Tony Iommi wanted Brian May to play on more of his new solo album: “But he went, ‘Oh no, it’s your album!’”
Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi is gearing up to release his first solo album in more than two decades, From The Dark, with longtime friend and Queen guitarist Brian May among its guest contributors.
In a new interview with Loudwire, Iommi opens up about how May ended up on the record – and reveals that he’d actually asked his old friend to play on more than one track.
The collaboration came together pretty casually, with May dropping by Iommi’s house and the two guitar legends doing what they’ve apparently been doing for decades: picking up guitars and having “a little fiddle about”.
READ MORE: Tony Iommi’s final conversation with Ozzy Osbourne: “He said he wasn’t feeling great”
“He brings a guitar or I’ve got one here and he’ll use that,” says Iommi. “I said, ‘Oh, bring your guitar when you come,’ he brought his guitar and I said, ‘You’re going to be playing on this track here.’ He’s great.”
May ultimately contributes to Death Wake, the sixth track on From The Dark. Iommi, however, had hoped to get a little more out of his old friend.
“I said to him, ‘Play on some other tracks,’ but he went, ‘Oh no, it’s your album,’” Iommi recalls. “That’s the relationship we’ve had with each other for all these years. We’ve played a lot together. He is a great friend.”
Iommi says the pair have known each other for “56, 58 years” and describes May as his best friend, alongside another legendary guitarist – Eddie Van Halen.
“We’ve known each other for 56, 58 years. He’s my best friend. And of course, Eddie Van Halen was. We always stayed in touch a lot. They were the only two I really did stay in touch with.”
Beyond May’s contributions, the rest of From The Dark came together just as smoothly. Despite being his first solo album since 2005, Iommi says there was little pressure in the studio to force things.
“It’s been good fun, there’s no pressure,” he says. “If nothing happened, nothing happened, then we’d do it the next time. But it did, every time we come to record something, it’d work.”
From The Dark is due out on 23 October. Listen to the lead single World Alone below.
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Source: www.guitar-bass.net
