Tony Iommi Calls Into Question A Sabbath Reunion

Will they, won't they?   17-Aug-11

News outlets around the world, including ourselves, reported this week that Black Sabbath are getting back together. And indeed, Gibson.com even went as far as saying that Tony Iommi had confirmed the news:

"As Gibson.com reported previously, it’s been rumored that the original lineup of Black Sabbath have reunited. Now, guitar god Tony Iommi has confirmed the news."

Although it looks like this story may have subsequently been removed by Gibson.com, and we can only hazard a guess that this is because Iommi is now denying the rumours on his very own website:

"I’m saddened that a Birmingham journalist whom I trusted has chosen this point in time to take a conversation we had back in June and make it sound like we spoke yesterday about a Black Sabbath reunion.

“At the time I was supporting the Home of Metal exhibition and was merely speculating, shooting the breeze, on something all of us get asked constantly, 'Are you getting back together?”

“Thanks to the internet it’s gone round the world as some sort of ‘official’ statement on my part, absolute nonsense. I hope he’s enjoyed his moment of glory, he won’t have another at my expense.

“To my old pals, Ozzy, Geezer and Bill, sorry about this, I should have known better."

When Iommi talks about a Birmingham journalist, he is referring to an article that was published by regional British paper The Birmingham Mail. The article seemed to infer that Iommi had confirmed the reunion rumours.

So whilst the guitarist hasn't actually denied the reunion, yet, he also hasn't confirmed it, so Sabbath fans will have to wait a while until they get confirmation either way.

Here's a song that The Zutons wrote for this occasion:

(Image courtesy of Creative Commons, author - Marek Krajcer)

Rich Beech
@sonicamped