Icons: Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath

[Music] a lot of my family relations played instruments drums and piano and a lot of accordions really being Italian my father played accordion and harmonica not that much you know but he did they were always - you know they were very poor and most of time that working you know so I didn't really hear my dad playing much very rare really he'd pick up their accordion and playing but that was my basically my first instrument because being in the family I started to learn to play it first of all I wanted to be a drummer but they wouldn't let me have drums because the house wasn't big enough for a start it was too noisy so I got it listening to different music I got attracted to the guitar well it was more rock and roll than I used to listen to because that was on the radio and it is sort of B I can't remember what the first one was really sort of B Chuck Berry stuff or Buddy Holly or somebody like that it was difficult early because there was a lot of gangs and stuff around where we lived so if you weren't in a gang it was a bit difficult you know and I didn't want to particularly be in a gang so then the music side of it sort of really helped me get away from that it was a tough city - it's a you know equivalent to Detroit I suppose you know with all the manufacturing cars and stuff what really appealed to me later was the instrumental stuff by the shadows they were probably the biggest instrumental band in England at the time Cliff Richard was a singer and then they used to back him but they also did instrumentals which for me was great because I could try and learn the instrumentals it was something to learn I saw I used to listen write for the radio and they did the top 20 countdown and wait till they come on and tape it tape them and then trying to learn to play and my mother bought it for me out of a catalogue it was a watkins it was called a watkins rapier I think it was it you know a very cheap one really it was that was my first guitar and in England anyway at that time for me it was difficult to get any kind of guitar because being left and you know there just didn't mean never seen them you never seen any kind of left-handed guitars of any quality yeah I was in a factory and it's lazy enough it was there I'd given my notice in to leave because I was going to turn professional with a band go to Europe so I'd order to me they spend they're like me and I was about to get ready to go away which would have been the first time for me you know and I was really excited about it I went to work on the the morning and and I said he weld in electric welding and gas welding in the factory and the one day this person didn't come in who used to send me the metal down and odd welding and they said you've got to go on the Machine yourself because there's nobody else to do it a heart God so they put me on this big huge joint Gillan team press so I was I'm pushing the the metal through into the press the machine came down on me on my hand and and the action of pulling man back quick up all the ends of the fingers off I mean that was it then from they are thought oh god I just couldn't believe it you know the last day and before that I went home for lunch and I said to my mother I'm not gonna go in this afternoon because you know it you go back and you finish off the job properly so God knows I went back and that's what happened so I blamed her then I can't remember an exact time but it was I I did while they were bandages when I was trying to blow me two fingers and it seemed like forever you know and I went to see various specialists and they said you might as well pack up you're never going to be out of ply which was really depressing well I wouldn't accept that I I went back and I started to make my own tips it was trial and error so over a period it took a while you know I was trying different things that work what I could use and now it's keep them on me fingers and I made something out of plastic and it would just slip off so I thought could come up with a putting a material on so he did a grip the stringer and wouldn't rip it and I used leather at the end I try different things and leather worked the best I'll still have to have to change you you know if we're on tour I'd have to change you once a month but the firm where I worked the manager of the firm come around to my house to see how I was and I was really depressed and he said I bought you an EP Graham will you play it I mean oh no sir I don't want to listen to music now I was really depressed the last thing I wanted to do was listen to a guitar player Django Reinhardt he said no he said put it on and it's interesting the story and when I was first introduced and listening to his stuff I couldn't believe it because I liked bluesy stuff and then ingests and when I heard his gypsy jazz was really brilliant and especially having the loss the use of two fingers it was just amazing I could relate to that after me doing the same sort of thing you know damaging two fingers and it really inspired me to get to learn to play more boy you know the use of by doing something with my fingers so I made these sort of tips for them and so I could play it's a different thing altogether starting from scratch and let them worse because you haven't got all this but especially after being able to play chords properly before or not suddenly I'm there faced with not being able to play a full chord because of my fingers and that's I think what made me sort of come up with the sort of Black Sabbath thing the sound because it's trying to make the sound bigger to fill in for the for the full chords that I couldn't play anymore the first experience familiy was a plane in in a pub in England with the two guys that was probably twice my age and one on a piano and another drummer and they asked me for comment and I wasn't old enough really to be in the publish shouldn't have been in there at that time so that was sort of the first time I'd ever played in front of anybody I only done the one thing with them I said will you do next week essentially no you sort of build up to that room I think yeah because we used to play in the early day it's not just small bars and clubs and and probably you'd