"Sometimes I wish I'd been right-handed!"

Exactly two weeks before Heaven & Hell's show at the Kaliakra Rock Fest in Kavarna, Bulgaria on June 28, 2007, Tangra Mega Rock managed to get in touch with the guitar player of this super project, featuring vocalist Ronnie James Dio (Dio, ex-Black Sabbath, Rainbow), bass player Geezer Butler (Black Sabbath, G//Z/R), drummer Vinnie Appice (ex-Dio, Black Sabbath) and... Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the Man himself - Mr. Anthony Frank Iommi, better known as Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath!

Vassil Varbanov: Mr. Tony Iommi, hi! How are you?

Tony Iommi: I'm very well, thank you!

V. V.: I saw your press schedule and it seems you've been doing interviews for three days now.

T. I.: Absolutely, we've been doing non-stop interviews. I wanna get back to touring!

V. V.: What are all these guys asking you about?

T. I.: About how the tour's going, the album, what we're gonna play on the shows and so on, and so on.

V. V.: Besides that, what are you guys up to now?

T. I.: Well, we're right in the middle of the tour. We've been touring America and now we're preparing for Europe. We're in London at the moment, and tomorrow we'll go to Holland to do the Fields of Rock Festival.

V. V.: You know, you were in Bulgaria for the very first time two years ago, when you did this headliner show at the Locomotive Stadium in Sofia with Ozzy and Black Sabbath. Now you're coming for the second time, however in a different town, with a different singer, a different drummer and a different band name.

T. I.: We've gone under the name Heaven & Hell, because it's all about the Dio years of Black Sabbath. For the last ten years we've done all the Sabbath stuff with Ozzy, so this time it will be the Dio era, which is great. It's really a challenge.

V. V.: And how's Black Sabbath's original drummer Bill Ward doing right now?

T. I.: Very well. He's doing his own album at the moment in Los Angeles.

V. V.: Mentioning solo recordings, let's talk a bit about your solo career. The interesting thing about Geezer's and your own albums is that you're doing something like a bridge between the generations, working with some young guns from the contemporary metal scene. Why?

T. I.: Well "Iommi" was an album I've done a few years ago (in 2000), and I just wanted to try some things out with some of the guys of the younger generation (a.o. Henry Rollins, Skin [Skunk Anansie], Dave Grohl [Foo Fighters, ex-Nirvana], Phil Anselmo [Down, ex-Pantera, Superjoint Ritual], Serj Tankian [System of a Down], Billy Corgan [Smashing Pumpkins], Ian Astbury [The Cult], Peter Steele [Type O Negative], Ozzy Osbourne, Billy Idol, Brian May [Queen], Bill Ward [Black Sabbath], Ben Shepherd [ex-Soundgarden], Matt Cameron [Pearl Jam, ex-Soundgarden], etc.).

V. V.: So how was it?

T. I.: It was good! I enjoyed it, although it was very difficult to put together.

V. V.: By the way, what's the particular thing about being a left-handed guitar player? There are not so many of you.

T. I.: He-he, it's very difficult, because you can't just pick any guitar and start playing. You have to find left-handed ones. I wish I'd been right-handed sometimes...

V. V.: I thought you were trying to be the new Jimi Hendrix, ha-ha!

T. I.: Ah, no, I was about the same time as Jimi Hendrix, ha-ha!

V. V.: This is your first interview for a Bulgarian media ever, so I'd like to ask you something about the past, too. That album Black Sabbath did with Ian Gillan back in 1983, "Born Again" - the press said it was not a good one, but I personally think it had a revolutionary sound. What do you think?

T. I.: Actually, we did have a problem with the sound on the first pressings of that album and it really sounded poor. We went on tour to America, and meanwhile the album was out in Europe and England, and before we got to hear it, it was number 3 in the charts, so we had to make it sound better. As a whole, I think some of the tracks on this LP are very good.

V. V.: Finally, what's the first thing coming to your mind when you hear the word Bulgaria?

T. I.: I'm actually looking forward to play there, and I hope this time we'll have the chance to see more, as last time we flew in and flew out right after the show and we didn't get any time to look around.

V. V.: Last question. Your song "The Devil Cried" is in Tangra Mega Rock's Tuborg Top 40 Mega Rock Chart, competing with tracks by bands you've chosen to support you on tour, like Machine Head. Are you watching these bands while on tour or you just go and concentrate in the dressing room?

T. I.: I always stay in the dressing room and... I mean, they've been on tour with us for a while and I can hear them from the dressing room, but I don't actually go watch them, because I'm more concerned with our show, so I really get ready for our performance. You know, you eat and warm up and then get ready to go on stage.

V. V.: Ok, thank you very much! Say hello to the other guys and... See you in Bulgaria on June 28!

Copyright: Tangra Mega Rock