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Another Rock Star's Death

How sad to hear that another rock star was found dead in his hotel room

for now the reasons behind his death are still unknown

the bassist for slipknot, Paul Gray, was found dead may 24, 2010
 Slipknot was one of the bands i admired from the so called new metal era

 there was something about the band i could not pin when i first heard them so i instantly liked them.
 
Back to Paul Gray, he wasreally what you'd call a superstar since he was hidden behind a mask, and the contribution he's made to slipknot is definitely something that can not be replaced

 He had a weird way of playing bass in a new metal band. Unlike the rest of the horde he did not rely on 1 note bass thumps, he also employed bass runs, slapping etcetera etcetera and he also used weird tunings like ADGE or BEAD instead of the usual EADG

I hope this does not derail Slipknot in a major way. I hope even without Paul they'll continue so that his contribution to the metal world won't be wasted

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ZAKK WYLDE

Zakk Wylde has been pretty quiet lately. Well, as quiet as he can be between swearing like a trooper and recording a new album for Ozzy that he promises will be full of violence and darkness. We went to him to ask, ‘What the fuck?’

The last couple of years have been unusually quiet for Zakk Wylde. After receiving favourable reviews on this side of the Atlantic for 2006’s Shot To Hell album, there has been no significant touring in Europe – a few shows with Ozzy and an explosive performance at the Metal Hammer and Classic Rock sponsored Hard Rock Hell last December excepted – and little sign that a follow-up album was on the way. Fortunately for Black Label Society devotees, Zakk is back and ready to turn up into one of those years that begins with the crisp pop of a beer can being opened and ends with the satisfying splash of a strenuous, small hour puke.

“Whatever you might think, it’s just been work, work, work,” he drawls, “I love it, though. When bands take off for years between records, I couldn’t do that. I don’t give a shit if I hit the lottery for 622 fuckin’ billion. I still have to be playing or doing something. It’s cool when you get a break but you can only go fishing for so fuckin’ long.”

It’s almost as if Zakk is worried that if he stops playing the guitar for any length of time, his fingers will seize up and he’ll be denied his greatest pleasure in life. It’s an unthinkable situation for a man that has come to represent the essence of great guitar playing for thousand of rock and metal fans in recent times. In the end it’s all about the dedication. And swearing.

“You’ve got true musicians and you’ve got guys who just got into it for some bullshit reason,” he says. “I was arguing with this guy and he was saying, ‘Let’s be real Zakk, the only reason anyone ever picks up a guitar is to get the chicks!’ I said, ‘Hold on, you mean I’ve got to sit around practising for 12 hours every cunting day, just to get a piece of ass? Dude if I want a piece if ass I’m gonna grab a Les Paul, bash a bitch on the back of the head and stick my dick inside her! That would be a lot easier than practising all fuckin’ day, motherfucker!’”

While it’s clear that Zakk has had plenty to occupy his time since the release of Shot To Hell, it’s slightly less clear why the promotional campaign for that album and the touring cycle that followed it never really seemed to catch fire and propel the band to greater heights. Despite being signed to Roadrunner at the time, Shot To Hell now seems like a major missed opportunity. So who dropped the ball?

“It’s all fuckin’ business, dude,” laughs Zakk. “It is what it is. You could be the guy that signs me, and you bleed Black Label and the whole nine yards. Then, the next thing I know is that you’re not there and there’s some other fuckin’ guy. He comes in and says, ‘What’s this Black Label Society shit?’ and suddenly it’s, ‘ I think we’re going to get rid of them’ and we just get shitcanned! Well fuckin’ thanks a lot! The thing is, if our team isn’t there, there’s fuck all I can do. But I couldn’t give a fuck. I still fuckin’ throw down, wherever I go.”

It’s Zakk Wylde’s ability to “throw down” that has kept him at the top of the guitarist heap for so long. Even when the rumours start to fly, as they do every few years, that Ozzy Osbourne is poised to hold auditions to find a new sidekick and song writing partner, it’s obvious that there’s only one man that’s properly equipped to do the job. It’s Zakk’s riffs that provide Ozzy with the perfect contemporary backdrop on which to hang his trademark haunting melodies, and Zakk is currently up to his neck in a whole new batch of riffs as The Double-0 prepares a follow-up to 2007’s Black Rain.

“You’ve got to hear the fuckin’ riffs I’m laying down man!” roars the guitarist. “That’s what I do. It’s riffs, riffs, riffs and more fuckin’ riffs. Ozzy said something like. ‘I want this album to be more full of hope!’ Hope? There ain’t no fuckin’ hope! Hope’s gone! It went to fuckin’ Tahiti for a holiday, bro. Ha ha ha ha! We want violence and darkness!!

Given that Ozzy isn’t much of a fan of today’s heavier, more brutal metal, isn’t it hard to get him to embrace “violence and darkness”?


“Nah, because when you look at Sabbath and what made them so great, you had Ozzy’s melancholy vocals over this dark, dark shit,” says Zakk. “He wasn’t screaming and grunting like some death metal thing. He was singing melodies over insane fuckin’ shit and Ozzy always comes up with brilliant melodies. It was a perfect combination and it still works.”

While it’s good news that there’s a new Ozzy album on the way, there will be a lot of fans that are much more eager to hear some new Black Label Society material instead. Unfortunately, Black Label fans will have to wait until the tail-end of the year for their next fix.

