The longstanding friendship between Queen's Brian May and Black Sabbath's Tony Iommi has been well-documented and has reportedly even led to some recording sessions. Just last year, Iommi claimed to have found "about 500" riffs while the two were hanging out, and May hasn't ruled out the possibility of putting them out into the world.
Speaking with GuitarWorld about whether or not their long-rumoured collaborations would see the light of day, May offered, "I think there is a chance. We do more talking than anything else, but we do a lot of talking. He is really my dearest friend in the business and has been for so many years. I could write books about Tony because he's just the most [pauses]... I don't even know how to put it into words. You know, he's a luminous human being is Tony, with a wonderful, kind nature and an incredibly baffling sense of humour."
Musically, May made sure to mention that, "of course, [Iommi] is the father of heavy metal. He did that. He made that happen. And it's from his fingers and his mind. That young ex-welder, he made that happen. So, you know, he forever wears that medal, I think. He founded this stuff, heavy metal, in my opinion."
Iommi and May had hinted at a collaborative album of riffs in conversation with Kerrang! [via Loudwire] in 2013. "When are we going to get to work on that album of riffs together?," Iommi asked May. "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."
As May explained, the idea came after sitting down in Iommi's home studio and discovering a wealth of unreleased guitar work from the Sabbath legend.
"I thought it would be great to make a compilation out of them," May told Kerrang! of the demos. "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!"
While we wait for any further details of May and Iommi's team-up, you can watch them come together in-studio in 1989 below.
May's 2020 has seen him design a sports bra and rip his ass while gardening — which also gave him a heart attack.
Speaking with GuitarWorld about whether or not their long-rumoured collaborations would see the light of day, May offered, "I think there is a chance. We do more talking than anything else, but we do a lot of talking. He is really my dearest friend in the business and has been for so many years. I could write books about Tony because he's just the most [pauses]... I don't even know how to put it into words. You know, he's a luminous human being is Tony, with a wonderful, kind nature and an incredibly baffling sense of humour."
Musically, May made sure to mention that, "of course, [Iommi] is the father of heavy metal. He did that. He made that happen. And it's from his fingers and his mind. That young ex-welder, he made that happen. So, you know, he forever wears that medal, I think. He founded this stuff, heavy metal, in my opinion."
Iommi and May had hinted at a collaborative album of riffs in conversation with Kerrang! [via Loudwire] in 2013. "When are we going to get to work on that album of riffs together?," Iommi asked May. "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."
As May explained, the idea came after sitting down in Iommi's home studio and discovering a wealth of unreleased guitar work from the Sabbath legend.
"I thought it would be great to make a compilation out of them," May told Kerrang! of the demos. "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!"
While we wait for any further details of May and Iommi's team-up, you can watch them come together in-studio in 1989 below.
May's 2020 has seen him design a sports bra and rip his ass while gardening — which also gave him a heart attack.
