News
Sabbath guys receive Platinum Awards For 13, Live... Gathered In Their Masses in Montreal
The godfathers of heavy metal, Black Sabbath, were handed platinum awards by Universal Canada earlier today for sales of their 2013 reunion album, 13, (100,000 units) and their live DVD, Live... Gathered In Their Masses (10,000 units).
Osbourne says Tony Iommi is in good health as far as he knows and playing as strongly as ever.
“I haven’t had one of them dark phone calls so I presume he’s okay. He’s unbelievable. I mean, any of us could be diagnosed with cancer. I always think cancer means death. I didn’t know anybody who’d recovered. My wife recovered from colon cancer and that was the first person I ever knew. But he just accepts it and gets on with it. I mean it’s got to be worrying. But he’s doing fine I think, I hope. He’s unbelievable. We all know our job, we all know our craft but he’s a very talented guy. Considering on his fret hand he’s got no fingertips, he plays with prosthetic fingers at the end. I’ve often said to him, ‘How the hell do you know when you’re touching the strings?’ I don’t know. It’s amazing.”
Black Sabbath held a press conference on Monday before their show at the Bell Centre in Montreal, and video of the event has surfaced.
Read the whole Ozzy Osbourne interview on Torontosun.com
8 April 2014
Torontosun.com
Photographs by Mitch Lafon
Black Sabbath enters 2014 with the new tour!
Finally the tour started! Our boys played three dates already! Monday 31 March 2014 Black Sabbath playedBarclays Center, Brooklyn, NY, United States, with Reignwolf who opened for them. Opening Night Set List:
War Pigs
Into the Void
Under the Sun
Snowblind
Age of Reason
Black Sabbath
Behind the Wall of Sleep
N.I.B.(with Geezer Butler bass solo intro)
End of the Beginning
Fairies Wear Boots
Rat Salad (with Supernaut instrumental & Clufetos' Drum Solo)
Iron Man
God Is Dead?
Dirty Women
Children of the Grave
encore: Paranoid (with Sabbath Bloody Sabbath Intro)
Watch a couple of videos from New York show below:
The second gig of the tour was at Metro Centre, in Halifax NS Canada, 3 April 2014.
Halifax Website The Coast writes about Tony Iommi:
"I don't know if I have any ancient tone secrets," says Black Sabbath's Tony Iommi, "But we basically went in and did it like the early days." Iommi's discussing the recording of Black Sabbath's latest album, 13, with producer Rick Rubin. "He saw us doing the album basically like the early days, not lots of effects and overdubs, not tarting it up or making it sound better, he wanted it to be like us playing. Mistakes and all." 13 compiled mostly of tracks that Iommi had demoed himself and brought to the band with a reunion in mind. 13 isn't exactly a throwback, but it does have the same level of satisfying Sabbath darkness and absolutely awesome solos. And Rubin sure is a weirdo. "You said that, not me!" says Iommi, laughing. "He's got his differences. What was strange for us was that he didn't have our sense of humour. He didn't get that at all. Later on he realized, whether he liked it or not."
The third awesome gig was at Colisée Pepsi in Québec, QC Canada, 5 April 2014. Watch the videos below:
7 April 2014
Photo by Lorraine Parker
Black Sabbath to headline British Summertime Hyde Park Festival! New message from Tony!
Our Tony posted a following message on his Official Facebook page, before the Sabbath tour in America started:
"It’s really good to be back in rehearsals with the band, we’re just polishing things up having not played live for over three months.
Must have been all the shows last year because I remembered the songs better than I thought I would.
We’re all hoping it’s not going to be too cold in Canada, my memories of recording “Never Say Die” in Toronto are mostly about the weather! It makes me appreciate all of you that can live and survive in the cold (or heat come to that), anyway, we’ll be doing our best to raise the temperature every night. To finish up this part of our tour we’ll be going from the cold of Edmonton to outdoors in Los Angeles, and that’ll be strange."