“We’re going to start doing the next album when I’m done with Ozzy’s record,” he explains. “Then I guess there’ll be some dates with Ozzy, so we have to fuckin’ figure that out too. We’re going to record the Black Label record at the studio we’re building here at my house, so we’ll knock that fuckin’ thing out and then its’ the Black Label campaign for the world domination after that! I’ll be in a fuckin’ wheelchair by the time the fuckin’ tour gets done. We’ll be working so much that we’ll be losing weight while we eat the worst fuckin’ food imaginable and drinking as much beer as we can. It’s the Black Label diet plan! Ha ha ha!”


These are busy times for Zakk Wylde, but then he needs to keep moving, keep working and keep his arse on the guitar-playing throne, because a new generation of kids will be soon snapping at his heels. The last few years have seen a huge boom in guitar sales, not least due to the massive success of console games like Guitar Hero. As avid gamers will know, Zakk features on one version of the game, so clearly he approves of the whole thing, but does he expect any new Dimebags or Eddie Van Halens to emerge from this phenomenon, or is it just a passing and superficial fad?


“I think it fuckin’ kicks ass,” he states. “Kids are finding out about all these rock bands they’ve never heard of. They’re finding out who Led Zeppelin is, who Mountain is, who Randy fuckin’ Rhoads is. If some kid really enjoys playing the game then eventually he’s gonna want to pick up the real thing, you know? When the next Jimi Hendrix or the next Eddie Van Halen comes out, it’s gonna be some kid that was playing this fuckin’ game and it’s gonna be hysterical dude.”


But not quite as hysterical as being outplayed by your own flesh and blood...


“The other day, my son Jesse was playing one of those games and it was fuckin’ unbelievable,” laughs Zakk “It was a Black Label song, and he looked me in the eye and said, ‘I kicked your ass, Dad.’ Fuck, I got shitcanned by my own son! People ask, ‘What’s it like being a rock star?’ and I say ‘Ask my kid, he just kicked me in the fuckin’ nuts!’ Ha ha ha!”


It was once written that the great thing about Zakk Wylde is that when you see him perform, all the women in the room want to fuck him and all the men in the room want to be him. Somehow, this relentlessly foul-mouthed master of the fret board connects with people on numerous levels, with his music, with his works ethic, with his devotion to having a good, beer-drenched time, all the time. It’s the Black Label effect, and it’s about as close to the ultimate embodiment of rock’n’roll’s life-affirming essence as we’re likely to get in these cynical times.


“I just think everyone wants to be part of something,” concludes Zakk. “When you’re wearing the colours, the bottom line is you’re part of something. It’s a club. It’s the don’t-be-an-asshole club. You can hangout, have a good time, drink beer and listen to the same fuckin’ music. Be thankful for what you have got, don’t be a prick and help people out. That’s it. It’s great to hook up, have a blast and a big blow-out fuckin’ party. It’s more than just a band, man. It’s more than just a music.”


THE THOUGHTS OF CHAIRMAN WYLDE:

Zakk Wylde is a man with lots to say. And it’s not always ‘Fuck’ and ‘Dick’

Gay Marriage;

“They’re making such a fuss about it over here, man. Who gives a fuck if someone’s gay? I don’t care about anyone says. You don’t wake up one day and think ‘Man, I’ve had some much pussy! I think I’m gonna try some cock today!’ Some people like pussy, some people like dick. Knock yourself out, dude.”

Downloading;

“I’ve never downloaded a single fuckin’ thing in my entire fuckin’ life, dude. I don’t understand that shit. It’s stealing. You don’t stop the technology these days, man, so there’s fuck-all anyone can do. But you can’t download games yet, so someone needs to use that technology to stop people from stealing music.”

Hot Sauces;

“Dude, it’s hysterical. My buddy made this sauce, man. It has a warming label on it. This sauce will burn a hole through your fuckin’ arm! If you’re making chilli for the guys, you add a fraction of a fuckin’ teaspoon of this thing, otherwise it’s fuckin’ lethal.”

Black Label Bars;

“You know, I wanted to have my own fuckin’ sports bars, a Hooters-type fuckin’ thing, and we’ve got that going on right now. We’ve got tons of shit going on, dude. We’ve got our own festival, the Black Label Bash. It’s bigger than a band now. It’s bigger than me. That’s what I always wanted it to be anyways.”

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Chimaira

Jim LaMarca, Rob Arnold, Mark Hunter, Matt DeVries, Chris Spicuzza, Andols Herrick.



“We’re not dead yet”

Chimaira were riding high on the new wave of America heavy metal just a few years ago until they nearly destroyed themselves. Written off as metalcore bores, they’re back with their best album yet.

At his home is Cleveland, Ohio, 31-year-old Chimaira frontman Mark Hunter is running through the kind of last-minute checklist that, for most of us, would mean that it’s laundry day: socks, check, t-shirts, check, pants, check...Though, where he’s going, the word ‘launderette’ often has little meaning. Starting tonight it’s two months on the bus, up and down the East Coast of America, playing arenas with Disturbed, Killswitch Engage, Lacuna Coil and a re-formed Spineshank. Mark seems like he’d be bouncing off the walls with excitement if he wasn’t still going through that mental checklist in case he’s forgotten anything. Gas off, post diverted, pets taken care of...

Two months to a functional touring band is like two months to a multiple felon – a walk in the park, especially on this tour. It’s not the major league, but it’s a step up there: nice buses, decent soundchecks, maybe even a hotel or two. Eight to 10 thousand people a night is nothing to sniff at either.

“It’s one of the biggest tours we’ve ever been a part of and this is our first arena tour,” enthuses Mark. “We’re not a band who’s gonna sell out and do something stupid for popularity, but we’re also not a band who wants to be in the basement and only have seven to eight fans. We want to expand, but we’re not going to compromise our music.”

