THE FANSITE FOR TONY IOMMI FANS CELEBRATING HIS BRILLIANT 50 YEARS OF DEDICATION AND SERVICE TO MUSIC
British Honour to Tony Iommi
Tony Iommi: My health comes before Black Sabbath

Tony Iommi: My health comes before Black Sabbath

 

The shining star of this tour is, unquestionably, guitarist Tony Iommi. On "13", he performs like it’s the last album he’ll ever make—which is quite possible, given the grim reaper of lymphoma beckoning over his shoulder. Willamette Week spoke to the man who invented metal guitar about replacing Ward, his health and, of course, the sweet leaf.

On working with Rick Rubin:

“Rick wanted us to go back to the basic idea of recording, like we did the first album. It was hard, at first, to get into, because it’s been over 40-odd years since we recorded that way of just walking in, playing and walking out. But it sort of worked. And it was what it really needed. Because it’s so easy to start saying, ‘Well, I’ll put another guitar on here and we’ll put a harmony on there and Ozzy [Osbourne] can do a vocal harmony.’ See, Rick didn’t want any of that. He wanted it just to be very basic. And I actually did go in and put a harmony on one part, and Rick took ’em off!”

On replacing Bill Ward:

“Rick suggested Ginger Baker, which we put a stop on. We didn’t think Ginger Baker would have been…we didn’t want to go in the studio and have, um, problems. And we did try some big-name drummers, some very big-name drummers. And they were great. But Rick particularly suggested Brad Wilk. And it was great because Brad had no idea what we were gonna be doing. We wouldn’t let him hear the tracks with drums. We just wanted to see what he was gonna put to it. And Brad was a really nice guy. He did work hard, you know, because he was thrown in the deep end so much, and he was very nervous. And then he got used to us. He got used to our jokes, the way we prank around.”

On health:

“Ronnie [James Dio, who fronted Black Sabbath on its 2009 tour and died in 2010] was getting stomach pains, and he was telling me before we were going onstage some nights, ‘Oh, my stomach’s really playing up,’ and he’d ask me if I’ve got any Tums or anything. And I said, ‘You should get it checked, you know, Ronnie.’ Of course, he did, but it was too late. And that’s the problem. It’s easy to overlook these things. I mean, I’m probably more over the top than I ever have been now. I check everything every day. You just don’t know. A lump pops up and you’ve gotta get it sorted.”

On doing another Black Sabbath record:

“It all depends on my health, really. But I don’t think it would be hard to do another album, because we work so well together once we start cracking. And I’ve got plenty of ideas and stuff. But we’ll have to see what happens at the end of the year, after tour. I mean, for me, this is a whole new venture, because it’s the first time I’ve been out on tour since I’ve been ill for the last two years. And I have to treat things very differently to how I did five years ago. I’ve always put the band first, but now, of course, I have to put my health first.”

On the last time he smoked a joint with his bandmates:

“A long time ago. We haven’t all done that together since ’77 or something like that.”

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Wilamette Week, 27 August 2013