by Jeb Wright
The Metal world
has waited on edge since it was first announced that Black
Sabbath founding members, Geezer Butler and Tony Iommi,
would join Ronnie James Dio and Vinny Appice in a new band
called Heaven & Hell. What made this move so exciting
was the past collaborations, under the Sabbath name, that
these Rock Gods had released. The foursome already has Black
Sabbath’s Dehumanizer, and the classic Mob Rules,
as well as the live album, Live Evil, under their
musical belt. Butler, Iommi and Dio first wrote and recorded
together back in 1979, after Ozzy Osbourne was fired from
the band. The following year, Sabbath released one of the
most amazing albums of their career in Heaven & Hell.
Drummer Bill Ward then was forced to step aside and deal
with substance abuse issues, paving the way for drummer
Vinny Appice to take over the drum kit.
After Rhino
Records released The Dio Years in 2007, with three
new songs from the members that would make up the, then,
future Heaven & Hell, the band went on tour and released a
DVD recorded in New York City’s sold out Radio City Music
Hall. Now, in 2009, Heaven & Hell have released a new CD
titled The Devil You Know. The CD features ten gloom
and doom songs with all the power of Butler and Iommi and
all the signature singing style of Ronnie James Dio.
Classic Rock
Revisited caught up with Geezer Butler to discuss the new
album, and the upcoming tour, as well as why Geezer snuck a
bible quote into the album artwork.
Jeb: Black
Sabbath released The Dio Years with three new songs
in 2007. At what point did you decide to go from that, to
making an entirely new album?
Geezer: We did
the retrospective and, originally, we were going to go out
for a month to promote it. That month turned into nine
months. We had a really good time together and everything
went well. We didn’t know if anybody would know who we were,
going out as Heaven & Hell. It became very successful, and
at the end of it, Ronnie said, "It’s going to be a shame to
just end it now. Why don’t we just go in and see if we can
come up with an album?" We took a couple of months off and
then everyone got together at Ronnie’s house, where he has a
studio. We listened to what each other had been writing and
we knew we had enough there for a good album.
Jeb: Everyone
did a great job on the album. Ronnie really shines as a
lyricist. You have written some of the most famous lyrics in
the history of Metal. Being that you’re a great lyricist,
what grade do you give Ronnie on his words?
Geezer: I think
he has done a great job. I think he has gone away from a lot
of the normal stuff that he does. He really sums up what the
music is about. He verbalizes the music and the riffs. I
think he has done an amazing job.
Jeb: Does he
work like you? Music first . . .
Geezer: Yeah,
it’s the way we have always done it with Sabbath, or Heaven
& Hell, or whatever. We come up with the music first, and
then the vocal line comes after. I am happy to give him the
chore of writing the lyrics. If he ever needed any help, or
he got stuck on something, then I would help out, but he
never has had any trouble.
Jeb: Your bass
playing is different from many others in the Metal genre.
You don’t just stay on the low E string.
Geezer: I think
it comes from our blues roots. We started out as a bluesy
and jazzy kind of band, where we had a lot of bass runs
between the guitar riffs. We, also, just have one guitar,
one bass, and one set of drums in the band, so we have to
fill the sound out. I try to give the bass it’s own kind of
voice in each song because it fills out the sound and gives
me more to offer, I suppose.
Jeb: Both Vinny
Appice and you play your instruments very loudly. It has to
be a sonic nightmare for the sound engineer to separate the
instruments in the mixing process.
Geezer:
[laughing] If we were really sloppy and all over the place
then I think it would be a nightmare. It really makes you
play tighter. Vinny really picks up on what is happening
with the bass, and the guitar, and fits right in the middle
of both of us. He is really good at that, the same as Bill
[Ward] was.
Jeb: The tour
starts overseas and then you seem to be going on the road
forever.
Geezer: We
start in South America, in fact we are going there on
Sunday. We start in Columbia then Brazil, then Argentina,
then Chile and then we are over to Russia. After that, we go
to do all the big festivals in Europe and we finally come
back to America in August.
Jeb: How nice
is it that you were able to go out with a new name, and not
rely on the ‘Black Sabbath’ moniker to create a buzz?
Geezer: It is a
challenge. We have been doing it for quite a long time. The
name gives us an extra challenge. We didn’t think that it
was going to be as successful as it has been. This is our
first album with the Heaven & Hell name. We now have our own
definitive album to promote.
Jeb: I think it
is brilliant that you did that.
Geezer: Nobody
can say that we are just playing on the old name.
Jeb: This is
the 40th anniversary of Sabbath. Was there any
talk from Ozzy or Sharon that they didn’t want you to use
the name at this time? There is the possibility that you
could have sold more albums if it was called ‘Black
Sabbath.’
Geezer: It was
up to us. Tony and I had gotten back together with Ozzy and
did the Ozzfest tours. We didn’t want to confuse people
anymore. We thought that now was the right time to change
the name. We will have Black Sabbath with Ozzy and Heaven &
Hell with Ronnie.
Jeb: How many
songs off of The Devil You Know made the set list for
the upcoming tour?
Geezer: So far
we are doing three. We are doing "Bible Black," "Follow the
Tears" and "Fear."
Jeb: I was
hoping you would say "Eating the Cannibals."
Geezer: We did
try that one but it just didn’t sound right. By the time we
come back to the States, we will probably change the list.
We haven’t played South America for something like eighteen
years, so we are going to play a lot of the old stuff.
Jeb: How
exciting does it feel to not play the same set for years, as
you did in Sabbath? You have new music and Ronnie singing.
Does this bring a new energy to your performance?
Geezer:
Absolutely. We are putting in "Time Machine" as well, so we
have four new songs in the set, and we are changing things
around as well. It is great to be able to play new songs as
it keeps you from just going through the motions, which you
can do if you just play the same thing for God knows how
many years. This way, it keeps you on your toes and it keeps
the whole things fresh.
Jeb: Last one:
Inside the CD cover, you have the winged Sabbath symbol. On
each side of the wings, however, there are numbers that are
not usually there. Does that symbolize something?
Geezer: That is
a quote from the bible, Matthew, Chapter 25, Verse 41. It
says, "Those who shall sit at the lefthand of God, on the
judgement day, will be cast into hellfire."
Jeb: Who came
up with that? Was it you?
Geezer: I have
no idea where I came up with that. I must have been drunk
one night. To me, the album sleeve looked too Satanic and
too Metal. I just wanted something to balance it out. I
wanted a nice bible quote.
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