TONY IOMMI
He’s the Iron Man – in more ways than one. In terms of influence, the Black Sabbath guitarist is full of it. We talk to the man who wrote the heavy metal guitar rule book.
After a serious hand injury (losing the tips of two fretting fingers) that would have halted most players in their tracks, Tony Iommi ignored the doubters, stuck with his guitar, used his ingenuity and went on to both directly and indirectly influence every hard rock and heavy metal guitarist who has come along since.
“Before the accident, I could play regular chords like everybody else,” he tells us. “But after the accident I had to think of different ways to approach the thing. I used to work on a way to make the sound bigger and get as much out of the guitar as I could. It was really a struggle. You had to be dedicated.”
You’re known as the Dark Lord Of Riffs, but you could have played in many different bands, because your playing style is broad enough.
Thanks. It’s hard for me to see. I tend to set myself in that vein with what we do. I’ve always been a bit, not scared, to jump out of my field. I do on my own, but if you shoved me in the Eagles I’d go: “Oh Christ, what do I do here?” Much like when I was with Jethro Tull. I did that short thing with them, after Mick Abrahams and before Martin Barre.
When metal happened, which you and your SG were fundamental to, was it a natural evolution from, say, Cream and Led Zeppelin, or was it the chemistry between the four of you in Sabbath?
Yes, absolutely [the chemistry]. When we first got together we’d just learn twelve-bar songs. On the first gig we did, I didn’t even know what they were going to wear. Geezer came in in this long hippie dress. I’ve got my leather jacket on. Ozzy came with a shirt, and a tap round his neck. We were a right odd bunch. But it brought us together and it just worked.
Was there a decision to go that dark route? Was it that you wanted to be scary?
Well, I was always interested in horror movies and stuff like that, and so was Geezer. We had this interest in the supernatural. We said: “Imagine how people get frightened, get that excitement from a horror movie, that fear. It would be nice to do that in music.” And that’s how it took hold.
What about your influences? Given the era in which you grew up, presumably Hank Marvin was high on the list?
Absolutely. Me and Brian May both loved Hank. We’re not widdly-diddlies. We were in the studio together once and we started playing Shadows stuff. So it was mainly Hank, then Chuck Berry and a bit of Buddy Holly.
Did anybody else turn you on later?
Van Halen. We took Van Halen on their first big tour. They were with us for eight months. Eddie was playing things I’d never seen before. Of course, he set off a whole new load of players playing like that, and now I can’t believe some of them. I certainly couldn’t do it.
Listen to this: Black Sabbath (Black Sabbath, Black Sabbath, 1970)