He sounds fired up, ready for this. The album’s in the bag and it’s a cracker, up to and including the 14-minute instrumental that rounds it off in low-end noise; something they won’t be replicating live because it might cause their fans to “suffer from vertigo.” The track was going to be called Cleveland, a nod at their hometown’s desolate, industrial influence on the band. Instead they called it The Heart Of It All.

“Our town is very responsible for the way we sound. It was kind of a tribute to that,” says Mark, “a thank you for 10 years of inspiring us. It still winks at our home town because everyone knows that’s the heart of it all.”

I’m not going to slip up and become a trainwreck asshole again!”- Mark Hunter.

Right now the band is firing on all four cylinders (well, six technically). They played Dubai Desert Rock Festival, their first Middle Eastern gig, where they debuted Destroy And Dominate. They’ve got the set down and they’re all getting along.

“The big difference with this album was there was no back story that was fuelled with drama,” explains Mark. “We had a very successful previous album; we had two great record labels behind us that really believe in the band, and the same line-up with no inner quarrelling. It’s such a crazy way to explain it, but it’s like when you went back in time but you had the same skills that you’d acquired over the past 10 years. I felt like it was just as primitive and hungry as 10 years ago, but I also had no boundaries. I felt like I could write anything I wanted to write, but now I also had the skills and the knowledge that I’d acquired over 10 years. Everybody was writing the same way and we were hitting off each other.”

You wouldn’t have ever known from watching them live, but this has been far from the case in the past and this present harmony is the result of a lot of inner-searching. Back in 2005 Chimaira were a dominant presence on the Sounds Of The Underground tour with Lamb Of God and Clutch, but still they were losing ground to bands like Killswitch Engage, ironically, Lamb Of God and even Trivium, who Mark thought his then-record label, Roadrunner, were playing favourites to. Slagging the label off in the press probably, as he acknowledges today, wasn’t the best idea.

“We’re talking about a very dark period for the band,” says Mark. “Looking back, I know we were very immature about a lot of things. If a band’s more successful or successful quicker than you, you want to blame everyone but yourself. To worry about other bands nowadays seems so trivial to me, but it was a learning experience and one that I didn’t like. Also in that time period, when we recorded our self-titled album, we were doing Sounds Of The Underground with a new drummer {Kevin Talley} who I dislike working with and that was another thorn in my side, like, ‘ I hate the label and now I hate a bandmate’!

“On a personal level,” says Mark, “I went about as low as I’ve ever gone, with depression and anxiety...I kind slipped away from myself a lot more than I ever had before and I felt I was infected with a lot of negativity.”

Mark admits that Chimaira was nearly over. Guitarist Rob Arnold would stand up for the line-up that felt it was falling apart. Miserable and not wanting to do it anymore, Mark and Chris Spicuzza (Keyboards) talked about starting a side-project, hoping it’d be “a lot bigger and better than what we were doing.”

“I used to be trying to keep up with the Joneses,” admits Mark, “always chasing what seemed to be an impossible dream and never paying attention to what we had. That was unfortunate. I can’t speak for all the guys, but I’m not the only one. Instead of appreciating it we were like, ‘Well, we didn’t sell as much as this band.’ Nowadays I feel thankful for what we’ve accomplished and proud that we have such a loyal fanbase and growing fanbase. I wound up finding myself again and doing things like martial arts, training harder and rebuilding myself emotionally and physically, and I came out stronger as a person from looking at negative things in a positive way.”

By a strange twist of fate, it was Mark’s former label Roadrunner who indirectly enabled his recovery. When the label put on a gig to celebrate their 25th anniversary, former Chimaira drummer Andols Herrick was part of the performance. Asked by a video-grapher if he regretted leaving Chimaira he apparently started singing Cher’s If I could Turn Back Time. You probably had to be there.

“We heard that,” says Mark, “so I called him and said, ‘Hey I heard you wanna come back. We’re not getting along with our drummer and the band’s almost over if you don’t join the band.’ He was like, ‘I’ll be there right away.’

“I had a great time writing and recording these songs and we’re gonna have a great time touring,” beams Mark, finally packed and ready to go. “It’s a reminder not to slip up and become a trainwreck asshole again!”

Everyone does sometimes.

“Exactly. The message I’m trying to convey is that you can be at your absolute worst and come out of it stronger than ever. I’m proof of that and our band is proof of that. I don’t wanna jinx anything but the past year has been excellent. It seems like the sky’s the limit.”

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Killing Joke

Apocalypse Row.

Killing jokes are more than just a band. They were a huge inspiration to the likes of Metallica, Soundgarden and Fear Factory, and now Jaz Coleman wants to lead the human race into its next phase.

The end is nigh! Again. But this time it really is night! December 21, 2012 to be precise, according to Mayan prophecies and some 937,000 search results on Google. Not that this should come as a vast surprise to Killing Joke fans. Ever since their inception in 1979 these madly brilliant prophets of doom, arguably one of the most important and influential bands since the birth of the rock music, have been warning of the fall of Western civilisation. Indeed, as long ago as 1982, wild-eyed frontman Jaz Coleman fled to Iceland fearing an imminent apocalypse, and while he’s not the first soothsayer to wake up the morning after doomsday to find that the four horsemen didn’t show up to the party, there is, nonetheless, something about the man – with a reputed IQ of 190 – that tells you he’ll have the last laugh.

“The apocalypse was the cover story,” he insists today, from behind a cloud of weed smoke in their dressing room at the House Of Blues in Los Angeles. “I was doing the process of conversation with my holy guardian angel, which {psychologist Carl} Jung calls individuation, and I didn’t know how to tell the rest of the guys that’s what I was doing.”

