TONY IOMMI Doesn't Rule Out Recording Full Album With RONNIE JAMES DIO

Philip Wickstrand of MetalEater.com recently conducted an interview with BLACK SABBATH/HEAVEN AND HELL guitarist Tony Iommi. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow:

MetalEater.com: Now I know the question has already been answered in various outlets, but there's still a lot of people that aren't sure why the reunion is being called HEAVEN AND HELL, as opposed to BLACK SABBATH.

Iommi: "Well, originally, it started up, we were going to call the tour 'Heaven And Hell' and it went from there to 'Yeah, let's call the band HEAVEN AND HELL and separate the two things so people know what they're getting. It's not the Ozzy version of... if we go out as BLACK SABBATH, it could confuse things because we've just done a tour as BLACK SABBATH with Ozzy, and so we thought it'd be nice to have a fresh start, go out as something different, because all the set's going to be Dio-era music, so it just sounds right to call it HEAVEN AND HELL. I mean, we could call it SABBATH, I own the name, but we thought it was best to do this and call it... then you don't get everybody going 'oh, bloody hell, I thought it was BLACK SABBATH.' And it keeps it clean, I think and we like the idea of going out as something different and we don't need to have to play the old BLACK SABBATH stuff if we don't want to."

MetalEater.com: Why was Bill Ward unable to participate in the reunion?

Iommi: "Well, it started off with Bill. Bill came over to England here and I worked with him for a week, but we didn't feel as if it was going quite right from both sides, from Bill's side and our side and we thought, a majority of the set we'll be playing is what Vinny's played anyway. So we thought it would probably be best if Bill thought it would be best for Vinny to do it, to be honest. Which is no bad feelings, there's no bad vibes or nothing, it's no breakup or anything like that; it's just a choice and Bill thought it would be best to have Vinny do it as anybody."

MetalEater.com: Can we expect the possibility of a new studio album?

Iommi: "With?"

MetalEater.com: With Dio.

Iommi: "With Dio... well, nothing's out of the question. I think... we actually talked about it when everybody was at my house here, when we were recording these three tracks. We said 'bloody hell, we could record an album at the moment' and we had to sort of stop ourselves at three songs. And at first, the record company didn't want to put three songs, and anyways, we sort of said 'we've got to have three songs', but we were already together, we could have done it and who knows? I mean, it would be nice to do an album I think. I think whatever comes now to just take it and do it, you know; I've got no boundaries at all."

MetalEater.com: What about the possibility of a live CD and/or DVD from the tour?

Iommi: "Yes, we're talking about that, we're talking about doing that on this tour. And that would be nice to do that, I think it would be good to have that... I think the fans would like that."

MetalEater.com: What are your expectations for the tour?

Iommi: "I don't even have any expectations; I just want to get out and play and do... and play good and have a good set. I mean, I know with the people involved in this lineup, it will be a good set, and that's what I want; I want to be able to go out and enjoy it, really. I don't look for... I'm not looking for problems or anything like that — I just want to go out and play and enjoy it and hope the fans enjoy it and I think it will be very interesting."

MetalEater.com: As far as North America, are you surprised at all that you're playing full-fledged coliseums with this particular lineup rather than, say for instance, more mid-sized, five-thousand capacity venues?

Iommi: "No, I'm not surprised. The whole thing... we wanted to go out in a big way, it's no point and going out and playing the little club up the road and stuff like that; I think you've got to go out and be able to be what's best for you, you know, to be able... to play on these gigs and I'm looking forward to that."

MetalEater.com: As far as the U.S. leg of the tour, is that going to be a full U.S. tour or is it just going to be more like select cities?

Iommi: "I've not got any definite things on that yet. We've been treading very lightly, really, to go out there and things are being changed at the moment now, as we speak. In fact, I spoke last night to my management and dates are being swapped 'round now for the States, because we're supposed to be going to Brazil after the Canadian tour. After New York, we were going to go to Brazil, but I think we're swapping 'round now, so I can't give you any information on that, I'm afraid and the only thing that's set in stone after is the European tour. Then we're negotiating when to do Australia and Japan, I'm not sure if that's before or after now."

Read the entire interview at MetalEater.com.