Get smart about Spam, please

If you visit this website, or you have my email addresses in your address book, would you please do some virus scanning on your system? The reason is that I'm getting innundated with email virus bombs, on the order of 2,000 msgs a day. Someone (or multiple people) out there have my Sabbath mail and sabbath list emails in their address books, as I'm getting them at these addresses. See the picture at the bottom of this message? I'm getting hundreds and hundreds of these emails per day. The capture is just a small portion - this is what's come into my box in the last 30 minutes or so before my posting this.

Generally the way these things work is that someone who is stupid about computer operations puts someone else in their address book, they get infected, and everyone in their address book gets boatloads of virus infected emails because they were stupid enough not to bother to virus protect their system. Or they did do that, and didn't keep up with updates. Having a virus scanner on your system that isn't updated is... well.. you might as well not have one.

If you read this message, please get your system protected. It's not fun having to waste so much time each day processing these things because people who visit my site are stupid about their own computers. Please go put virus scanning software on your computer. If you have it already, update it - make sure you're current with definitions. If you've already done these, please check your system out. It'll save the rest of the internet a lot of time.

Just like parenting, there should be an IQ test before you're allowed on the Internet. If you're the person who has allowed your computer to become a mail sending zombie, you should be barred from the Internet. Permanently.

Posted by Joe Siegler at 1:04 PM

Geezer Butler releases 1986 Demo Track

Over on the Official Geezer Butler Website, Geezer has released "a special Christmas Present" for everyone. It's an mp3 of a track recorded originally back in 1986 as "The Geezer Butler Band". The track name is 'Computer God' which should be familiar to Black Sabbath fans. Here's a few factoids about the song:

• The band on the song is Geezer Butler (bass), Pedro Howse (guitar), Carl Sentance (vocals), Jezz Woodroffe (keyboards), & Gary Ferguson (drums).
  
• This was part of an unreleased recording session back in 1986 done in at Rockfield Studios, in Momouthshire, Wales.
  
• The song shares its title with a song from the Black Sabbath Dehumanizer album. However, other than the song title, there is no relation between the two tracks. In Geezer's own words, "I borrowed the title from it for Dehumanizer."
  

Geezer also had this to say about the lyrics on the song.. "I wrote the lyrics about God being the ultimate computer, an idea which was carried on in the song "Catatonic Eclipse" on the Plastic Planet album."

You'll want to head over to Geezer's site to download the track, which is available for free as an mp3 download.

Posted by Joe Siegler at 3:37 PM

Jamie Mallender's Tony Martin Tour Diary

A few weeks ago I posted a concert review, some remarks by Tony Martin, and some great pictures of a Tony Martin live gig. I'm here with a followup piece of news.

Jamie Mallender, the bassist in Tony Martin's solo band, as a tour diary online from the recent Tony Martin tour that was completed. He has reports, pictures and everything from I believe all the stops on the tour. You'll definitely want to check this out if you're a Tony Martin fan.

Posted by Joe Siegler at 11:43 AM

Black Sabbath Radio Shows

As has been previously announced several times, Bill Ward does a monthly radio show out of Cerritas College in California called "Rock 50". It was also recently announced that Tony Iommi will start doing a weekly radio show in England at Planet Rock. I was also just informed that there's another one. Former Black Sabbath drummer Bev Bevan (from the Born Again Tour, as well as the Eternal Idol album, also well known from ELO) does a show as well. It's on Saga 105.7 FM in the UK. Check out their website here.

In other Sab radio news, I was sent this small tidbit by Bill Ward's people this morning..

Bill to guest on Tony Iommi¹s new radio show this Sunday

Planet Rock Radio
Sunday, December 18th
7:00 PM ­ 9:00 PM (GMT)/ 2:00 PM ­ 4:00 PM (EST)
Listen online at www.planetrock.com
Also available in the UK on DAB Digital Radio, Sky Channel 861, ntl channel 880, or Telewest channel 924

Finally, there's also Rob Dwyer's show at Heepster Radio. Rob runs the Sabbath site Sabbath Live, and he too has been doing an Internet based radio show about Black Sabbath since September. Here's a few words from him about it.

Back in September, I began doing a weekly Internet Radio program at www.heepsterradio.com showcashing all Black Sabbath related last week. So far, this show has been most listened to program on our fledging station. Past shows have featured new music from Tony Martin and Ozzy, as well as special features about the SEVENTH STAR tour, the earliest known Sabbath live shows, a show dedicated to Ronnie James Dio and much, much more. I've also been sneaking in some rare, uncirculated cuts as a special thanks to my loyal listeners.

