After it was announced that Tony Iommi would make an appearance on Ozzy Osbourne's upcoming record, the Black Sabbath guitarist has now confirmed that he wrote the entirety of one of the album's tracks.
In a new interview with Rolling Stone, Iommi reveals he “wrote the whole track and played on it and played the solo on it”. He jests, “It's horrible, really,” before quickly clarifying that he's joking. Because he knows like we all do that any new material spawned from an Iommi/Osbourne collaboration is bound to be killer.
“It's good,” he says. “It's really good. And I like what Ozzy sang on it. I think he did a really good job. And I think they had Chad [Smith, Red Hot Chili Peppers] play drums on it. I've left it in their hands now.”
Nearly five years on since the disbandment of Black Sabbath, Iommi also shares the extent to which he remains in contact with Ozzy Osbourne.
“We're in touch quite a lot,” he reveals. “We don't really speak because we are useless on the phone, the pair of us. I think we stopped that when he used to phone me at 2 o'clock in the morning and I'd go, ‘Oz, it's 2 o'clock in the morning.’ [And he'd say,] ‘Oh, oh, sorry. Alright. Bye.’
“He forgets about what time it is in England, and of course when the phone goes at that time of the morning you think, “Oh, Christ. What's that? Somebody's died or something has happened.” And of course it's him going, ‘Oh, oh, oh, sorry. I didn't know it was that time.” So we tend to sort of just text now.”
Iommi is set to join a star-studded lineup on Ozzy's forthcoming album, with Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton already confirmed make appearances, and Zakk Wylde and Rob Trujillo performing guitar and bass duties, respectively, throughout.
Speaking to MusicRadar last month, Wylde described the sound of the record as “slamming”, adding that “what Tony Iommi played, and then Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck, it's all killer for sure”. “On those tracks I’m playing rhythm guitar for my heroes… it’s crazy!” he continued.
Elsewhere in the Rolling Stone interview, Iommi discusses his surprise new signature cologne, which was announced last week.
On his fanbase's reaction to the fragrance – which was accompanied by a brand-new song from the Godfather of Heavy Metal, entitled Scent of Dark – Iommi concedes: “They’ll think I’ve gone mad. It’s something I would’ve never thought of involving myself in. But it’s been nice to be involved in it.”