be playing and nobody'd be taking any notice of you anyway they'll be drinking away and then fighting you know as always we always ended up playing places where they always broke out into a fight so we'd be sitting there playing and somebody'd be punching out of each other so now I don't really look on that as being on stage that was that was a bit of a like it is yeah you'd be on the same level with him playing her well it was a it was a band that I joined and they don't sort of rock and roll stuff and whatnot so that was that wasn't too long really oh I wasn't played with them for a bit and they were good at that time you know yeah if you want to walk on stage in a gold soups the gold law my suit it was it was fabulous I didn't particularly want to wear that I mean they were good for that time and for me it was going to be a good experience because I've never been out of England so it was a great opportunity to sort of you know step forward a bit and pack my job up and so that was it I tried to develop more of a sound they were more or less just before Sabbath really I was in a band with Bill Ward called mythology we were doing sort of Blues stuff and so that gave me an opportunity to fiddle and try and get a bit more of a roar interior sound and it sort of come from around that period really the Rangemaster I will tell you that story last night I had it and then I was playing in a in a club in up towards Scotland and I lived up there for a war with this band with Bill Ward and we are playing away and this guy came up to him and he said I can make that sound better for you if you like I went can you he said yeah and I don't know why I was so trusted I mean how great he said I'll bring you back tomorrow I said okay so I gave it him and off he win and I never thought for a minute I bring you back but he did he brought it back the next day and it modified it or next day and I don't know what he'd done to it but it was it was great never this day I've been able to get that sort of same thing he'd put different components in it and and it worked really good he'd give me the sustain I used that right up and so probably the third fourth know up and so yeah up until when we are dear so the eighties I had a couple of guitars before that I had a burns try sonic which I didn't like but the only thing we could have forward then I wanted to stress really and so I had the strat and I played that knob I worked on it myself and got it - oh it feels right for me because of you know you can't take you to a shop so when he did some play right for me oh what's wrong with it and in trying to explain it so I tried to do it all myself and I could do it and then try it and so all now don't like that and fiddle about with him so really I had that the Stratton saw the first album when we went to record that I'd bought an SG prior to that by and now I got that was I had a an SG that was right-handed and I played it upside down I changed the strings around and played it upside down and I heard of another guy in Birmingham who've got a left-handed guitar and he played it upside down so from God so I tried to contact him I don't even know how I found out about him but somebody obviously told me so I arranged to meet him in a car park in Birmingham and and he brought his guitar I brought my own and we ended up swapping so I had then at a left-handed guitar and I did in the studio and with him the first album but I was using this track cuz I was used to that and I'd never actually use the SG more than a few minutes we got into doing the first track on Black Sabbath album wicked world and then we guitar started playing up a road and suddenly it went off and I know the pickup went pickup had gone wrong oh my god and the producers going well you have to use here the guitar because we can't didn't have the song we were we only had it for a day the studio to record the album so I used the Gibson and ever since that I never looked back I loved it and played that that became the guitar that was on all all the albums up until you know 1980s J Rangemaster and Laney amplifiers are used I had Marshall the first thing I went to Laney amplifiers and used them because they were from Birmingham so we had a thing going they were from Birmingham we were from Birmingham and and so they supplied us with all the amps it was great I mean I'm not saying when we went on to I had a lot of problems because I had the treble booster and more especially when we came to the states because we were doing shows like big shows and and some of the ice creams and stuff of course the machines that had effect go through the treble booster it started picking up muddy taxis and when we done the spectrum in Philadelphia it was a rendus the san hardly could hardly hear the sound above the buzzing so you know it did have his problems but when it was good it was brilliant and it was a great combination with the SG it sort of worked out really well as he used to be at this same school as me he was in a year younger than me we never really associated at school because you know that you did always sort of knock about with a couple of your own friends at the same yeah so he was it was in a different year so we never sort of associated with him and when I was in a band with Bill Ward up in Carlisle when we with mythology when we broke up we came back to Birmingham and we decided that we'd you know we wanted to stick together and form a band and one day somebody well actually we went into the music shop in Birmingham and there was an advert saying Ozzy Zig requires big and I said to Bill I know an Aussie but it can't be him he can't sing hard didn't even think he could sing or anything you know I'd never heard him so anyway sure enough we go around to his house where they follow the advert and knocked on the door his mum came to the door and we said we've come about the advert and she said well John it's for you so he come up and I'm seeing him walk up the hall I said to Bill forget it forget it and even why was I tell you though that tell you know so anyway we talked to him for a bit and then we went we left and never made any decisions or anything and then two days later as he came round to my house because I lived not that far from from where he