Which, when you have finished looking up ‘individuation’, seems, to the layman at least, like a fancy way of saying he was getting his shit together. Then again, a splash of snake oil aside, it was in Iceland that Jaz decided he was going to become an orchestra composer, eventually going on to become the in-house composer for the Prague Symphony Orchestra as well as conducting the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. He has also gone Platinum 20 times making, of all things, Eastern European folk music. And it was in Iceland that the band’s ideas about The Gathering were formulated.

“The Gathering,” explains Jaz, “is a network of likeminded individuals and our ideas of creating villages or arcs in under populated regions of the world.

“This is not just a band,” he expounds. “It’s our further education; Killing Joke is a university and a mirror. People see us arseholes onstage and think, ‘I can do that’. It has this knock-on effect, the mirror effect, and they end up going on to look at their God’s gift. We’ve inspired so many different people to do so many different things. I think that’s huge. The philosophical side of Killing Joke is a huge part, it’s the transition from the idea that a fan club sells t-shirts and the idea of a fan club is an insulting idea. Instead we can buy parts of the rainforest and these places can be run by people who believe in the lifestyle choice of sustainable resources, permaculture and everything we believe as free-thinking individuals. The effect of Killing Joke is not a normal rock’n’roll thing. Within The Gathering we’ve got high-clearance NATO people, doctors, nurses, and people of every walk of life who have been inspired by the lifestyle and the ideas of Killing Joke. We’re free-thinking people and we take our liberty seriously. The idea that a fan club can be a network of alternative villages with sustainable resources all around the globe is now a reality. It’s no longer just a dream and we have a destiny that’s emerging as we’re coming up to our 30^th anniversary.”

Like the man said, Killing Joke is no ordinary band; their musical influence alone has been phenomenal. Metallica covered them, Mad Capsule Markets covered them, Fear Factory covered them, Foo Fighters covered them, Amen, Helmet...you get the idea. They were Soundgarden’s favourite band. Oh, and a little band called Nirvana nearly got sued for copyright infringement when the riff to Come As You Are bore a striking similarity to Killing Joke’s Eighties. Jaz apparently decided not to continue legal action because he had the unfair advantage over Kurt Cobain of still being alive, though a Karmic debt was repaid when Dave Grohl actually played drums on Killing Joke’s brilliant self-titled album released in 2003.

Ironically it was the tragic death of Killing Joke bassist Paul Raven from a heart attack on October 20, 2007 – something that Jaz says was more difficult to bear than the passing of his own father – that was the catalyst for bringing the original line-up: Jaz on vocals, Geodie Walker on guitar, Martin ‘Youth’ Glover on bass and Big Paul Ferguson on drums back together.

“The original line-up was something that I think always haunted Raven because he was never part of the genesis of Killing Joke,” ponders Jaz. “We always knew it was something that could happen. I think the trigger for that was meeting up with Big Paul at Raven’s passing. I truly think Raven wanted this.”

And while Jaz jokes that now they only have one bassist he’ll have to get on with him instead of swapping when they fall out, it’s interesting to note that Youth insists there was never any rivalry between them.

“We were very close,” he says. “He did 12 years in Killing Joke and I only did four. He defined the band far more than I did. When they did Love Like Blood I was like, ‘Fuck! I shouldn’t have left that band!’ But if I’d stayed I would have been dead.”

Instead Youth went on to be a hugely successful producer; working with everyone from Paul McCartney to The Verve (he won Producer Of The Year in 1998 for his work on their Urban Hymns album) and even had a stab at producing Guns N’ Roses’ Chinese Democracy album, though he won’t be drawn on whether he thinks it’s any good. He hasn’t changed much over the years; with a t-shirt bearing the oh-so-tasteful moniker Selfish Cunt, he’s probably the easiest band member to get along with: ever –friendly, talkative and music- obsessed. Geordie, meanwhile, can sometimes appear aloof and disinterested, but he’ll turn on the charm occasionally, dishing out red wine to the ladies and quoting Oscar Wilde. It’s difficult to say if Big Paul has changed; once a quietly spoken, amiable yob, he doesn’t really hang out much today until after their magnificent sell-out show, when after-party drummer-talk with Dave Grohl is rather more appealing than doing interviews. And Jaz? Hell, he’s like a bad ass Doctor Who with dash of Jedi thrown in 9dark side, naturally), an ordained minister, a nomad with multiple passports...

“Yeah, like Raven, I have many different lives in many different parts of the world,” he smiles. “Some places I’m known for my work in classical music, some I’m known for my work in mysticism and the occult and some places I’m known for Killing Joke; it’s a long way from opera houses to Killing Joke...The jester can hit the king. He walks between worlds!”

Perhaps not surprisingly, given his spiritual and occult beliefs, he has no doubt that he’ll be seeing Raven again.

“Absolutely,” nods Jaz. “I was shocked that my brother, who’s a physicist, not only believes in life after death, but that energy never stops being energy. It’s a bit like a star; most of the stars you see in the night sky are gone, the actual planets are burnt out and gone, but we still see them. And when you think that we’re learning through these theories that whatever we do and whatever we are is for eternity. This idea of eternity that links quantum physics and esoteric is something I want to do lots of lectures about. I want Killing Joke to be many things as we approach 2012. I want to talk about zero point energy and I want to demonstrate inanimate objects floating in mid-air. I want people to see it.”

Presumably this means he’s actually seen real, tangible magic, not just David Blaine sitting in a box for a month?

