“They’re not rubbing elbows with the common folk too much”: Mastodon’s Bill Kelliher reveals he didn’t even meet Tony Iommi when the band supported Black Sabbath on tour
One name to grace the monstrous lineup of Black Sabbath’s final concert, Back to the Beginning, is Mastodon, who alongside Metallica, Slayer, Pantera and more, will support the original Sabbath lineup as they bow out for one final time.
And as all the bands on the bill gear up for the show – which is now less than a month away – Mastodon’s Bill Kelliher has reminisced on the first time he and his bandmates played with Black Sabbath on tour.
READ MORE: Didn’t get tickets to Black Sabbath’s final show? You can livestream it – here’s how
Mastodon toured with Black Sabbath back in 2005 as part of Ozzfest, but as Kelliher recalls, the moments he had to interact with the band were few and far between.
“Those guys are pretty well-padded,” he says in the new issue of Guitar World. “They’re kinda like fine china at this point. They’re not rubbing elbows with the common folk too much [laughs]. But I remember sitting down with [drummer] Bill Ward a couple of times, and he had nice things to say about us.”
Asked whether he had the opportunity to talk to Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi or Geezer Butler, Kelliher says he met Ozzy “for a second”, but “both of us had a few substances in us”.
“The only time I spoke to Mr. Iommi was when we were accepting an award in London, 10 or 12 years ago; he was accepting an award, too,” he says.
“We were all standing there and were going to perform a couple of songs. He was about to accept his award, and it was dark behind the stage; as he was getting ready to walk out, instead of being like, ‘Hey man, you’re my favourite guitar player, let’s get a picture,’ I was like, ‘Watch out for that cable running across the floor!’
“He was like, ‘Oh yeah, thanks, dude.’ That was my interaction.”
But despite his limited interaction, Kelliher is quick to note how much he’s inspired by Iommi.
“They’re the quintessential heavy metal band,” he says. “They’re like the original fucking metal band, really, in my eyes. His playing influenced just about every metal riff you’ve heard. Whether you want to admit it or not, he created a lot of those iconic harmonies.”
Black Sabbath’s farewell show, Back to the Beginning, takes place 5 July. For more info, head to blacksabbath.com.
The post “They’re not rubbing elbows with the common folk too much”: Mastodon’s Bill Kelliher reveals he didn’t even meet Tony Iommi when the band supported Black Sabbath on tour appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
Source: www.guitar-bass.net
