GEEZER BUTLER Joins Forces With MATT SORUM, STEVE STEVENS In DEADLAND RITUAL

Bassist Geezer Butler (BLACK SABBATH),guitarist Steve Stevens (BILLY IDOL, VINCE NEIL),drummer Matt Sorum (GUNS N' ROSES, VELVET REVOLVER) and singer Franky Perez (APOCALYPTICA) have joined forces in a new supergroup called DEADLAND RITUAL.

DEADLAND RITUAL is scheduled to appear at the Hellfest festival in Clisson, France next summer. The group will perform on the main stage on June 22, 2019 before such other acts as KISS, DEF LEPPARD and WHITESNAKE.

After BLACK SABBATH played its final show in February 2017, Butler admitted: "I felt relief that it was all over, that it was done with, that we'd done a good show, and quite sad in a way to think that we’d never do it again. It really wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be, actually. It just felt right. We've been around for 49 years now, and it's time to call it a day."

In a 2017 interview with Billboard, Butler spoke about his post-BLACK SABBATH plans, saying: "I'm not in a hurry to do anything… I'm traveling a lot, seeing the places [the band] only stayed for one night and going back and spending some time there. We've recently moved house this year and I'm going to be building my home studio, but it's taken me ages. Next year I'll see if I can get back into music."

Last year, Butler told Rolling Stone that he had "about 120 riffs written down" for his next musical project, adding that he just needed "to pick a guitarist and sort through them."

Butler's last solo album, "Ohmwork", which was released under the band name GZR, sold less than 900 copies during its first week of release back in May 2005, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Geezer's first project under the GZR banner was 1995's "Plastic Planet". 1997's "Black Science", which was credited to GEEZER, featured vocalist Clark Brown, who also performed on "Ohmwork".

A founding member of BLACK SABBATH, Butler is also the lyricist of such SABBATH classics as "War Pigs", "Iron Man", "Paranoid" and others.