Black Sabbath will headline the British Summer Time festival in Hyde Park in July.
Black Sabbath resume their “13” world tour with a series of North American shows starting March 31 in New York. On April 15, the band will release “The Complete Studio Albums (1970-1978)”, an 8-disc box set featuring their 1970s catalog. The package was released on iTunes in January, and a variation of the set (which also included DVDs) was first issued in 2004.
The box set contains all of the studio albums Black Sabbath recorded for Warner Bros. Records during the 1970s, including its iconic, eponymous debut (1970), the multi-platinum landmark "Paranoid" (1970), the platinum albums "Master Of Reality" (1971), "Vol. 4" (1972), and "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath" (1973), as well as the gold albums "Sabotage" (1975), "Technical Ecstasy" (1976), and "Never Say Die!" (1978).
7 April 2014
Black Sabbath to release box set of all eight albums of Ozzy era
The albums Black Sabbath recorded during their first go-round with Ozzy Osbourne will be collected in a new box set. Rhino will release "Black Sabbath: The Complete Studio Albums 1970-1978" on April 15.
Included in the set are compact discs, housed in a clamshell box, of the eight records they made in that time frame, from their 1970 self-titled debut all the way up to 1978′s "Never Say Die". Following the tour in support of that album, Ozzy Osbourne was fired due to his substance abuse issues replaced by Ronnie James Dio.
Black Sabbath’s successful reunion last year, which saw them win a Best Metal Performance Grammy for their song "God Is Dead?" and embark on a world tour, that continues in 2014.
8 March, 2014
Photo by Rhino Records
Happy Birthday to our dearest Tony!
Dear Tony!
The huge army of your devoted fans wish you Happy Birthday! May this be a day of serenity, peace and love! Enjoy your special day with family and friends, and don't forget, your die hards are always with you! We're just round the corner!
Love you, mighty Iron Man! ♥
Here's our fan made video - a gift to Tony for his 66th Birthday! Stay strong like the riffs you play, Iron Man!
19 February 2014
Black Sabbath win multiple honors in the 3rd annual Loudwire Music Awards
The legendary Black Sabbath have cleaned up during the 3rd Annual Loudwire Music Awards, winning a total of three fan-voted categories. The Grammy-winning track ‘God Is Dead?’ was voted Best Metal Song of 2013, narrowly defeating Dream Theater’s ‘The Enemy Inside’ and Bring Me the Horizon’s ‘Shadow Moses,’ among others.
Next up is a victory in our Best Metal Video of 2013 poll. Black Sabbath scored a landslide victory in this category, with Ghost and Protest the Hero coming in second and third, respectively. The apocalyptic clip for ‘God Is Dead?’ captured the imagination of fans worldwide and was subsequently voted into victory.
Finally, in what may be the most prestigious category for metal acts, Black Sabbath were voted Best Metal Band of 2013. This was a much closer race than others, with Bring Me the Horizon, Motorhead and Killswitch Engage trailing slightly in the poll.
2013 was truly Black Sabbath’s year, and we congratulate the iconic metal architects for their multiple Loudwire Music Award wins, says Loudwire.
LONG LIVE BLACK SABBATH!
THE BEST OF THE BEST!
\\M//
Loudwire, 13 February 2014
New message from our Tony!
Tony Iommi is reflecting on the band’s experience at last month’s Grammy Awards in Los Angeles, where they picked up honours in the "Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance" category for “God Is Dead?” from their latest album, “13.”
Tony posted on his Official website Iommi.com:
“Well the dust has settled on the Grammy’s now, great to win another one but what a palaver, as the East Coast is three hours ahead the televised part begins at 5pm so you're leaving the hotel at lunchtime, all dolled up and ready for the red carpet! It was good though, plenty of interest in the album still and endless questions about what we’re doing next. Well it’s shows in the US, Canada, and Europe, so far too busy with that to be thinking about more recording.”
Black Sabbath return to live action with a series of North American shows starting March 31 in New York.