Update: I got an email from Rob Dwyer saying that his show has moved, it's now located here.

So that's plenty of Sabbath goodness on the radio (well, Internet radio, but still...), so you'll want to check it all out.

Posted by Joe Siegler at 11:27 AM

Ronnie James Dio is Dr. X!

You know, everyone has their list of "desert island" albums. Ones they'd take with them if they could only have them and no others. Back in 1988, one of these albums came out. It's called Operation: Mindcrime by Queensryche. This album is by far one of the best things I've ever heard. I knew it when it was new in 1988, and it's still just as awesome in 2005. I saw Queensryche do the entire album live back in 1991, as well as in 2004. I cannot say how strongly I like this album. How it doesn't rank higher on the all time list of metal albums is beyond me.

If you do not own Operation: Mindcrime, I strongly urge you to buy a copy. You will not be disappointed. Long time fans of my website should be aware of my musical tastes, and I don't make this recommendation lightly.

Anyway, over the years, Queensryche fans have asked if there ever will be a sequel album. The story is great, and the music on it is awesome, so it lends itself to "sequel" quite easily. The long awaited sequel has been under production now for a year or so, maybe a little more. One of the strenghts of the original album was the characters on it. Thing is, most of the vocalisations of them in the songs (except for Sister Mary, obviously) were Geoff himself. This time around, the characters are supposed to be vocalised by others. And that brings me to the reason why I'm covering this on my Black Sabbath site.

Ronnie James Dio will be Dr. X! Without going into the entire Mindcrime story, Dr. X is the guy who gets Nikki (the main character) into what he's into. The fact that Ronnie James Dio will be Dr. X on Operation Mindcrime II is a major MAJOR bonus. I would have bought Mindcrime 2 even if it was Geoff Tate farting for an hour, but the fact that Ronnie Dio is on here is a major bonus.

Now, we can only hope that when Queensryche tours for Mindcrime 2 that they play with Dio, as the story is that Queensryche is going to play both the original Mindcrime and the sequel in their entirety - that will be seriously badass. Would love to see Ronnie in those shows, too. :)

Here's a picture of Ronnie James Dio & Geoff Tate together. Was taken from the Queensryche Website, which has this to say about the announcement..

History is about ready to repeat itself, and in a big way. Today queensryche.com is happy to announce who the mysterious Dr. X is! It's none other than legendary rock/metal vocalist Ronnie James Dio! These above photos, taken just yesterday, came at the conclusion of Ronnie's vocals and thus puts the wraps on the recording of Mindcirme II.

Religion and sex are powerplays. Selling skin, selling God, the numbers look the same on the credit card

Posted by Joe Siegler at 10:13 AM

Brian May on Black Sabbath

Back when Black Sabbath was inducted into the UK Hallf of Fame, they were introduced by Brian May of Queen. Brian is a long time friend of Tony Iommi's, and Brian is the only other guitarist to ever appear on a Black Sabbath record (Brian does the guitar solo on When Death Calls from 1989's Headless Cross). Brian gave a really nice introduction speech for the ceremony, which touched on the entire history of the band, not just Ozzy / Tony / Geezer / Bill. With permission from Brian, here's the text of his speech, as it appeared on his notes:

BLACK SABB HISTORY

Around 1964 if you had been around Aston, near Birmingham of an evening you might have ambled into a pub or a club and seen the Rockin’ Chevrolets, The Rest, or Rare Breed,

These groups contained various combinations of players, including William Ward, John Osborne, Anthony Iommi, and Terence Butler, all young kids playing on a semi-pro basis, picking up maybe a fiver a night for their efforts.

Somewhere along the line they all decided to give up their day jobs and pitch in to the Great Rock world full time. Tony’s accident on the last day of his work in his factory job, losing the ends of two of his fingers could have stalled a weaker man, but for Tony and the band, it hardened the determination. . …

The group went through many incarnations after this, with different names, up to 1968. Not names which most of us remember, but you would if you had been there ! You would have seen a willowy singer wailing in a way that made the kids parents despair. A dark moustachioed guitarist thrashing out huge original riffs and blinding metal solos. A drummer who hit the kit hard enough to make people scared, a thunderous bass player who growled from beneath furled brows. And a group abandoning the standards of the day and creating their own unique style. Somewhere in 1969 this group of young lads had a vision of what their band would one day symbolise to millions of kids around the world. They named themselves a symbol of unorthodoxy, anger, mystery, and raw power. They called themselves Black Sabbath !!