lived could we all lived in the same sort of area so he came around me geezer to my to my house and we had a shot my mother and brother at a shop at that point and so they came around and said do you know any dramas God say well yeah bill was a drum and bill said I'm not doing anything he said or unless we all go together I said we're sticking together so we decided to to get together and give it a go and what a rally was I mean it was absolutely horrible because when Bill the band we were playing before we really got sort of tight and you know used to everybody with me we've got sick got we'd gazer and Ozzie Gaines has never played the bass before it was a guitar player really and it was a shamble but it's amazing how we're stuck with you and it came together really quick you know but we're doing we started getting these gigs from an agent that bill and myself knew up in tour Scotland and I'd be on the phone saying and she's going you do play you do played a top-20 stuff day oh yeah yeah we playing top 200 we didn't which was all 12 bar blues stuff and she went okay I'll give you a go then you can come up do it two three days up here and you know we went up and we died a death it was sorry some guy came up came up to the turn is he standing here and the guy went yeah singers crap and as he went it was it was so funny you know but that was all part of learning really and it made us work together and work harder so it's you know it became into we were virtually living with each other all the time and it developed into what it did well we've done a gig with Jethro Tull we supported them and it was the night where Mick Abraham had been fired and they were passing notes on stage to each other you know and he was passive on back in her heart God we didn't know what was going on with me I was passing notes to each other it's obvious bubbly abuse you know yeah so anyway after that they had played they asked me for being trusty in joining them I mean what you know bit of a shock really I uh I don't know I saw I've got to talk to up to my abandon and tell them really so I told the rest of the guys I said you know they've asked me to join them you know they were you should go for you I mean oh thanks so I did I mean they supported me that way you know and so I did and I went got in touch with them and Jethro Tull and management and then turned up to play and there was like 50 other guitar players there when I walked in a room like this and I thought oh no and so uh dad yell they were all listening all these guitar player so I turned and walked out now and one of the crew from ten years after saw me walking out and he come and grab me said don't go don't go they really want to is he'd go and sit in the cafe across the road because I said I'm not going to sit in it I don't want to sit in here you know I said I said didn't think all these people were going to be here and there was some well-known guitar players as well there so I went I sat in a cafe across the road and then everybody done their bit and gone and then they come and fetch me and I played for him and and they said you've got the job if you want it so but I did and I felt really bad there for for a band you know so when I did actually go to London for the rehearsals I took geezer with me so he came and he be he'd be sitting at the back of the room while we rehearse and I felt oh this is terrible I realized after a while it wasn't for me really because they they were different where we were all together and better laughs and fun it was different for them it was we went we went for a lunch break because everything was be there at nine o'clock in the morning and then lunch it mid day and it came to lunch time when we went to this cafe and i mediate his girlfriend lock what we would all sit together and I I the other three were on the over this table in Ian's was on this table so oh I'm going to start with in and they're going know what's the matter with them and afterwards I said what's wrong I said well now he shouldn't sit within he doesn't like people sitting with him you know we you know you got to sit with us with the band Oh God it just seemed really strange and I just thought it wasn't for me that sort of attitude you got to be as a band so I said to hit up it's not for me I'm going to leave and he said well just give it a bit long I said now it's really not the sort of thing that I thought it would be and he asked if I do the Rolling Stones movie with them and I said yeah I'd do that because they couldn't find anybody else that quick so I did that and then after that I got gone but he was he was it was good experience for me it taught me a hell of a lot because I see now they worked they were nine o'clock rehearsal lunch break back in again rehearse I mean it's like going to work really but they took it as far as that was what they did to discipline so of course when we got back together I got off with firmly others up and so let's get back together so we did and it was me and right I'll pick you up at nine o'clock in the morning and then we go to rehearsal we use the same anyway it worked you know it's bit a bit difficult because please never used to get up till about 11:00 anyway and I was the only one that could drive so it was May that I think I pick everybody up for to rehearse but it works and and and because of the I'd had that experience of being with them and and and learnt even that short time what it was like and and doing the movie with them was good because I met everybody you know of John Lennon and Eric Clapton and who everybody was anybody at that time were in the film and the stones of course so he just gave me a really idea of how things you know could be it went from the 12-bar stuff to we started writing a heroine we wrote a couple of songs we wrote wicked world and and Black Sabbath was the it was the first two and after that we knew soon as they're done blacks ever thought that was the knew exactly where we were going that's where we wanted to be doing around music and that was the vibe we won t that sort of the benchmark of all the rest of the stuff really we were still playing blues clubs but we played at this Blues Club and we've done a few blues songs and then we went into Black Sabbath you know