In recent years, many groups or landmark lineups of prominent groups have reunited. But for fans of heavy metal, perhaps no reunion this year is more highly anticipated than that of guitarist Tony Iommi, bassist Geezer Butler, vocalist Ronnie James Dio and drummer Vinny Appice. Initially joining forces in 1979 when original frontman Ozzy Osbourne departed from Black Sabbath, the reinvigorated Dio-fronted lineup emerged with a fresh and exciting new sound which helped to reshape the group's direction, achieve great commercial success, and win over a new generation of fans.
In recognition of this legendary lineup, Rhino Records is releasing
Black Sabbath: The Dio Years - an anthology of the extraordinary music created during this chapter of Sabbath's history, which included four powerful albums: Heaven and Hell, The Mob Rules, Dehumanizer, and Live Evil. To make this collection even more special, the members collaborated on three newly written and recorded tracks: "The Devil Cried," "Shadow Of The Wind" and "Ear In The Wall." To trump this package, the group will embark on a world tour which will take them through Canada, the United States, South America, Europe, Australia and Japan. In effort to avoid confusion with the current Black Sabbath lineup which includes Osbourne and original drummer Bill Ward, this incarnation with Dio and Appice is touring with a new moniker, calling itself "
Heaven And Hell." Finally, those who never saw this supergroup perform will have the opportunity to do, and those who were fortunate enough to experience the group during that era will have a second chance to savor the magic live and a long-overdue disc to honor the fruits of this amazing lineup.
Many players like Tony Iommi, the undisputed godfather of heavy metal, would be content to rest on their laurels. Not Iommi. He's still fired up and eager to keep doing what he loves most - creating music and performing live. From his home in England, Iommi spoke about the soon-to-be released Sabbath anthology, and what it's like to be collaborating on new material with Dio, Butler and Appice, as well as planning a reunion tour after nearly 14 years apart. He brought us up to date on all of his current activities, including his UK radio show, television appearances, and plans for future endeavors.
Ultimate-Guitar: How did the idea come about to release the anthology and also to reunite for a tour? Was the anthology an idea that came about from the record company?
Tony Iommi: Yes, that was the record company's idea. But Geezer and I were talking when we had done the last Ozzfest. We were saying how it was be nice to go out and do a tour with Dio. It was just generally chat, but we talked about it a few times. Then I went to see Ronnie when came to England and played in Birmingham. I hadn't seen Ronnie for a while. I saw him in the afternoon before he went on and did the show, and then I went to the show. We really got on great, and that was just the first seed of it all. Then the record company [Rhino] had the idea of putting this album out, and we thought it would be nice to include some new tracks on it as opposed to just having it with all the old stuff. Ronnie and I got back together and wrote three songs for it, and that's basically how it all started. He came to England and we worked at my house. I've got a studio here. We started writing these songs and it flowed like it always had, and just felt really good. Things snowballed from there and we thought it would be great to do a tour. But first you have to see how you all get on and if everything is still the same. You just don't know. We hadn't played together with Vinny in a long time and it was great to see what could happen. Now here we are.
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| "I'm very pleased with what Ronnie's done and I think the tracks will fit in well with this album." |
What was the writing process like? Was it similar to the way you worked together previously?
These tracks were written much like we did before. Ronnie and myself sat down together and I played some riffs and he'd say, "Oh, I like that one." We'd work on it like that and add the parts, then build the parts up as we went on. So it's just the two of us, really. When we'd have sort of a finished idea, we'd bring the others in to have a listen and see what they thought, then record it. I really like the way things turned out. I think they're good songs. I think Ronnie's done a really great job on the vocals. I'm very pleased with what he's done and I think the tracks will fit in well with this album.
Is there any material that was left over from Heaven and Hell, The Mob Rules or Dehumanizer that was written and either never recorded or recorded and never released?
There were a couple of unfinished ideas that we had left over from before, but we didn't use those. We just started fresh to see what we were going to come up with. To be honest, the ideas really came quick. I think it was because of our excitement. When you really want to do something, you can make it work. And everything was flowing really well so we didn't need to go back to any of the old stuff.
Do you hope to record or tour with the members of Heaven and Hell in the future?
There's nothing planned at the moment, but it certainly could happen at any time, I suppose. We've shown here that it was great to write together again and very easy. Ronnie's great. We really exchange ideas quickly and at the end of the day we can come out with something that we really like.
How different is collaborating with Ronnie than with the incarnations of Black Sabbath featuring other members?
They're all sort of different in some ways. This lineup tends to be a lot tighter. Ronnie knows what he wants and that's the difference. We got on really great and we exchanged ideas very well. It just worked better doing it this way with just the two of us because we could have done it in a situation where everybody is in the same room and we'd play together. We've tried that before when we'd done the Dehumanizer album. But we've gone back to just the two of us in a room, which sort of worked out better because we can focus more. When you're all playing together and everybody's playing at once, you miss things. But when it's just two of you sitting there, you can really focus in on the details and it's just a lot easier.
What is most inspiring about collaborating with Ronnie?
He's got great ideas. As soon as we start and I'm playing something, he'll say whether he likes it. Then I'll play another bit and then he'll say something like "Why don't we change that ending?" So it works where we can share ideas. That's the inspiring part of it. Instead of just somebody sitting there looking at you and waiting for you to come up with everything, it's great because we bounce ideas off each other.
What differs when writing with Ronnie as compared to working with Ozzy?
