As we reported last fall, Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi and Deep Purple vocalist Ian Gillan got together to form WhoCares, releasing two songs for a good cause -- to raise funds to rebuild a music school in Armenia.
Based on the success of that single -- or maybe just the fun of the sessions, which also included former Deep Purple keyboard player Jon Lord, plus Jason Newsted, Nicko McBrain and Linde Lindstrom -- the duo have announced they'll be releasing a full album together.
The album will feature the two WhoCares tracks, namely "Out of My Mind" and "Holy Water," plus rareities from Iommi and Gillan’s vaults. Other tracks will include a Deep Purple studio jam session, an unreleased song from Gillan’s band Repo Depo, two songs from Iommi and Glenn Hughes, plus B-sides and radio performances.
“As I said once in the song ‘Razzle Dazzle,’ ‘It’s a real fine line between an orgy of destruction and a wonderful time,’” Gillan told Ultimate Classic Rock. “The destruction of conformity in this case: Some of these pieces never really fit into their contemporary program and got sidelined or forgotten, and some of the album tracks never had much exposure.
"As the tracklisting for this album came together I noticed many of the titles had character similarities; a combination of freshness as they finally felt the sun on their backs and rebellion in a ‘yeah told you so’ kind of way. And that adds up to a wonderful time. And that adds up to more money for the music school we are building in Armenia.”
Get The Pick Newsletter
All the latest guitar news, interviews, lessons, reviews, deals and more, direct to your inbox!
Damian is Editor-in-Chief of Guitar World magazine. In past lives, he was GW’s managing editor and online managing editor. He's written liner notes for major-label releases, including Stevie Ray Vaughan's 'The Complete Epic Recordings Collection' (Sony Legacy) and has interviewed everyone from Yngwie Malmsteen to Kevin Bacon (with a few memorable Eric Clapton chats thrown into the mix). Damian, a former member of Brooklyn's The Gas House Gorillas, was the sole guitarist in Mister Neutron, a trio that toured the U.S. and released three albums. He now plays in two NYC-area bands.