and everybody's faces and we thought we thought we tried and they came up afterwards been what was that song you played there you know we we really liked him we know oh that's that's one of our own songs you know oh all proud of it we felt in ourselves that's where we wanted to be what we wanted to do and he just went from there really we had two days and one day was for a record in a sex note secondary was a mixie which we weren't involved in incidentally we we were there for the recording and we we had to go to leave to get the boat to go to Europe because we've got some shows we got sort of we were playing in this place for like three weeks you know in a bar there in Switzerland and then we go off to Germany and play at the star club for and in that time the album would come out and and we're coming back on the on the boat and we're me we're driving from from London then back home in the top the top 20 came on and they announced our album in the top 20 and we couldn't believe it it was just up Wow for us it was good but it was it was we had to break a lot of barriers you know because it was something that wasn't about at that time this sort of nobody was doing the same sort of thing because you had Led Zeppelin and deeper which were different you know even Pro though Zeppelin you know were friends of ours but it was a different sort of music early so when we came onto particularly here we came here when we took when we had paranoid out and that course went fed up in the charts so a touring for us and nobody really knew who we were but when we came and people were frightened because of the name and and the image that's been built up it sort of created obviously a lot of problems with the church and and Satanists and bloody witches and God knows where Alfred opened the floodgate for everybody you know which was hard because it you know it is quite you're vulnerable or Nicky come out and and we had you know which he's coming to this show so-called which isn't and then that I had to go outside there's everybody banner saying that we're Satanists and devil worship person and of course the church there's a lot of stuff we had to go through as a band but I think all those things made it made to stick together more and also caused more interest because it being the press all the time that were you know we're trying to be banned from this place or that place because there's an interest from the from the audience point of view all wonder what I like then you know we'll listen so it went well after it you know after once we got through all that very first time we ever came here it was we were so excited about coming and we were so green we didn't know what what to expect or what to do so we had our own PA system and and of course our PA went onto the plane with no kerosene or anything we didn't know anything about that it went on the plane with a plastic cover on the amps went on with plastic covers our when we got to know your air we are watching them come down the Thames of course we got to the first place we were playing that which was a place called an ganas Club in New York and it was a really tiny place and a bit of a dump really and that was our first experience of plane in New York when do you see it and it was and the racket the roadie we had at that time who worked with us we didn't pay him but he worked with us we never even thought about the power difference out there you know from England to America they plug the amps in and I blew up no it was absolute chaos it really was but we had somebody come and do him and we played two nights of this and Ghana's club and then the next no I was the third time we played in New York was the Fillmore and God that's when it started with bladdy oh it's great and our pay I look really Nath that we brought our in comparison to the stuff they got there and we'd never used a monitor system up until then as we never you know when we couldn't afford him we never we never had one well never heard of them and monitor system and then when we got to the Fillmore and there got monitors and everything it was it was brilliant and we were doing a gift we were playing with Rod Stewart's funny combination now but and it went down really great and that sort of was the start of it really that's what's back to your question where what was it like all your coming we were to say they the audience and that's when we first realized blimey this is just they see what we wanted this is fantastic I got back from a career in America I got a film Erica and I've done an interview with them at my home with melody make him they said there are you know you're playing heavy metal heavy metal what's that you know that's what you're playing on it now we're heavy rock even now you know you're heavy metal I said well we call it every rock do you call it every metal would call it what you like but we have every rock and I wouldn't accept heavy metal thing for four years and you know of course eventually you had to because it probably was you know that's what people describe the music as well it was a bit of each I think because the first obviously because of the music because of Black Sabbath and the sort of songs we were doing the first album cover was a woman on the front with a black cloak on and inside the cover was an inverted cross so that sort of as you can imagine opened a complete can of worms in 1969 so that was basically a bit of the record you know a lot of the record company because of the imagery they put out because nobody really had seen us and they're seeing the album cover on me and then course that that see us and because what we played there it was scary music to them which was really what we were trying to create because in those days geezer myself used to go and watch a lot of horror movies and we loved them midnight horror movie you know and it'd be great to do music like you know to have a music like this horror create the same vibe as a horror film would do that then and that was sort of the what we did I had a couple of ideas like war pigs III did that when we were at night when we doing live shows when we were in Germany really well Switzerland plane I'd try an extra because we had to do 745 minutes pots a day we hadn't got enough songs I mean