It's a different way of writing because where Ozzy would sing a lot on riffs, with Ronnie we tend to do more where we do a riff and he'll sing a lot more on chords, as opposed to riffs. But it is very different with his voice as well. It gives you a chance to go somewhere else with the songs. With Ozzy, I sort of know what he's going to do, roughly, because I know him inside-out and I've worked with him for so many years. I know where he's going to go on songs. But with Ronnie, I don't always know. He'll go to places and I'll think "That's really good!" It's just a different way of writing for me and it just opens up a lot more ideas. I think it's given me a lot more scope for guitar work and playing solos. With Ozzy, we normally work a different way. The two of us have never actually sat down and put ideas together like this. We'll generally play in a room and jam out, and we work that way.
Do you change the way that you would set your tone for the material you create with Ronnie? Obviously, you have a very identifiable sound and style, but on albums like Heaven and Hell, there is more diversity in the tones and nuances. For example, on "Children Of The Sea" there is a much wider variety of tones used within the song than on much of the other Black Sabbath material created with Ozzy and other lineups.
Working with Ronnie opens up another side for me because there's that light and shade with the quieter, more airy stuff. So I can vary the tones a bit on the songs, but I've still got the main sound I typically use. We will be doing "Children Of The Sea" on this tour and then, of course, I'll use a chorus and turn down the volume a bit.
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| "It's not right to be listening to somebody telling people about what I was supposed to have done." |
As far as your live rig goes, will it be the same gear you typically use?
Yes, it be the same noisy rig with my Laney GH100TI amps and 4x12 cabinets, SGs, and the same stuff I've been using for a while. [Iommi's touring rig includes a Tycobrahe Parapedal wah, Dallas-Arbiter Rangemaster Treble Booster, Korg SDD-1000 digital delay, Boss REC-10 chorus, Korg DL-8000R multi-tap delay (used for chorus effect), Peavey Addverb III, Boss OC-2 Octave pedal or Digitech octave divider, Drawmer LX22 compressor, Digitech MEQ and Klark Teknik DN3600 programmable graphic EQs, Klark Teknik DN6000 audio spectrum analyzer, Rocktron Guitar Silencer, custom-built pedalboard by Pete Cornish]
I think it may have surprised people that Vinny Appice is playing on the new material and on this tour, not Bill Ward. But many people may not realize that Vinny had played on the majority of the material that you and Geezer originally did with Ronnie. Bill only played on the Heaven and Hell album while Vinny played on the others.
Vinny had played with us for the majority of the time we were together. We'd recorded Heaven and Hell with Bill, then we went out on tour, and halfway through the tour Bill had to leave. He wasn't feeling well. So then we brought in Vinny, and Vinny's played on the remainder of the Heaven and Hell tour. He did about half the tour, so he actually played on as much of it as Bill did. Then we did The Mob Rules and the Dehumanizer albums with Vinny. So we've done a lot of touring and recording with this lineup, so Vinny was probably more suited for this current lineup because Bill had never played most of these songs. He played all the material on the Heaven and Hell album, but he's never played ÒMob RulesÓ or any of the other tracks we did with Ronnie after that.
Bill is a totally different type of drummer.
Yes, he's totally different. Vinny's a lot different than Bill. Bill is great for the old classic Sabbath stuff, but certainly not for this sort of material. And Bill is the first to admit that.
What are you looking forward to most on this tour?
Getting out and playing, and being able to do a row of shows. On the Ozzfest, we'd do one show, then have a day off, then another show and a day off. Shows were canceled a lot on this last tour so then there were two or three days off. For me, it gets really boring. I don't mind having time off, but not as much as that.
Do you have plans to do another Iommi solo album in the future?
I would like to at some point, but trying to fit it in would be difficult at the moment. I've been so busy now. Everything has just gone berserk! But berserk in a good way. There are so many things that have come up now and I've been doing a lot of TV stuff as well. But the shows are here in England.
How is your radio show going?
I actually had to stop for now because I have no time to do it. But I shall do it again once I get some time. It does take a lot of time to prepare for it. There's just too much going on at the moment.
Do you enjoy doing the work as a radio host and working in broadcasting?
It's good fun and I enjoy doing that. I get a lot of emails and it keeps me in contact with people who are listening.
It's sort of a reality check in some ways, too.
Absolutely. And it sort of gets me into learning a bit more about the newer bands because it is a classic rock station, but I do occasionally play some newer stuff so it gets me a chance to check out some new bands and see what they're about.
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| "With Ozzy, we normally work a different way." |
Do you get a lot of positive feedback from people about the show?
Yes. And I get a lot of questions. I usually tell two stories per show of old stuff or just funny things. Once you start doing it, you realize there are a lot of stories there, but it's hard to try and remember everything now, remember what you've already talked about, and try to think of new stories for every week - and true stories, of course!
You'll have to write a book and include all of these great stories.
I am doing a book! Well, there's not much to tell yet because I only started about four months ago but that's going to take a lot of time because there's going to be a lot of stuff researched. It's a biography about how I grew up to do what I do now. The last thing I thought was that I was going to do a book, but I've seen so many of these books on Sabbath. There are so many that I've looked at that are not right and they have quotes from other people and many are very inaccurate.
Reading the story coming from the person who lived it is a lot different than someone else's account of what they may or may not have observed, but didn't necessarily experience themselves.
Exactly. That's how I look at it. It's not right to be listening to somebody telling people about what I was supposed to have done. It's better to hear it from me, exactly how it should be, instead of somebody's secondhand version of things. So that's the idea. Some of these books I've looked at, I don't read them all the way through. I put them down because I just get so pissed off with it. I'm reading quotes from various people who I don't even know and weren't even there at the time. There are people in some of these books who are talking about things that happened all these years ago and they're totally wrong. Totally wrong! So I'd rather that it come out true and tell people exactly what happened
I think it will do extremely well because people would certainly prefer to get the story straight from the source. And now you'll have a whole new chapter to write about with this reunion!
Yes, I will! We'll see what happens. I'm definitely looking forward to it!
Interview & Photos by Lisa Sharken
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