By Steve Newton
In the past I’ve had fun posting audio excerpts from my first interview with legendary Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi, which took place in 1984, during the group’s misguided Born Again phase.
Fast-forward 23 years and I got Iommi on the phone again, this time to talk about the Heaven and Hell tour, which saw him reunite with Ronnie James Dio, bassist Geezer Butler, and drummer Vinny Appice to perform material from Sabbath’s Dio era.
Early in the interview I mentioned to the riffmaster that I thought the quality of the Ozzy-era albums had deteriorated after Sabbath, Bloody Sabbath, and asked him if he felt that the recruitment of Dio had breathed new life into the lineup.
Have a listen:
(never mind the stuttering at the beginning. I do that once in a while.)
To hear the full audio of my 2007 interview with Tony Iommi–and my interview with him from 1984 as well–subscribe to my Patreon page, where you can eavesdrop on over 500 of my uncut, one-on-one conversations with rockers since 1982.