you know we were we couldn't do one if one spot we had enough enough songs to do one spot but we were doing seven 45 minutes so we had to try and avoid something so we we'd have one we tried one bit with a drum solo for nearly one of the thing which didn't go down well at all they told us to stop and then we just tried jamming and it was where a lot of this block in I became up and and war pigs because I start playing these things you know making him up you know in a solo and it became regular odd remember the riff and start playing it and so after the the two men we went into the studio to do paranoid those were the ones that we targeted straight away you know more pigs and fairies were boots and stuff like that so we thought about some of the riffs and other ones were put together when when were in the studio or into rehearsal the first three albums were done by the same producer Roger Bain so it wasn't that bad then it was after that we hadn't used a producer for a while we'd used Roger by not at all masters of reality and then we did Sabbath bloody Sabbath ourselves and and a couple of the others but you'd always when we did start using a little producer again was later when that was when others do and then you started saying well you did the sounds a bit too distorted and the base is distorted yes and no but that's the sound it's the combination of the two I said don't separate them because you know they're a bit of separating and listening to all that's all distorted yeah so it was a bit of a bit of a challenge loyally and we didn't sort of habit so much obviously Roger bein knew what for a sound we had and they just captured the same we had but when it came to Sabbath bloody Sabbath it was you had to then because we did it ourselves you have to then impregnate the bloody the engineer said well this is our sound before we go any further this is what what it is don't separate stuff this is what you've got to listen to it as a whole because if you listen to it individually it's you know you it's just not right it's all ragged and everything but that was part of the sound and eventually once they got that we use the same engineer then for a few albums so we knew what what we were looking for which is you know better really for us I mean we liked it that way as opposed to put in there I'd never work with a click track until later you know lot late in the 80s masters of reality album was was tuned down and it was again I used to experiment a lot with different things different unions different ways of trying to get the same bigger and so I to him down and he just sounded really heavy you know when we're done into the void and stuff like that he and and children of the gravy just give it a lot more clout really just any bigger version so we tuned around and it sort of worked and then of course you had the thing of people trying to learn them going what what keys healing we can't figure out what K that's in of course but it's still Coolio it's in a no it's done sounded me now it's night in the music and Sabbath music we tried to create a lot of light and shade we he dropped down and build it up and drop down and I just thought doing something acoustically would give it a break instead of it all been true all the way through to put an acoustic thing in and I still like experimenting uh say I experimented using a the London choir on one of the tracks and and the rest of the band never know so they come into I'd have this choir in the studio and I remember Artie coming down the studio and he didn't know if they were gonna be in and he walked in oh I'm in the control room I seen him walking and he's gone and walked out and he come back about ten minutes later in again because he thought you did he ought he come in the room studio I said now now so we're just putting a thing down to see if it buddy likes it and we had the heart player from the Philharmonic Orchestra and it come out really when we're done his track called super czar and I like to do that like to do something a bit different and then it makes the other stuff when he comes in loud or something big it makes it a bit sort of stand up event he said have it all been on one level I think Sabbath stuffs been about that I've always wanted to have you got the riff and then you might go down to a nice power quiet part and then changed either change key or change into a different sort of riff to keep it a bit more sort of happening as opposed to just plodding on with the same riff or Van Halen - with us for eight or nine months great they they really I still have ready mostly I mean Eddie is one of my best friends now he starts to you know still stay in touch but he used to come in my room and that pick your brains you know that sort of asked my what's the slot what's that liking and for them it was learning more more information because we were like whole wood on the Block Lee and by that point said am anyway it was it was good it was enjoyable but then it got a bit too much because they started sound their show or that they were going on first and it was they were gradually learning things from us and doing the same doing the same sort of arrangement you know in the in their show that have a drum solo and this and that and the other as the months went on the drum riser got bigger like bills did and more more stuff and I got really annoyed one night I said hey Eddie you're gonna play a couple of songs off her new album tomorrow he went hey man oh you know we love you guys and we were and it got our fly that you know but it was just bitter sarcasm now it was great it was great having him there great pandas real great good and he was to me not listening to his plane really different he come up with something different the way he plays and it was a great storm on and a great band kiss on the other hand well I don't know what happened there because we didn't really get on with him and I remember seeing the sign outside Black Sabbath in kiss and so we who's on there is on this yep those letters they stick on and we found a pay and took the Chi off and put piss on it so it's I it was it was one of those and we used to see him at the airport and we never knew there were because they'd all have always have the makeup on we couldn't tell