Tony Iommi on Sky Art's Guitar Star 2016

While Sabbath tour is currently on pause after the very successful European leg, Tony doesn't chill on a sofa!

Here is he, working on Sky Art's project Guitar Star again, and we can see another legend, the great producer Tony Visconti, with him! Watch the Sky Art's video showing mentor Tony with his disciples.

In meantime let us hear Ozzy Osbourne, during his last interview with Goldmine, talking about his buddy Tony and Sabbath projects. Here are some excrepts of the interview, by Jeb Wright:

GOLDMINE: This is a bittersweet interview because the name of this tour is The End. I don’t want it to be the end…

Ozzy Osbourne: At the end of the day, Black Sabbath, when I left, we were a big driving force in the ’70s. It was dwindling and we needed to separate for a while. They went their way and I went my way. We both had our ups and downs in our careers. Sabbath has had more band members than I don’t know what, but that’s how things go. With the recent success of the “13” album, which was, believe it or not, makes this release the first No. 1 album for Sabbath or anyone’s solo career. We decided, at first, to do another album but we decided that would take too long, as it would be two or three years. Tony was then diagnosed with lymphoma and we didn’t know if he was going to pull through it. We decided not to do an album. Our “last recorded album” went to No. 1. Tony recovered from lymphoma. I hope he has, I mean I am sure he has. We don’t like to talk about it much. He appears great. Tony is one of these guys who says, “Okay, Doc, what do I have to do?” And then he does it. We did our last tour around all of his doctor appointments. The one thing I am really happy about is that he didn’t get any worse. He says his doctors told him that he will always have the gene in him so it could come back. He’ll be alright. 

GM: The fans will be able to purchase that new EP at the concert.

OZZY: There are four tracks that never made the “13” album. One of them is called “Season of the Dead.” The next one is called “Cry All Night.” The third is “Take Me Home.” The fourth one is “Isolated Man.” There are four bonus tracks that are live tracks. They are “God is Dead,” “Under the Sun,” “End of the Beginning” and “Age of Reason.” You can only get this CD at the gigs. It is a bonus from the last album. That’s it.

GM: I understand the set list will have all of the classics, but that Sabbath is going to surprise the hardcore fans with some songs they have not played in decades.

OZZY: We are playing “After Forever” and “Hand of Doom.” We are doing a lot of stuff from the “Paranoid” album. On every album we did, we always did what we used to call an album track, which were songs that we were not going to play live. We are not doing all of “Paranoid,” but we are doing a lot of it. I have never sung “Hand of Doom” for what must be 45 years. When we did it in rehearsal, it just came back to me in a flash. Once you learn to ride a horse you never forget, you know?

GM: This tour is going to sell out around the world…

OZZY: I want you to know this: Don’t go, “Ah, these guys will get back together. I will see them next time.” No. This is the end of Sabbath. This is really the end.

GM: Do you realize the influence that you’ve had on heavy metal? Not just one generation or two generations, but all future generations as well. Ozzy, what you’ve done will live on forever. Do you realize what you’ve been a part of and done?

OZZY: No. I have got no idea … well, I do have an idea, but I kind of humble myself. If I go, “We did that” then I will fall on the floor. I am glad people remember us. When we did the Ozzfest, the bands would be like “Volume 4 was so important to me.” When you’re in the inside looking out, then you don’t have any idea of the importance of what you’ve done. I have an even better example. When I was doing my solo career — before I got mega — Metallica opened for me. I would go by their dressing room and they would be playing a Sabbath album. I thought they were taking the piss out of me. I said to my assistant, “Are they joking with me?” He said, “Ozzy, they love you.” I said, “They love us? They love Sabbath?” Then it started to grow and grow and grow. I didn’t let it get on top of me though, as I was just happy to be doing it. It is weird. It is hard to get your head ‘round that.

GM: It may be the end of Black Sabbath, but it is not the end for you…

OZZY: It is the end of Black Sabbath, but if Tony phoned me up and said he was doing a blues album and he wanted me to sing on it then I would ask him where he wanted to meet. The same goes for Geezer. The one thing that I am happy about is that we’re all still alive, you know. David Bowie dying was f**king hell. What a talent he was. I met him once or twice. Once I was walking across the road and he shouted “Hey, Ozzy!” He sat next to me in a restaurant and he was reading the newspaper. He was a very, very, very talented guy.

GM: Black Sabbath may have never happened if Tony Iommi had not had an accident where he cut off his fingertips. That accident led to him detuning the guitar which led to the classic Sabbath sound.

OZZY: That was before we actually formed. I went to the same school with Tony. He went his way and I went my way. We didn’t really hang out in school. He was working in this metal sheeting factory and he cut his fingertip off. It was before we even started. He was playing guitar then. After that happened they told him he would never play guitar again. He’s a guy that if he cut one leg off and you told him he can’t run the 500-yard dash, he would find a way around it, and he will. Time after time I say to him, “How the f**k do you know when you’re touching the strings?” He says, “You just do.” Tony is a very, very clever guy.

GM: If that would have happened to me I would have probably given up…

OZZY: I would have been sitting in the f**king room feeling sorry for myself!

GM: Last question: I want to know after you play the last concert, and you play the last note and you leave the stage … what will happen when you go back to the dressing room? Will you celebrate? 

OZZY: We will have a grin on our face. We will probably shake hands and have a cup of tea. None of us drink anymore. None of us do drugs. 

Read the whole version on Goldmine Magazine. 

GoldmineMag.com, Jeb Wright, 27 July 2016