Tony Iommi once declared, "I am Black Sabbath. And Black Sabbath is me." For 30 years, Iommi has lived up to that statement and remained true to the sinister musical vision he conjured with original Sabb members Ozzy Osbourne, Geezer Butler, and Bill Ward back in 1969. He remained steadfast through good times and bad-through the firing of Ozzy and Sabbath's resurrection with Ronnie Dio; through the '83 Stonehenge set that was too massive to fit on most stages; through Glenn Hughes dropping out five dates into the "Seventh Star" tour; through the '85 reunion with Ozzy that didn't happen; through the '92 reunion with Ozzy that didn't happen; through playing in smaller and smaller clubs with the also amazing, yet underappreciated, Martin/Powell/Murray lineup; and finally through to the jackpot 2-year "Reunion" tour, which brought the seminal four back together at last.

During the '80s and '90s, Iommi was the only original member to appear on five Black Sabbath albums. He was the sole bearer of the cross during those years, the sole keeper of the Sabbath. Now, with his highly anticipated solo album "Iommi" set for imminent release on Ozzy's Divine Records label, Iommi will finally get a chance to step out from the shadow of Black Sabbath and spread his own black and leathery wings.

- How did you choose who would sing on your new album?

Tony Iommi (TI): I had a little list of three people at the time [of the reunion], which was Billy Corgan, Dave Grohl, and Phil Anselmo. I just thought they were interesting. I liked what they did in their own right. I thought it would be interesting to do some stuff with them. And from them three, the list sort of grew as it went on.

- Did you consider working with any other Sabbath alumni, such as Tony Martin or Glenn Hughes?

TI: No, I didn't actually for a very simple reason. I really wanted to get away from that Sabbath thing as such. To make it a different album. And I know Ozzy's on this album. But the reason Ozzy's on it is 'cause I didn't ask Ozzy to be on the album. He asked me. He says, "Ain't you going to ask me to be on the album?" I mean he's great, but I wanted to do something aside. But I'm really glad he done it. And Bill Ward's on that track as well.

- Who are the other players on the album?

TI: There's Matt Cameron [Soundgarden] on drums on three or four tracks. And also, Ben Shepherd from Soundgarden is playing on one of the tracks. There was Lawrence Cottle from England on some of the other tracks. He's a jazz player, a great player.


- Lawrence Cottle from "Headless Cross" days?

TI: He was! Absolutely! That's right. And I liked him on that [album] and thought it would be nice to try and use him again. And Billy Corgan's playing bass on one track. Brian May is playing added guitar on a couple of tracks. Ace from Skin's band Skunk Anansie is playing on her track. John Tempesta's playing drums on Skin's track.


- "Goodbye Lament" is the first song to get good airplay. How was working with Dave Grohl?

TI: Very good. I really liked it. He's a real nice guy. Energetic. He wanted to do everything. [He said,] "I've got to play drums." It turned out great. I found the whole thing very enjoyable.

- You let all the singers write their own lyrics?

TI: Oh absolutely. I think you've got to do that. They know how they want to sing it. I've noticed over the years with different singers there were certain words they can't pronounce properly. So they get a way around it [and] say a different word. It's quite funny, you know.

- Which singer was the hardest to coordinate schedules with?

TI: Quite honestly, Skin. I asked her to do it the years ago, and she says, "Yeah, I'd love to do it." But then I saw her a year later and we still hadn't done it. And I saw her at the [Grammy] awards, and I said, "You still want to this track?" She says, "Yeah, I really want to do it. But we better get the time to do it." Because I was working at that time as well then. She was on tour constantly. Then I went on tour. It was the same with much of the others. We just had to try and fit in wherever we could. And I managed to get together with her eventually in London. So we done it then. Same thing with Corgan. Corgan was constantly working. Dave Grohl too. I think I picked 'em at the wrong time, you know? They're all working. But it was great. Eventually, when we done it, it really worked out good.

- With this album, you were able to move away from the constraints of working within Black Sabbath. What were you able to do on this album that maybe you would have never considered doing in Sabbath?

TI: I think it's by using more sounds and more loops and stuff. And that side was brought from Bob Marlette, who produced the album. He brought that to me, and I liked the idea of it. It's different. I still approached the songs . . . they're riff-based. Like we done with Sabbath. With Sabbath when we wrote an album, we would rehearse, and go over it, and pull pieces out, put a new piece in, and then rehearse that. With this, it was more or less written and recorded at the same time. While we were in the studio. We'd put a riff down, and [then] we'd be recording the thing.

For me, it was certainly a different way of working. I liked it because it was instant. Like with Billy Corgan-that became an eight-minute song, and there's loads of different riffs in it. I'm standing in the studio amazed, [asking,] "What's the next riff?" Because when you get six minutes into the song and you play the wrong one, you gotta start over again. But it kept me on me toes. I could have changed [the songs] if I'd wanted to, but I liked the way they come out. I liked the spontaneity of it.

- The riff on the Henry Rollins track is a modern-sounding stop/start riff, which is different for you.