if that was the crew or the band because they'd all gone spy everybody got spots and you're so looking at the band so for a while it was a bit bit funny but you know as time went on we got so it got well got okay the painting gold one was when we were in Los Angeles and we're recording volume for think II was vying for and we rented a house in in bel-air if John du Pont who was the famous DuPont products in the paints and lighters and all that rubbish and so we rented his house and it was a lovely go ball room and everything and the idea was we were going to write the album there so we had all the gear set up in one of the by the pool and this room by the swimming pool and we'd go rummaging around the they garage and there's all these paints in there and spray paints and lacquers and God knows what else oh great and so one night Bill Ward he got absolutely pissed as a parrot I mean it was so he drunk so he got back to their to their house and he couldn't get up so he's got his clothes off and his life and for some silly reason we had an idea to explain him gold we got these clear spray campaigns and spade in gold and everywhere and then got this lacquer and lacquered him clear lacquer and it was it was laughing at first then he got really violently sick you know God was somewhat something you know and he would bloody how so I have to phone no I'm on one and I said worry that's its emergency can can we have an ambulance and that's what what what's wrong with him well it's painted gold I mean though it was wood painted him gold and he's sewing up and of course they came out and they just ripped us apart you idiots you know you could have killed who killed him and they gave him a big injection of to perk him up they said you're going to get that get you going to remove this straightaway so we were initially in the garage again and got this paint stripper comes back starts rubbing this paint stripper on him and of course he went all red in it was like a beetroot it was Jay was just mad really really stupid I mean you never thought of the consequences really they could have died you know and the same way setting him on fire we came a bit of a joke at first we done this party piece where bill would me and Bill had a thing and if you know the studio alcohol stuff that you can put on a burn it and it just burns off nothing we've got this producer Mark Martin birch and he came in the studio and he was a bit frightened of us you know cause he doing the reputation of Sabbath and everything bill walked I said bill cannot set fire to every win not just now I'm busy I mean okay then and he went out into the control room and fiddling into the drum room feeling about bees drama did he come back you mean okay I'm ready now do you understand me on fire when okay Martin versus going what the hell was going on so I've got these two bottles of rubbing alcohol and poured on I'm bill and of course it's soaked into his clothes and I lit him in it went up like a bomb wolf like this and I could I put too much on instead of it just burn enough it didn't he burnt through his charities and burnt all his legs and so he had to go to hospital he had third-degree burns it was just it's rolling on the floor and I'm I thought it was part of the joke and I'm still pouring stuff on him oh it's absolutely mad you know it's lucky we got away with it really and of course then I felt so bad for Bill because he got these burns down his leg and his mother family up oh god she did she ever go up me you barmy bastard bill might have to have his leg off I mean what I don't know what he told her he must have told her he might have to have his leg off so that was that party piece out the window as well we didn't do that again after volume 4 we went back to that house again to to do we rented the same house again John du Pont and went back to the house to record to do which turned out to be Sabbath bloody Sabbath but we got there and the studio we were using the record plant Stevie Wonder had built a bloody joint Moog in there so we couldn't use that we couldn't go to that one so he all went a bit pear-shaped early and to top it all I couldn't think of anything because it was always mayor come up with the initial stuff and then had to go I like that and then we'd make it into it you know some I just for some reason I couldn't think of anything and I got really more nervous and worried about it and first he got uh and so we decided that's it let's we got to leave it and let's go back to England have a break and then try it again so we went back and had a break for a couple of weeks and then we rented a castle in Wales called clear well castle and we set the gear up in the dungeons there has a bit of vibe you know so I get a bit of vibe there and the first thing I came up with was Sabbath bloody Sabbath and and again that was the benchmark for that album with so we done that and I could it was working again but it was frightening at first when I had that and geezer come up with the titles he came up with all these strange titles and things because he was the clever one in the band roadie you know you know they read all the the books and everything and so it was it was mainly him really they put names down and that's good I don't know a technical ecstasy was the first album we brought in it we had a keyboard player there Jeff Woodruff who went on to work with Rob the plant later I wanted somebody I could work with you know to swap ideas and and just support mainly for one a place I mean you got somebody there then jesuis you know good ones who have fit when I play the chords well I play try things out and so technical Exeter was born with him involved in it early and yet it was a bit different to the other stuff but there was some good songs on an album I think and from from that was things started falling apart a bit after that if I never say die great talk to having it and then you break up as he went and then he came back and it was all a bit chaotic and we had another singer come in like a couple of songs with him a guy from survive Brown okay he was in Fleetwood Mac we wrote a couple of songs with him any it just went weren't righted he was singing idiot just didn't sound like for us and as he came back which was great