Tony Iommi reflects on staying creative and facing health challenges in new Channel 4 interview

Tony Iommi has spoken about the importance of remaining creative, as well as the health challenges he has encountered, in a new interview for Channel 4 News.

When inquired about the prolonged duration exceeding two decades before the release of his subsequent solo album, Tony articulated his perspective.

The thing is I can come in here [at my home studio], just put some ideas down, and that’s it. Always in the past with Sabbath stuff or any stuff, you’ve had a time limit. You’ve had to have a rehearsal for six weeks to write the stuff, and then, of course, book the studio and do that. And then you’re on tour for 18 months. But this time I’ve had no pressure. I could just come in and do it when I want. And so I worked on it with my engineer. I’d say, ‘Let’s work on Monday and Tuesday, and do that every week for a bit. And if you’ve got something [to keep you] busy, we’ll cancel it. And if I can’t do it, we’ll…’ And we worked like that, really. ‘Cause I still had to go for hospital appointments for my cancer checkups, and he had things popping up. So we’d work when we could and put the ideas down, and build it like that, really. So it’s been quite relaxing.

Upon questioning whether his heightened awareness of mortality influences his creative endeavors or if he persists in his work simply out of habit, the 78-year-old Tony responded thoughtfully.

I carry on wondering when I’m gonna keel over. Yes, I do that. [Laughs] But I enjoy [being creative]. I enjoy doing it, and it keeps me going. And even when I was diagnosed with cancer, when we’d done the last album, Sabbath album [2013’s ’13’], I wanted to work through that just to get my mind off it and not just give in. And it worked. And I was flying back, flying to L.A. when we’d done the recordings with [producer] Rick Rubin. Then I had to fly back to have a treatment and fly back again to carry on recording. But I enjoyed [staying busy]… I had to keep my mind focused on the music, really, and it helped me a lot.

In discussing the inaugural single from “From The Dark,” entitled “World Alone,” Tony provided insights into its significance.

Well, I’d done all the music. Myself and my engineer, Mike Exeter, we worked putting the basic idea down, and then we’d get Jorn in, ’cause Jorn lives in Sweden now. And the other guys, they live in Birmingham. I wanted to try and keep a lot of it in Birmingham, the whole thing. All the merchandise was done around Birmingham. But Jorn was the only one that was [not in the U.K.]. So we’d bring him in, and then play him the track and the ideas we’d got, and then see what he’d put to that and then build it up from there, really. So he’d done all the lyrics, done the melody lines. So it’s great. I believe — I think it’s good that the vocalist can do his own melody line and their own lyrics, ’cause they know how to pronounce those words better. Sometimes if things are written for them, they don’t do it the same.

Regarding the thematic elements explored within “World Alone” and throughout the entirety of “From The Dark,” Iommi elaborated on the lyrical content.

It’s the things that’s happening in the world. And even in them [early Black Sabbath] days with the old ‘War Pigs’ we did, [the inspiration for the lyrics] was the Vietnam War. All the wars were going on then. It was relevant, and it is today. They’re the same thing — the wars and wars, and nuclear things now. And it’s hard to get away. How do you get away from it? It’s on the news every day. It’s constantly there. It’s in people’s heads, and it was obviously in Jorn’s head when he wrote all the lyrics. And it goes with the music. It goes with what we’re putting over.

When asked if there were any additional tracks from “From The Dark” that he wished to emphasize, Iommi shared his reflections.

Well, we’ve got one called ‘Death Wake’, which I’ve got [Queen’s] Brian May playing on, who’s my dearest friend. And he came up, and I said, ‘Bring your guitar up. You’re playing on this track.’ ‘Oh, well.’ And, yeah, he’s played on that. Great player. And that’s about a vampire, by the way.