Sabbath History is peppered with drama and constant change … Ozzy left the group for periods in which he created brilliant solo work with his Blizzard of Oz, alongside Randy Rhodes and others….

Bill Ward ‘retired’ at times to pursue his private life,

Geezer Butler at times resigned to write and produce independently …

And all the while Tony Iommi kept the Black Sabbath ethos intact, enlisting many a now legendary player to keep the flame burning … Ronnie James Dio, Tony Martin, Glenn Hughes, Cozy Powell, Eric Singer, Neil Murray, Ian Gillan … all these great artists have lent something to the monolith which is Black Sabbath.

But whenever the planets are suitably aligned the Original Sabbath line up storms back together, and the earth truly moves, as it’s about to do tonight.

These men invented Heavy Metal. Together or apart, for more than 40 years, they have pursued it without compromise. Black Sabbath have struck more unforgettable riffs into the hearts of men than any group on the planet; They are the model, the living primal seed …. and a whole genre of young Rock groups today acknowledge their debt, and pay their respects. This monumental Rock Group of the People are more than worthy of induction into ANY Hall of Fame. Ladies and Gentlemen, it’s a great pleasure and a great honour for me to recognise this day ….. Black Sabbath.

CUE VID.

…. Bill Ward, Geezer Butler, Tony Iommi and Ozzy Osborne… Black Sabbath !!!
© brianmay.com

Posted by Joe Siegler at 9:38 AM

Winners of the Tony Martin Giveaway

I'm here to post the winners of the Tony Martin giveaway. These two folks have won a copy of Tony Martin's Scream album. They are:

William Devine of Arnold, MD
Chris Lawless of Saugerties, NY

The answers to the trivia questions:

1) Which Black Sabbath song did Tony cover on his first solo album?

That would be Jerusalem, which originally appeared on the Tyr album. Tony said publically in years past that he felt Sabbath should have played that live, so it's no surprise there.

2) What other former Black Sabbath member is on Tony's new album, Scream?

There's two, actually. Geoff Nicholls (who shouldn't be listed as "former", IMO) handles keyboards. Cozy Powell is also on the album, via some drum tracks he recorded for Tony Martin back in 1992 before his death.

3) What band was Tony Martin in when he was chosen as Sabbath's vocalist in 1987?

The answer to this is "The Alliance". I got that one verified by Tony himself. I got several answers to this one (Misha Calvin, The Cage, etc), but according to Mr Martin himself, the proper answer is "The Alliance".

4) What other bands was Tony in with Cozy Powell besides Black Sabbath?

Again, according to Tony Martin, the proper answer to this is Forcefield as well as Hammer (also known as Cozy Powell's Hammer and 'Tony Martin & Friends').

One could make a point that the Tony Martin band could be listed here too, as Cozy is on his new album, but I wasn't looking for that response when I put the question together.

Additionally when I put this together, I emailed Tony Martin and asked him about whether or not he and Cozy Powell were in the band Blue Murder at the same time. As Tony's response seems to indicate that they were not, I did not use that as an answer for this question. Here's Tony's response to my query about whether he was in Blue Murder at the same time as Cozy was:

Cozy had been there already when I worked on the songs. I'm not sure that at the point of my arrival he was in the band!!!! But he was on the tracks. Then I don't know what happened after that. I worked solo with John on the songs and no other musicians were at the studio.

So there you have it. The fourth question turned out to be a bit more complicated than I had liked, but since the answer came from Tony Martin himself, it's hard to argue that. :) William & Chris, your CD's are on the way.

Thanks to all who entered!

Posted by Joe Siegler at 4:20 PM

Tony Martin Tour

Over at Tony Martin's Official Website, he had a tour report. This is what he had to say about his short tour having finished..

I'M BACK!!!!!!!!!

What a tour!!!!! I gotta tell you this band is really cool!!! I know some seasoned musicians that would have CRUMBLED under the pressure!!!! But everyone pulled to-gether and we came through it scathed but intact!!

I am so impressed with the few thousand people that came out to see us!! You guys rock! And we wanna thank you for the great reception we had. Not all the venues were full but those that came were really great to play, and we tried to meet as many of them after as we could. To those we met, thanks for your support and kind words, it means a lot.

We had endless problems to deal with, from wrong equipment to the front wheel coming off the bus!!!
Promoters that didn't turn up with the money and not paying us to impossible journeys that made performing close to impossible.

We have made MANY friends on this short trip, and discovered much about our possibilities and limitations. The industry is very different to that we knew but it's still wide open in some areas that will be good for us.

