.

Black Sabbath's Tony Iommi Plans Album With Queen's Brian May

Guitarists ponder a compilation of riffs for fans to build on

Tommy Iommi, Brian May
James Lemke Jr/FilmMagic; Oli Scarff/Getty Images
February 15, 2013 8:15 AM ET

If you've always wanted to jam with Tony Iommi, you may get a chance: The Black Sabbath guitarist has plans for a "riffs album" with Queen's Brian May that would allow fans to build their own songs around the musicians' unused material.

Word of the prospective project slipped out in an interview May did with Kerrang! magazine in which fellow musicians asked him questions. As reported by NME, Iommi asked, "When are we going to get to work on that album of riffs together? You know what I'm talking about." May replied, "Yes, I do know what he's talking about, and I'm very, very keen. The record he's talking about what supposed to be a secret, but I guess he's blown it now."

Black Sabbath's Dark, Twisted Resurrection

May got the idea for the album while visiting Iommi's studio, where he was struck by the amount of unreleased material the Sabbath guitarist has piled up over the years. "I thought it would be great to make a compilation out of them," May said. "The idea was to put all these riffs out in some form so that people could build their own songs from them. You could make your own music with Tony Iommi on guitar!"

There's no word on a possible release date, or whether the album will actually happen. Iommi is busy for now working on Black Sabbath's upcoming 13, which will be the band's first album with Ozzy Osbourne in 35 years. Rick Rubin is producing the LP, which is due in June.

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

prev
Music Main Next

blog comments powered by Disqus
Daily Newsletter

Get the latest RS news in your inbox.

Sign up to receive the Rolling Stone newsletter and special offers from RS and its
marketing partners.

X

We may use your e-mail address to send you the newsletter and offers that may interest you, on behalf of Rolling Stone and its partners. For more information please read our Privacy Policy.

Song Stories

“More Than a Feeling”

Boston | 1976

Boston mastermind Tom Scholz was as surprised by anyone when he sent his unsolicited demo to record labels and got back a positive response. Scholz said, “I couldn’t believe it. Nobody knew who we were, so I wouldn’t even say we were struggling. It was groveling.” Part of the credit for the interest must go to the anthemic rock number "More Than a Feeling." Inspired by the Left Banke's 1966 hit "Walk Away Renee," Scholz worked on the song for five years in his basement studio before it was released on this album.

More Song Stories entries »