“I’ve seen inanimate objects rise,” beams Jaz. “I’ve seen levitation successfully performed; I’ve seen magic actually work in a very physical form. And yes, it does work! I’ve seen the Indian rope trick on a magical site...forever about it if you want.”

And what of the end of the world? These Mayan predictions that we can all kiss our arses goodbye in 2012?

“Well, it doesn’t say it’s all over, it says that time as we know it will no longer exist,” shrugs Jaz. “It’s the end of a big cycle. Centralised government is going to fall down because it can’t sustain itself, so each area has to be self-reliant. This is the only way forward. We must think ahead of banking for example, by looking at advanced systems of barter that already exist like in Argentina and Brighton. There’s even a pub in Norwich where you can sing or perform for your supper. Barter is a brilliant idea because it means that we can supersede banks. The world will change beyond our imagination, that’s for sure.”

Like we said, the end is nigh. But Killing Joke will provide one hell of a soundtrack.

Carnival Bizarre

Five events in the weird and wonderful world of Killing Joke.

In 1993 Killing Joke recorded the track Exorcism in the King’s Chamber Pyramid in Cairo, having paid $5, 000 to use the place for ‘meditation purposes’. “When we went into the pyramid and there’s a ritual to open it,” says Jaz, “and Youth didn’t realise that they dress up like Isis in all this Egyptian gear. He looks over and sees these women dressed as Isis and he goes, “Ere Jaz, who are those three weird birds at the back?”

Once known as a human drug-bin, Youth was recruited into Killing Joke after Geordie met him in a brothel. Youth was later sent to a mental hospital having been found walking naked down London’s King’s Road burning money.

Killing Joke has a ‘difficult’ relationship with the press. One hapless journalist was allegedly gaffa-taped for asking stupid questions and while Jaz says he doesn’t recall conducting an entire interview in a made-up language, he did once deliver a bucket of maggots to the offices of the now defunct Melody Maker. Let’s hope he likes this feature.

In 2002 Jaz played the role of the Devil in the award-winning Czech movie The Year Of The Devil. He was also up for the part of Don Logan in Sexy Beast, but lost out to Ben Kingsley.

In a move that he insists was more a “practical joke” than a political act, Jaz Coleman was instrumental in getting a verse in the native Maori language added to the national anthem of New Zealand. It was sung at the 1999 Rugby World Cup by a Maori activist and later added to the anthem officially.

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Heaven & Hell

Check the new Album HEAVEN & HELL-THE DEVIL YOU KNOW

TONY IOMMI, GEEZER BUTLER, RONNIE JAMES DIO and VINNIE APPICE are metal giants that walk the Earth. Sabbath in all but name, they’ve just written the heaviest album of the year. Thank fuck for drunken conversations in Japan.

It’s funny how things work out.  The year is 2009 and of the most exciting new bands on the planet has just released their debut album. It’s one of the heaviest things you’ll hear this year and makes a lot of other over-hyped metal records sound turgid and uninspired by comparison. Oddly, however, its creators have a collective age of well over 220. Two of the band’s members are frequently cited as being broadly responsible for inventing heavy metal in the first place, while the band’s singer has  sung on at least three albums that are universally regarded as cast-iron classics and, it is often alleged, single-handedly popularised the use of the ‘devil’s horns’ hand gesture in metal. Most bizarrely, despite having constructed a rich musical legacy together under a different name, they have spent large portions of the last two decades not really talking to each other at all after well-publicised and unfortunate squabbles that threatened to put an end to the collaboration once and for all. Some bands have a bit of history to recount. Heaven & Hell - or Black Sabbath, as they were originally known- are metal history. And now they’re back to teach the new generation of bands and fans a thing or two about making music that matters. For singer Ronnie James Dio and guitarist Tony Iommi, this is plainly a case of unfinished business, and as far they’re concerned, their band is better than ever.

“We’ve seen enough bands come back after prolonged layoffs,” states Dio. “Usually you see that when there’s a reformation there, you think, ‘So how much money do they think they’re going to make on this one?’ Those bands are not viable. They don’t count. They’re doing it for their own benefit, which is completely and totally untrue in this case. This shows that no matter how many years pass between this collaboration and these people, it’s always going to be a great product. It’ll always be great. This is a great band.”

“We were on the piss in Japan, and I slurred to Ronnie, ‘Fancy doing an album?’ it was that simple”- Tony Iommi.

Heaven & Hell take their name from the first album that they- minus drummer Vinnie Appice, but plus original Sabbath man Bill Ward- made together in 1980. An instant success that revived the band’s fortunes following the departure of Ozzy Osbourne at the end of the previous decade, it was an album that gave the Black Sabbath name a new lease of life and kick-started a song writing partnership between guitarist Tony Iommi and Ronnie James Dio that, were it not for those rather calamitous fallings out, could easily have outstripped the band’s earlier, more frequently feted incarnation. A second album, the brilliant Mob Rules followed a couple of years later, now with Appice on board. Another, the often overlooked Dehumanizer, emerged in 1992 when the band settled their differences, gave the whole thing another shot and then abruptly fell out again. It wasn’t until some bright spark came up with the idea of commemorating ‘The Dio Years’ with a snazzy box set that it was suggested that it might be quite cool if the band could contribute a new tune or two to make the project more than a mere rehash of past glories. As a result, the hatchet was buried and Iommi, Dio, Butler and Appice were reunited in 2006, recorded three new songs for the box set and, flushed by a positive response, embarked on an ecstatically received world tour in 2007, now under the name Heaven & Hell, a move seemingly designed to avoid any unnecessary treading on toes belonging to anyone with the surname Osbourne. The change of name has been a blessing in disguise, and one that has enabled these veteran musicians to re-launch themselves as an entirely new concern.