I wanna pay tribute to guys in the band, Danny Needham, Great drummer, very visual and a hard worker, he has the ability to sit at almost ANY kit and make it work! I've never seen a drummer do this!! No ego, great laugh, cool guy. Jamie mallender, Bass guitar, another cool guy, we have a very reliable determined player here, I was amazed also at his ability to work with impossible equipment!! One show had him with a bass rig that stopped working and STILL he threw shapes and made it LOOK like the equipment was working, and never complained!!! Jo Harford, my son, he's quite shy mostly but he's really come out of his shell and performs Iommi's stuff perfectly, It's a joy to work with him and I'm very proud of him, Fabio Cerrone, Very talented and individual player. Again he worked with some impossible equipment and was able to make a great performance. A real gentleman on stage, giving up his better equipment to Joe so that Joe could work easier. Geoff Nicholls, our experience, he has been fantastic in keeping spirits up and it's an honour to have him in my band. All of these guys are worth every credit I could find. Thank you for hanging in there and making it possible.

I now know it's perfectly possible to make this work. I was unsure what to expect before but now... It's all there for us to do. The record company are right behind us too, so I'd like to thank them.

The songs?........ It's all there ... this time we tried Sabbath stuff..... That works real well, we got solo stuff that will come next, we got archive stuff.... it's all possible a huge catalogue of great songs to draw from. And a band capable of achieving it all. right now the show lasts nearly 2 hours! I can see it possible to make 3 hours out of it!!!

I'm really pleased with the band and our possibilities are really exciting. This is the beginning and now I'm completely confident.

Thanks again to those who supported us.
TM

The guy who sent in the pictures from yesterday's report also had posted a concert review I linked to yesterday. I sent that review to Tony himself to check out, and Tony replied with this in regards to the concert review..

Had a look at the review and I'm shocked!!!

If you take this personal review to heart I imagine you would be put off from seeing the show, I hope not, It's written from a voyeur point of view with no information of the background and little acnowledgement of the majority crowd reaction that was really amazing and very encouraging!

All the requests I've ever had and favourite tracks that've been asked for, have been the Sabbath years that never got played!!!!

Just goes to show my original idea of changing direction could have been better! But then the album is in Sabbath style and everyone seems to like that so then it would seem that people want me to write like Sabbath but not play like Sabbath!

Hmmm!!!! guess I can't win.

I would just say that this is just the beginning and the overwhelmning opinion has been to start where I left off and work towards the new Tony Martin direction.

Also I am very proud of those Sabbath years and was always disapointed that I didn't get to play them more.

The sound was shit because they refused to include my sound engineer in the trip to Russia. We had our own engineer on the rest of the tour and it was much better. The sound created was by an in house engineer that we met just a few hours before that was one of the reasons that the show was later.

Also the agent that initiated the tour didn't send all the information about equipment so we had a struggle with certain things.

The decision to play one scream track was deliberate because we are coming back to Russia possibly in January to continue the story and by then we hope the album will be more available.

I also wanted Geoff to get credit for the work hea has done in the past and coupled with that was my small tribute to the rest of the Sabbath years. I sang Children of the sea for more years in Sabbath than Ronnie did!!! It's a great song and I'm happy to promote it.

Dio and Ozzy have had their solo careers for many years, I haven't done that and so I have to start SOMEWHERE!!!!!

If you just don't like the fact that I was there, I can't help that. There are some people that still think I should even be trying, can't help that either, It's nice to know I piss em off so much!!!

It's great to have Geoff on board, it's also a pleasure to have my son on board, the other guys are relatively unknown but I needed people I trust in the band and I have that now.

I have to say the overall reaction to the shows has been really encouraging.

Don't give up on us just yet!!

TM

When I sent that review to Tony, I wasn't expecting him to write that much, let alone write anything back, so that's cool. If the Tony Martin band happens to come near where you're playing, make it a point to go see it; especially with the set list that I've seen going around for it. At least in the Turin Italy gig on November 25th it was:

The Lawmaker
I Witness
The Eternal Idol
The Hand that Rocks the Cradle
Valhalla
Children of the Sea
When Death Calls
Dying For Love
Scream
The Shining
Headless Cross
Paranoid
War Pigs

That's a lot of Martin era Sabbath, the likes of which we'll probably never see Sabbath themselves do ever again, so if you like these songs, and want them to survive, Tony needs your support. Buy Scream, go see him in concert.

Posted by Joe Siegler at 11:41 AM