but he came back two days before we do to go - bloody record the album which we did now because he couldn't he couldn't use any of them songs that we've done with somebody else it had to be I was healing for so Billy ended up singing one of them swinging the chain and it was really hard we went to Toronto I booked the studio we went to Toronto because it was a tax thing as well getting out of the country and just a trip then I was want to always have to do booked the studio you know they look to me to do that where we gonna go and all the rest of the stuff so off we go to the studio in Toronto with no music and we rented a cinema it was freezing cold absolutely froze stiff we had to be there at 9 o'clock in the morning to start writing the a you know a track to record on the night so it was really difficult really hard so that album was put together sort of like that really it was quite a difficult time and after the problems we had with with oz he leaving and coming back and it sort of set a funny vibe I think and then of course after that we done that - they never say die - and then that was it that was the one Van Halen went on that's something I've always I have to say things through I can't just leave it and I'm a great believer of that of following through and believing in what you do and and it was a big challenge for us too as well to bring somebody else in to replace Ozzy and it was at the time where to be honest I was I was I got a nappy and I was I was going to I was thinking of moving myself and doing another project and that's how I met Ronnie I met him at a party Sharon I was his wife introduced me to him we talked about doing something together you know doing an album together not a Sabbath just now and then it has it up Missouri with Oz he go in first one eye contact it was Ronnie and I do want to come for an audition with the banner spoke to the battens I said you yell it's just it's time here we got him over and and it worked his worth ethics with were great he was very professional it was great for me to sit down and write with because we had a good thing going it was good it was all working him we could actually write new stuff and a slightly different direction to what we've been doing because whereas with us we'd a lot of this stuff was rift based which we liked and I was it's in maybe like I'm only sing the riff but when we had Ronnie Ronnie wasn't used to singing over riffs like that he did sing across them and used to singing on maybe chords as opposed to riffs but we it was a amalgamation of the two of them let's try this let's try that a nice voice was I mean no two ways about fantastic he goes you can't believe you come out of that little buddy you know such a big voice and it was so good but then we have to prove to everybody else we have to start again we see in some ways it was good because it made us work again made us get out and try and prove it again and eventually we did we had heaven and hell and that came out now that started doing well and the shows were getting bigger and bigger and bigger and often up and running again and that went for a while and then we then we broke up over a bloody live album we had a few comments about we know we disagreed on things Kaizer myself we're told that ronnie was going in the studio altering things when we'd left which I you know I was probably totally rubbish but that's what we were told anyway it came to a bit of a collision and he went so then I found David Coverdale up and he just he said our goddess I've just got this band together Whitesnake hah he said why didn't you phone me before so because he hadn't left before it's happening now so that's that was a thing so there was a lot looking for another singer and we were audition various singers including Michael Bolton believe it or not was one of them which was a odd one it just went on a bit and it sort of we couldn't decide and eventually it came to Ian Gillan and when we had we had him we got together with Ian Gillan we had a meeting and Ian doesn't seem to remember the meeting that he got too drunk he couldn't remember what what happened so that was another story with him a lot that was great we had a great time again it was good it's a challenge again so you know it's somebody else singing and somebody different and it sort of gets you into a different vibe and we wanted to make it sort of really a heavy sort of album but we worked at different hours because Ian would tend to stay up all night and we wouldn't so maybe up drinking his scotch in the kitchen and we'd go to bed and come get up in the morning he's still there but he'd been to bed and early shave anything go but he's doing the crossword how can you do that drink a bottle of scotch and go to bed and get we go to bed first and get up and he and he's up he's bid to bed and got up again but he'd go in the studio and work he'd used to work in the morning and then we'd go and have a list of what he'd done and now he was it was it was different I think we're doing this up on the star then the album me and Glen use and this idea camera doing Live Aid and getting back together and so we all met up in Philadelphia which supposed to be a rehearsal where which didn't we didn't rehearse much we ended up talking most of the time you know could be in seen each other for a while and done that show and then we're gone there was all rumors about we're going to get back together again which we never did and that was it really and so all we did get back together properly it was but unfortunately it was it was sort of demonize it was sort of the wrong time within the business of that on the music had sort of moved on a bit other bands and you know you got the sort of bands out Nirvana and God knows would ask but yeah we did that we toured with him do you mean know him I think we broke up because ours he was doing these farewell gig to fell whereas the felt farewell gig and we were they asked us to pilot and and we asked we said to Ronnie Ronnie when I'm not doing it and we said well we're going to do it because it you know it's Aziz we'd like to do it he said well I'm not going I'm not going to sing and we felt bad about it but we sort of agreed to do it so then we had a try and find a singer is gonna