“I think it’s been a positive thing,” states Iommi. “I suppose it takes a bit of the pressure off. If we’d gone out as Black Sabbath we’d be playing Iron Man, Paranoid and Black Sabbath, of course, because you’ve got to play some of those songs. We really wanted to go out and play the songs we hadn’t played for a long time, the Ronnie stuff, and it worked really well. It was taking a big risk, because we had a different name, but it’s caught on fairly quick.”

“This album had to be done just to prove that yeah, we were that good for all those years” – Ronnie James Dio

“I, like everyone else, assumed that we’d be going out as Black Sabbath because we were Black Sabbath,” says Dio, “But then it was suggested that we call it something else. Of course, I scratched my head and thought, ‘What the hell are we gonna call it?’, but I honestly didn’t care. But now, with hindsight, I think it was a good idea, it put a fresh stamp on something that everybody knew was Black Sabbath anyway, so you had the connection there already.”

Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler spent much of the 90s and the first few years of this decade performing regularly as Black Sabbath with Ozzy Osbourne, and although many people would have been glad to hear some new music from the band’s original line-up, it never really looked likely. But it didn’t take anyone very long to realise that Heaven & Hell was destined to be much more than an opportunity to trot out some old favourites and wait for the pay cheque to arrive. Anyone who saw the band on their UK tour will testify to the fact that they were obviously on glorious form and clearly up to the task of honouring their legacy with a new album. By the end of the tour, it was obvious to the band too.

This man started Heavy Metal. Kneel before him !!! <><><><>
Tony Iommi! 

“I remember it distinctively,” grins Iommi. “We were in Japan at the end of the tour, and we wnet out for a meal, and we were sitting around, a bit pissed, and I slurred to Ronnie and the others, ‘Do you fancy doing an album?’ and it was as simple as that, really. After the tour, we had a little bit of a break and then I started writing stuff and they all did too. Everything built from there.”

Even given the achievements of its creators, Heaven & Hell’s debut,’ The Devil You Know is a remarkable piece of work. A monstrously dark heavy metal record that frequently strays into authentic doom territory- a mildly ironic state of affairs, given that the genre wouldn’t exist without Sabbath- it’s far heavier and more intense than anyone could seriously expect from a band of this vintage, and yet there’s an undeniable sense that somehow this is precisely what Iommi and Dio should be doing in 2009. Unlike many bands from the early days of heavy music, these are men that have never lost sight of what makes a great metal record and how the genre continues to evolve and reshape itself along the way.

“It seems almost as though this album had to be done just to prove one last time that ‘Yeah, they were that good for all those years, huh?’” laugh Dio. “I’m not saying that this spells the end of the band, because one never knows with this lot anyway and I don’t think that’s going to happen at all. But again, I think it was a necessary album, for the fans and for us. Probably more necessary for us.”

“We’re really happy with the record,” adds Iommi. “We had to try and represent the band at its best. With Ronnie, we’re capable a lot more musical stuff than we did with Ozzy. It’s more involved. And right now, I’ve got riffs coming out of my ears; we’ve got for another bloody record!”

“Having spawned an entire genre with his unique riffs, Tony Iommi has got little to prove, but somehow he seems to have excelled himself on The Devil You Know, with some of the gnarliest and most crushing songs he’s ever penned. What makes the album all the more impressive is the way the riffs are more than matched by Dio’s predictably stunning vocals and lyrics, all of which add to an overall atmosphere of doom-laden grandeur. Whether he’s drawing a parallel between the Garden of Eden and the dropping of the H-bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Atom And Evil or exposing mankind’s quietly terrified internal monologue in Fear, Dio is evidently not full of the joys of spring right now and the intensity of his emotive observations practically leaps from the speakers and starts clawing at your face. This is seriously dark shit, Ronnie...

“Yeah, I suppose it is,” he says. “The state of the world is going to be my state of mind anyway, so that’s obviously there. Take the song Eating The Cannibals; it’s saying that government has kind of screwed up. They’ve messed up to a point, especially here, that has now affected everywhere and everyone. It’s just always the promise of something and never the return and I just thought, ‘I’m going to open a restaurant and we’re going to serve them, so we can eat the cannibals.’ The song Atom And Evil is a reflection of how I think power can be misconstrued and used for the negative instead of the positive. Bible Black and Fear say loads about the dark side of everything. Neverwhere does the same.”

If we didn’t know so much about the men behind The Devil You Know, we could be forgiven for thinking that it’s the work of a much younger band. There’s little to suggest that this is anyone’s last hurrah or the tired stumbling of a band past its prime. It’s a record that stands up against everything else that’s out there in 2009 and whether that’s attributable to the fact that Iommi and Dio are more than aware of what’s going on elsewhere in the metal scene, or to the fact that their sound is as timeless as it is familiar, Heaven & Hell look certain to inspire a whole new generation of bands and fans.

“Seeing the young metal bands when we tour with them at festivals, seeing them crowd around the stage if they’re allowed to go up there to see the band play, it’s pretty phenomenal to me,” enthuses Dio. “They’re all incredibly respectful and so happy that they’re on the same bill and they can’t wait to compliment you and thank you for the things that you’ve done. That’s what being a musician all is about. It’s a nice challenge. You have to play for your peers too.”

