabbath came onto that show, which was just brilliant.
“And it was so nice of them to all put themselves out to come and play on the same show and no egos or anything. Everybody just got on with it and played. It was great for a final thing with Sabbath… as the original band and finish it off as it should.”
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Gallery Credit: Eduardo Rivadavia
