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TONY IOMMI Says HEAVEN & HELL May Start Performing Some OZZY-Era SABBATH Material - Aug. 26, 2009
Jed Gottlieb of BostonHerald.com recently conducted an interview with legendary heavy metal guitarist Tony Iommi (BLACK SABBATH, HEAVEN & HELL). A few excerpts from the chat follow below.

On his riff-writing ability:

"I stockpile them [riffs] at home. I've got a hundred of them stashed away, but I never go back to them. Every time I go to write an album, they come more fast and furious then before."

On his love for volume:

"From day one, we were always louder than anyone. We certainly made sure no one could talk in our shows."

On BLACK SABBATH's early days:

"We were always asked to turn it down. They'd tell us to turn it down or they wouldn't book us again. And unfortunately even now, and this is a sign of the times, there's a lot of restrictions on the sound. In Europe, we'd play 50,000-, 60,000-people festivals and we'd go out there and there would be somebody with a meter saying, 'You can't play any louder than this.' At one show in Bond, the limit was so low that I actually used only two (amplifier) cabinets of my eight. Bloody hell, I haven't used two cabinets since maybe the '60s."

On the Dio-era BLACK SABBATH:

"A lot of bands, like METALLICA and FOO FIGHTERS, really relate to those Dio albums. I think Dave Grohl has said one of his favorite albums is (1981 Dio SABBATH album) 'Mob Rules'. A generation of bands like that have taken to this stuff, and it's trickled down to the fans."

On performing only Dio-era SABBATH songs as HEAVEN & HELL:

"We love 'War Pigs' and 'Iron Man' and 'Paranoid', but we've played those for 40 years so it's been a nice change. Maybe next year we'll do some of the old stuff."

Ragehead91 wrote:Fuck Ozzy now. He's just a money puppet for Sharon. His last two albums were utter shit written by pop writers and Dave Grohl. He's never wrote anything and just had the good fortune of having a unique sounding voice and all the right contacts. People should be celebrating Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, Bob Daisley, Rudy Sarzo, Randy Rhoads, Jake E. Lee, Zakk Wylde, and all the other people Ozzy has fucked over for his millions. His legacy was once gold but as soon as the facts come to the surface...Ozzy is a hack with incredible luck. A unique sounding hack on some of the best written albums of all time, but the credit should go to those that deserve it. Ozzy used to mean something. He now means nothing. He's simply famous for being famous. Overexposed. A cash cow for a cash cow.

hiro23 wrote:As I said I wouldn't word it the way Ragehead did but it does seem lately Ozzy hasn't been very grateful to the people who helped get him to where he is now.

icecab21 wrote:I would say there is some give and take here. Sabbath is most successful with ozzy. No one gets anywhere without other people. There is absolutely nothing wrong about writing songs with others. Ozzys tone is a huge part of the whole that got Sabbath recognized. Part of a songwriter’s job is to find a singer who they think suits their material or to write material they think suits a singer. The songs can be more or less successful depending on whom they pick but ozzy’s ability to make songs successful is something I consider a talent. Delivering a song to an audience is a singers job, I consider him as doing a find job at it.

Ragehead91 wrote: If Dio was the first Sabbath singer and left the Band in 1979 Tony never would've hierd Ozzy as a replacement.

hiro23 wrote:More then likely these days he's more Sharon's puppet