Have you ever noticed how many bands explode into view with a storming debut album before careering rapidly downhill with a succession of disappointment follow-ups, before losing the plot completely and, to no fanfare whatsoever, splitting up? The good thing about Heaven & Hell, the coolest new band on the planet, is this heavy metal lark, and they know more about how to make their music count than any other band. As a result, whether they stick around for more after their forthcoming world tours at this stage, but don’t bet against it- or go their separate ways to pursue other worthwhile projects, the simple fact is that Heaven & Hell have nothing to prove, but they’re proving it anyway.

“We have a much better relationship than we ever did before and everyone is 100 per cent into what we’re doing,” concludes Iommi. “Everyone cares about going on stage and making good show. That’s what I like, that professionalism, Ronnie’s so professional. He can’t stand not to do his best. I like that attitude, and it goes for everybody. It’s nice, at our age, to be this enthusiastic. Its brilliant. We believe in what we do and we’re enjoying every minute.”

METAL MILESTONES

 THE DEVIL YOU KNOW isn’t the first classic album these men have been involved in...

Black Sabbath

Black Sabbath

{VERTIGO, 1970}

Heavy metal’s grand opening ceremony. Tony Iommi’s first riff on this album started it all. Utterly fucking essential.

Black Sabbath

Master of Reality

{VERTIGO, 1971}

The most flawless album of the Ozzy era, this contains an insane number of moments of genius from Iommi and co.

Rainbow

Rising

{POLYDOR, 1976}

Ronnie James Dio teams up with ex-Deep Purple guitarist Ritchie Blackmore and creates the most epic rock record of the 70s.

Black Sabbath

Heaven & Hell

{VERTIGO, 1980}

An electrifying meeting of minds, as Sabbath are reborn with Dio at the microphone. The start of a glorious relationship.

Dio

Holy Diver

{VERTIGO, 1983}

Estranged from Sabbath for the first time, Dio goes it alone and creates one of metal’s crown jewels at the first attempt. Look out!

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Interview with Iron Maiden

Interview with Iron Maiden

You’ve plainly eclipsed all the ambitions you had when this line-up came together at the turn of the century...

Bruce: “Yeah, I think we’ve gone beyond that now. We don’t actually need to be thought of as being bigger than anybody now. We’re our own little entity- it seems to feed off itself, this sort of level of success. It’s great. People are genuinely coming to the band and seeing the band that maybe would never have done so before. I don’t think that dilutes it. They get swept up in it. I’m still meeting people who have never seen the band before, who come along and say, ‘Wow, I never realised it was like this!’, so as long as people like that are coming along, we can’t complain.”

Presumably you didn’t expect to cap it all by winning a Brit award?

Bruce: “It’s a bizarre thing. I think it meant an awful lot more to everybody else than it does to us. My phone ran out of text space three times, with everyone texting me! The thing about it that means so much to us is that it was actually voted for. It wasn’t something that was decided by some committee. It was voted for by fans. That’s what makes it valid, if you like. We’ve had awards before. We got and Ivor Novello award, which is kind of an industry kind of thing but we quite liked that one in a quiet sort of way. It was a musical acknowledgement from your peers, but with the Brits, it’s a big back-slapping fest with all these wankers that present it and all the toadying that they get up to, and that’s not our style.”

Janick Gers: “I don’t need anyone to tell us how good we are. I know how good we are. I don’t need someone to give me a tin cup. Awards are great, but my Ivor Novello award’s in the bog, so every time I go for a wazz I think, ‘Oh, there’s my Ivor Novello!’ It’s great when people say. ‘Congratulations, you’ve done well. ‘But we’re a cult band. It’s a nice thing to be given and we accepted it with dignity and we won it on our own terms. We didn’t sell out and that’s a great thing.”

That relationship with the fans seems to be the central focus of flight 666, was that the original intention when you agreed to make a film about this tour?

Steve: “Yeah, it is about the fans, and it’s about the crew and everything else. Obviously it’s about the plane too, because this is the first time we’ve done that, so that’s part of it as well, but yeah, it’s about the fans. Maiden has always been about the fans so it’s great to have them as the real stars of the show.”

Bruce: “I think that is, by and large, the real story of Maiden. The story is about the band and the fans, because that’s what’s created everything. All the media that’s been focussed on Maiden over the last few years would be utterly meaningless if it wasn’t for the fans responding to it.”

Did any of you have reservations about letting a camera crew into your lives, 24 hours a day, for such a long period of life?

Bruce: “I probably had less than the other guys because I’m used to doing lots of interviews and things like that. Adrian was a little wary but I think he kind of warmed to them because they were nice guys and they did just join in and became part of the crew. If we’re all arsing around dressed as transvestite Scotsmen wearing Ken Dodd wigs and some of the crew get out their mobiles and start taking pictures, you don’t say ‘No pictures!’ because they’re your mates and everyone’s having a laugh, and it was actually the same with the documentary crew, which could’ve been a dangerous thing if they’d decided to fuck us over!’”

 

Adrian Smith: “Ironically, out of everybody I probably got on with the film crew really well. I knew the guys from before and I just like them as people. I thought their metal, and the stuff I’ve seen them do was really from the heart and it was interesting and it was intelligent and I thought they’d do a good job, so I felt quite open to it.”

Janick: “I was really very happy about it. I don’t want to be a film star! Bands should have a bit of mystery about them and I think a lot of that is better left unsaid- once you demystify it, it’s not as interesting. So I wasn’t really up for it. I kept my head down and kept as much out of the way as I could. But the guys were commendable; they came in and tried not to get in everybody’s way.”

Dave Murray: “Over the years there have always been people around, filming a lot of shows, so after the initial thing you forget they’re there. They were a nice bunch of lads too, so it wasn’t right in your face.”

