I’m directing y’all to a new interview I watched tonight for the first time. It was with Tony Iommi. Given there’s a new Black Sabbath album now in a couple of weeks, an interview with Tony is not a surprise. There’s bound to be a ton of them. But this one I wanted to draw special attention to. Why?
Because the guy doing the interview (Paul Cashmere of noise11.com) knows his shit. You can tell when people who don’t know or don’t care for Sabbath interview the guys. It’s the kind of interview where they ask Tony about his bloody (no pun intended) fingers yet again. So I was quite overjoyed to listen to this interview, and not only did Paul not ask stupid questions, he knows his shit. He asked Tony about the Forbidden album, the Seventh Star album, we namechecked the Dehumanizer album, Cozy Powell, Neil Murray, Tony Martin…. I was shocked and impressed, because the overwhelming majority of press knows Sabbath existed without Ozzy, but they have no clue it existed outside of Ozzy *AND* Dio.
So yes, I really enjoyed this interview. Not only the stuff above, but it covers the old Sabbath stuff with Ozzy, the new album, Bill Ward, and Tony’s refreshingly honest about what songs Ozzy just can’t do live anymore (the Sabbath Bloody Sabbath stuff).
I’ve embedded it below for you to watch. If it doesn’t work for any reason, check out this link over at their site. Again, kudos to Paul Cashmere for this one!
Great stuff! speaking of Martin, have you listened to the Silver Horses self-titled (November 2012) album yet, Joe? Martin sounds amazing! probably my fav post-Sabbath Martin album alongside the Cage series of albums.
Great interview, I like how candid iommi was. looking forward to seeing them on the tour! Already got my tickets!
Nice interview indeed! Would love to have heard maybe some subjects a little bit deeper, like the Bill Ward stuff or about the Seventh Star album but bottomline, very good interview
So, is there any truth to the comment Ozzy made about Bill simply not being able to hack it behind the drum kit? Bill Ward had always cited “contract disputes” as the reasons he dropped out. I assumed that meant money, but Ozzy seemed to imply that they wanted a second drummer on hand to play when Bill couldn’t handle it. Could that have been the detail in the contract that he was opposed to? I’m seriously curious about that.
I agree Joe. A great interview from a man who is clearly a real Sabbath fan.
Agree Joe, Great interview…Tony looks great, wish it could been longer. Can’t wait for new album!! Got my ticks for Tampa 7/29, great seats, PUMPED UP for the show!!
Yes I watched this interview a few days ago here in Oz. It was a good interview & it was nice to hear Iommi pay homage to Tony Martin & Cozy Powell. He only mentioned 2 albums Headless Cross, (a classic) & Forbidden (not so good an album)! Still, he says he likes some of the material from that era, as we all knew he still would. You cannot forget that material, some of my favourite Sabbath the Martin era stuff! Bravo!
It’s nice to see an interview that doesn’t ignore the other eras of the band for once.
Always a wonderful human-being,guitarist ,like fine wine, sounds better with age, Black Sabbath 4ever
gods not dead when tony iommi is still here best rif master ever.