sing it we thought - Toni Marty knew Aden you know who didn't call a few albums with him and then Rob alfredito said he'd like to do it so we've done it we rub we rehearsed with him and and done those shows of him yeah it was great it was good I wanted to do something a bit different than a solo album and I had Bob Marley involved to produce it he what never worked with before we're instantly I met him through Rob Halford because he had used him on his album Rob's good always great so we ended up sort of using him and it was good he was good to work with and and now he's trying to find sing us it was going to sing on it and we had a whole list of singers and one big up I did Mike Eminem was going to sing on it and I didn't know Eminem was and they said this Eminem wants to sing honey when it was Eminem I had no idea who he was it was quite embarrassing really and so who didn't we didn't have him and we had Kid Rock time and he done a couple of things and we never used that and then we had a list of other people who came and did it but it was good it was good fun it was good to do wanted to do something a bit different from a with them what I've done Billy Corgan was a good good - it was nice to work with other people you know everyone never would never they will offer them you know nice to work with him and and see how they worked as well but on their album year Dave Grohl and Ozzy Billy Corgan Billy Idol skin it was in a bank or Skunk Anansie it was really good Peter Steele oh yeah finish Elmo and from the cult Ian and Ian Astbury well I've done a lot of the structure and they'd they'd ever listen to it and you know and come up with ideas to sing on it so I've more or less done that we've done the sort of the groundwork on it and recorded it and any they come along with Billy Corgan we worked that out from scratch in the studio and we played it live there and then you know and recorded it but the others of course you had to give him an idea what you what you what it was like and extend them or or get all of that come and come and listen to the track a couple of times and get used to it and then go away and come back but now that everything was it was good he was good doing stuff like that and we hadn't realized violence was the first one and I it was ever so funny because we were doing it in Bob's house in his studio there at the end you know the producer studio and I sat there and lick a lot and n rewinds company and he wants to really wants to do it in the the room with us so he's singing anyway and he starts dancing about and I'm sort of like this going on and I try not to laugh and I just look really really funny his lovely guy really not got any really excited about doing stuff you know and that was great to see that enthusiasm in awe and the same as Dave Grohl it was so enthusiastic he drives you on and he said can i play drums as well I went well we've already got a drummer on it yeah but take him off and I'll play drums and the drummer was took off was drummer from Soundgarden Matt Cameron - blimey but Dave when it's a play dramas and he sang on him so yeah it was good he was a good driver Lee enjoy doing them believing in what we did I think you know we always have done and we always stuck together and that was our thing too to be together and I mean we did was we live together we we were always together you know in the early days always and that Bond's it makes it bond and you you it's you against the rest of the world you know all the people who don't like you it's you there you're there as a team that's sort of what made it work the belief in what we're doing and the thing to drive us on and we relied on each other for that now it was gave us really good to have the end of 50 year career same to be Lord was right but it didn't seem like the end if you know I mean he said well oh well we will probably get back together next year and do it again because you don't know you never know you never know what's going to happen and everybody exercise are you gonna get back together again and you can go know but you never know we might do an odd show or unlikely we will do any two or anything but you just you can never say never we've said that so many times over the years or we we're never going to get back together with do or whatever and we did and and same with ice not because of I just didn't think it was going to happen but the last show of that was yeah quite emotional really I've actually got this one in the bedroom I'll go in and put the news on and I'll sit down and play for a bit before I you know brush my teeth and all that stuff so I tend to sort of do play and sometimes in the day I'll play for a bit but lives taken a different course I mean area over the since we stopped because other things have come involved and I've been doing the forbidden album you know mixing that with Mike Exeter they engineer which was an old album we did and we wanted to remix it the plan will be out I want to go in and record some more I've got loads and loads of riffs then I want to put down and once Mike exited when I got out of this year and we've got time because he's obviously booked he'd been doing priest album and this and that in the other then we're gonna start putting some some stuff down more maybe more as for film music or something like that I don't know am i doing album I don't know yeah it's probably loads of things I haven't done but I you know I'm happy with what I have done [Music]

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Views: 1,279,588

Rating: 4.9641509 out of 5

Keywords: Gibson, Gibson Guitars, Tony Iommi, Black Sabbath, Tony Iommi SG Monkey, Gibson Custom Shop, Ronnie James Dio, Gibson Guitars Ozzy, Black Sabbath SG Demo, Tony Iommi Les Paul Demo, Gibson Guitars 2020, Tony Iommi 2020, Black Sabbath 2020, Black Sabbath Paranoid, Black Sabbath Volume 4, Black Sabbath Sabotage, Black Sabbath Never Say Die, Black Sabbath Heaven And Hell, Black Sabbath 50th Anniversary, Tony Iommi Gibson SG Monkey, Ozzy Osbourne 2020, Tony Iommi Gibson SG Demo

Id: LN2FYIhGwaA

Length: 56min 10sec (3370 seconds)

Published: Thu Feb 13 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/HalusN8er]

I had nothing to do with this video, but it was shot where I work.