Nicko McBrain: “Sam and Scott were absolutely amazing guys to work with. They weren’t really in our faces that much. I did tell then to fuck off a couple of times. Usually when I was closing the toilet door. Ha ha ha!”

In the film, Bruce says he wants Maiden to be a band that people can believe in. Is that fundamental to your success and the way you conduct yourselves as a band?

Steve: “I’d like to think that we’ve always been that from the beginning. I think that’s why so many people really follow us so fervently. I’d like to think that’s what it is anyway. Obviously it’s the music first and foremost, but the fans really do believe in us, sometimes obsessively, but that’s a positive thing, I think.”

Bruce: “Years ago, someone asked ‘What’s the secret of Maiden’s success?’ and I said that I wished it was complicated, but it’s just ‘Don’t let people down.’ You can count on Maiden. Always try your best and always be honest and don’t let people down. People will forgive you a duff album if they know you weren’t taking the piss and you tried to make a good record. They’ll forgive you if the honesty and the intention are here. If you turn around and suddenly get rid of the whole Maiden sound and do something crass and commercial and it’s a duff album, revenge will be merciless and probably well deserved.”

Adrian: “I think it’s been an important part, because of the philosophy behind the band. There’s a bigger picture that develops a life of its own. It’s important that people see that we’re a real band because there’s so much bullshit in music now.”

Do you ever stop to consider what an effect you’ve had culturally in so many countries, cities and continents?

Steve: “I think you notice it more when you come to a country where we’ve never been before, and the people are just so pleased that you’re here. When we first went to India, the fans were saying that they’d grown up with the music and they totally knew all the words and they’re learning to play Maiden songs and all that, and it’s kind of hits you more. It’s quite amazing really. It does hit home sometimes. You do have to keep it in perspective, but you see banners saying ‘Iron Maiden is my religion’, and for some people it is! It’s really, really important part of our lives.”

  

The audiences in South America seem to have an extraordinary passion for Maiden, and that really comes across in the film. Why do you think those kids love the band so much?

Adrian: “It’s not the richest of continents in terms of people’s standard of living. There’s a lot of poverty. When you get poverty, music is very important. I think it’s what the band stands for. We do have principles. We’ve never gone down the radio route, the semi-cabaret approach. The fans can see that the band’s real and they can relate to that. There’s a loyalty there, like a football crowd. And they like the music, obviously! Ha ha ha!”

Nicko: “It’s difficult to explain, because we give it 100 percent plus wherever we are. One show isn’t different from any other in terms of what we put into it, but there’s this passion down here in South America. Like Bruce says, ‘The further South you go, the hotter it gets.’ The great thing is, the crowd takes over for you. You get breathing time between songs because the kids are going crazy and you’ve got to let them vent. You can see it in the movie. It’s such passion.”

Steve: “They’re the best audiences in the world. That’s not taking anything away from the other Maiden audiences, because they all know how good they are. Everyone’s passionate about Maiden to a certain degree, but if you wanted to rent a crowd, you’d go to Chile, Argentina or Brazil, any of those places.”

Since the last Album you’ve been around the world twice more and now there’s a lot more people looking to what you’re going to do next. Is there pressure to make the next Album a truly great one?

Janick: “In all honesty, if we want to be a valid band, we have to do that. The last album’s a great album. This has been a retrospective tour and that’s great, but I don’t want to live in the past. I want to live now, not 20 years ago. This has been a great tour and I’ve loved it. It’s been one for the kids. We’ve played songs which we’ll never play again and songs which we’ve never played before. I’ve loved playing the stuff, but if we’re a real band then we need to write new stuff that is as strong as the last album.”

Adrian: “What are we gonna do? We write music, we’re musicians, so we carry on. The great thing is you’ve got an audience that wants to hear what you’re gonna do. In the real world that’s not very common situation, so you’ve got to appreciate it”

Dave: “I don’t think it matters that there’s more people. We’re not suddenly thinking that we’re under a microscope. You block that out and focus on what you’re going to do. You can’t start changing the way you think because you’re hugely successful. It’s wonderful that it’s happened, but fundamentally we’ll go back and do another album and approach it as we’ve done before.”

Steve: “We never plan anything. We don’t write on the road. The beauty is that we never know what we’re going to do next. Last time, we didn’t sit down and say we were going to write a load of long songs. I like that spontaneity and we don’t have a direction. We just go where we feel like going at the time.”

You’ve been quoted as saying that the 15^th Album could be the last one. That’s the next Album. But you can’t possibly stop now, surely?

Steve: “I personally think there’ll be more, but it’s hard to say. It really is a question of time, fitting everything in it. We’re in so much demand for live shows, which is really nice, but we still want to do our studio stuff, so if there’s time and everyone wants to do another one, we’ll hopefully do more. At this point, everyone does want to, but three years down the line, who knows? You can’t go on forever. We all know that. I think that’s why we’re enjoying it so much as well, because we know that it’s not too far away that we’re going to end up knocking it on the head.”

Bruce: “We might have to carry on. We’ll just have to manage it, and get some bionic implants. I’ll put some springs in my legs.”

Do you ever take stock, look out of the Hotel window when you’re in Ecuador or wherever, and think ‘This is a long way from the Ruskin Arms’?

Dave: “Absolutely. Sometimes it just hits you. It’s quite amazing. You’re in some massive city in Ecuador, surrounded by mountains, and you see the whole culture and it’s a great thing to be able to travel like this. But yeah, it’s a hell of a long way from the Ruskin Arms, but it’s been a great journey.”

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