Legendary Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi is featured in a massive career-spanning interiew with Guitar World, where he discusses everything from his formative years and his time with Jethro Tull, to breaking down some of Black Sabbath's iconic songs. An excerpt is available below.
Guitar World: The "Iron Man" riff uses power chords built off the natural minor scale. But perhaps the real magic lies in the drag of the tempo you chose to play it in. Maybe it wouldn’t have had the same effect sped up.
Iommi: "Funnily enough, when we used to play live, we’d slow it down even more. When we went into the studio to do that album, we were so hyped up we were actually playing it a little faster. Then you end up sticking to that tempo because that’s what everyone hears on the album."
"But as we carried on playing it live over the years, it got slower and slower, just to give it more depth and power. That’s what you do as a live band. And other songs would end up being faster when we played live. Bill (Ward / drums) would get carried away with the tempo – or I would."
Guitar World: How’s the next solo album shaping up?
Iommi: "There’s definitely something coming. When it will be here, I do not know (laughs). The tracks I’m working on right now are a mixture of styles from acoustic to heavy stuff. There’s a variety. I haven’t picked out exactly what I’m going to do with the songs or who I’m going to use or whatever yet, but I’ve recorded quite a few ideas. A lot of them have been done at home. The next thing we’re going to do is put some drums on, so it’s coming along."
"I’m just taking my time with it. I can only work on the new music on certain days because I’ve got other stuff on. I tend to work on a Monday and Tuesday with Mike Exeter. We’ll go in and focus on a particular track while also fiddling around with sounds and whatnot for other stuff."
"It’s been an interesting process, juggling lots of different ideas. My studio is at the house in (West Midlands village) Broadway. Here in Poole, I don’t have a studio. We’re not down here enough to use one, really. We just come down for a few days and go back. Then I will pick things up at the beginning of the next week with Mike."
Read the complete interview here.
Guitar.com recently reported that when Tony Iommi sold his iconic Gibson “Monkey” SG to the Hard Rock Cafe, he did so under the condition that he could buy it back whenever he wanted for the same price, he reveals in a new interview with Guitar World.
However, when he did try to get it back some years ago, the Hard Rock “knew nothing about the deal”, because the man responsible for procuring memorabilia for the company, and with whom Iommi dealt to finalise the sale, had passed away.
“The guy who used to buy memorabilia for the Hard Rock came to England and visited me,” he says. “He wanted to buy some stuff and I said it should be fine. I’d retired the Monkey SG because it was too valuable to me; I didn’t want to take it on the road and risk it getting damaged.
“He offered to buy it and it seemed like a good idea because the guitar could be displayed for people to see and kept safe, instead of sitting in a case somewhere in my storage. But the deal was if I ever wanted it back, I could let him know and buy it back for the same price. It seemed fair enough, a good deal.”
Read more at Guitar.com.