Iommi.com, 11 February 2014
Photo Getty Images
Sabbath boys teams up with "Secret 7" to release 100 copies of "Age Of Reason" single for charity purposes
Black Sabbath never forget to do charity work. This time our guys are teaming up with "Secret 7" to release 100 copies of an "Age Of Reason" seven-inch single in aid of War Child, a family of independent humanitarian organizations which work together to help children and young people affected by armed conflict. "Secret 7" returns for 2014 with seven more iconic acts and seven iconic songs from the past 33 years.
The full track list for 2014 is as follows:
BLACK SABBATH - Age Of Reason
JAKE BUGG - Strange Creatures
ELBOW - Grounds For Divorce
LORDE - Team
MASSIVE ATTACK - Karmacoma
ROXY MUSIC - Virginia Plain
T.REX - Get It On
The announcement of this year's artists and tracks coincides with the opening of the project's submissions process for creatives across the world. The selected work will feature in an exhibition and sale of 700 one-of-a-kind records at Downstairs at Mother. All 700 sleeves will be exhibited on April 12 and April 13. On Record Store Day, April 19, visitors are able to purchase the unique vinyl sleeves for £45. However, none of the buyers will know who created the sleeve, or even which song it's for, until they have parted with their cash — the secret lies inside.
Those wanting to design a sleeve need to head to the Secret 7' web site, www.secret-7.com. Closing dates for entries is February 19.
In 2013, the project counted Ai Weiwei, Gilbert & George and David Shrigley amongst the hundreds of artwork contributors. A queue began forming over 24 hours in advance of the sale, which sold out in just a few hours. In two years, Secret 7" has raised £63,670 for good causes.
Read the whole article on Blabbermouth.net
Blabbermouth.net, 30 January 2014
Photo Iommi.com
Sabbath boys sound optimistic about making more new music
Black Sabbath were honoured with a Grammy Award in the "Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance" category for the "13" track “God Is Dead?” at Sunday night in Los Angeles. When interviewed Black Sabbath say they are interested in recording another album.
“We're going back on the road," Ozzy Osbourne told Rolling Stone of potential recording projects. "We haven't really spoken about it beyond that. I'm down for it."
"Absolutely," added Tony Iommi.
"Sabbath recorded their latest effort, “13”, with producer Rick Rubin, who helped the band complete an album because "we were running out of time," said Ozzy.
"We didn't know what to expect," added bassist Geezer Butler about the “13” sessions. "It felt like the natural thing to do, rather than doing it for the sake of doing it. We just wanted to be together and play together again and write songs. We didn't want to go out on tour and do the same set as we've been doing for 30 years."
28 January, 2014
Photo Vertigo Records
Black Sabbath’s “God Is Dead?” Wins 2014 Grammy for Best Metal Performance
Congrats are in order for Black Sabbath, who took home the 2014 Grammy for Best Metal Performance on Sunday (June 26) for their song ‘God Is Dead?’ It was a solid category this year, but the metal godfathers emerged victorious.
The legendary band’s lead single from their album ’13′ beat out Anthrax‘s ‘T.N.T.,’ Dream Theater‘s ‘The Enemy Inside,’ Killswitch Engage‘s ‘In Due Time’ and Volbeat‘s ‘Room 24′ with special guest King Diamond for the honor.
Sabbath were not in attendance at the pre-telecast Grammy ceremony as they were preparing to be one of the presenters on the main show. Pop singer Cyndi Lauper, who co-hosted the pre-ceremony, accepted for the band after speaking with them prior to the event. “I know that Ozzy is not here and I saw them last night,” said Lauper. “They asked me to accept this award for them. It’s awesome. And I’m sure he thanks the Academy. They had to be next door to do something. Thank you, thank you, thank you to everybody.”
CONGRATULATIONS TO DEAR TONY, GEEZER AND OZZY!
Watch the video: One on one room with Grammy winners: Black Sabbath
Chad Childers for Loudwire, 27 January 2014