TI: Yes, it is quite different. That was actually from the first batch of songs I was writing. And some of the other stuff was really off the wall, and we scrapped that because it was a bit too far gone. Because we were trying to see what sort of thing we could do. When I say "we" I mean Bob Marlette [and I]. We were working at his house in the studio. And I tried just putting some musical things down. But it got too far away from where I wanted to go. And so we scrapped that. And then the Sabbath tour come up, and I had to shelve it for a while. Until I could start working with somebody.


- So you started working on this material even before the those first two Birmingham reunion shows in December '97?

TI: Oh yeah! Three and a half years ago I started working on this. And the only one we used from the first batch was the Henry Rollins track. And [Henry] liked that. I played him some of the other stuff and he said, "I really like this track! Can I sing that one?" So I said, "Yeah." He came to the Sabbath rehearsals in England. He just hung with us for three weeks. When we finished the [reunion] tour, we went to LA and recorded it all, and he put his vocals in.

- Could you talk about your current label situation? You've had your share of tyrannical record labels.

TI: Yes, I have.

- I'm thinking of the "Seventh Star" experience. ["Seventh Star" from 1986 was supposed to be Tony's first solo album. But, as the story goes, Warner Bros. insisted that it be released as a Sabbath album. So the album cover was changed to read "Black Sabbath featuring Tony Iommi."]

TI: Oh yeah! And actually with IRS as well. For me, that was very difficult. They weren't getting the albums in the stores. It wasn't what I expected it would be. Miles Copeland personally wanted to take it on. [He's] why I signed with them in the first place. Because all the other record companies that were interested wanted artistic involvement. I didn't want that. I wanted to do my own thing. Miles saw that. He said, "Look, you know how Black Sabbath stuff's got to be. You write it; I'll put it out." And I liked the way he approached that. Once I signed with them, Miles, as much as he wanted to be involved, wasn't. It went to somebody else-and it was somebody else who didn't like us. So it was difficult. [Sabbath released most of the Tony Martin albums during this period--"Headless Cross," "Tyr," Cross Purposes," and "Forbidden," as well as "Dehumanizer" with Dio]

- So you're albums weren't getting promoted properly?

TI: Yeah, I think so. In Europe funny enough, in the extreme. ["Headless Cross"] was the biggest album I ever had in Europe. Bigger than any of the other Sabbath albums.


- And now you're on Ozzy's and Sharon's Divine label. Are you getting better treatment?

TI: We'll see. The night is young.

- Will you be doing any shows in support of the new album?

TI: Yeah, we're talking at the moment of a few select shows. Maybe filming them or something. It's looking pretty good on that side. I'd love to actually tour, but I just wonder how you'd get all those people together in one room.

- Do you see yourself settling down with one singer the next time out?

TI: Possibly. I'll be taking that task on soon. I'm still waiting for this one to come out. We'll see what happens here. It's been so long in the making. It's gotten to the point where it's like, "Bloody hell! When's it coming out?"

- I appreciated the nod to the past with your track with Ozzy. You've even got the apocalyptic bells at the beginning and the laughing voice, which conjure the spirit of the original "Black Sabbath" song.

TI: Well, that's right. And originally when I done it, I wasn't expecting Ozzy to sing on it.

- What was the most satisfying Ozzy-era Black Sabbath album for you?

TI: It's hard because every album we done had a little story behind it. Something good you'd remember or something bad at that time. Different things you're going through. I remember, the "Sabotage" album was one. We were getting ripped all over place, and that was a terrible period for us because we were getting bloody lawsuits in the studio. People were delivering us writs and stuff. That why there's a song called "The Writ" on it. I enjoyed "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath." That was a good album for me. I enjoyed that.

- It's gratifying to see you and Ozzy working together again. I remember back in the '80s when you two were at war with each other in the press. What had to change before the reunion could happen?

TI: Time, I think. It had to have time to heal everything. And just for us all to venture on to our own things and realize what we had. We were really lucky to have what we had. And you don't realize it until you haven't got it.

It was great to get back together. We were all in the right frame of mind to appreciate what we got. It's taken the years to sit back and look at it and go, "Bloody hell! We're lucky we're able to get back together and be able to go out and play. And the greatest thing for me was to be able to walk on stage with the guys again and do shows, because we never thought that was gonna happen.

There was a controversy when Bill didn't play during the '97 Ozz Fest tour with you, Bill, and Geezer.

TI: I got a call from Ozzy and Sharon saying, "Would you fancy doing a couple of songs on stage?" I said, "Yeah. Why don't we invite Geezer as well?" That would be great, We'll just come up and play a few songs, ya know? But the reaction was just really good, and we ended up playing more than a couple of songs. So we thought, "The next time, let's get Bill." And that's what we did.

- And then the reunion came to a bit of a halt when Bill had his heart attack. How is he doing these days?

TI: He's as good as new now. He's actually better. It has done him better because it made him stop smoking and get himself together. He looks good now.

- Do you feel like you guys have closed the door on Sabbath for good?

TI: No, I don't really. You never know with this lineup. Things happen just like that, so I never would close the door on it. Unless we all drop dead, and then I would.

Interview by Doug Roemer (doomcapital@hotmail.com)