Geezer Butler Happy to Have to Prove Himself Again
Former Black Sabbath bassist Geezer Butler said he was enjoying the fact that he had to prove himself all over again with his new band Deadland Ritual.
He said they had 12 tracks written for their debut album, but refuted the suggestion that he, Matt Sorum, Steve Stevens and Franky Perez were a supergroup.
“We’ve got three songs recorded already, produced by Greg Fidelman who engineered the last Sabbath album, 13,” Butler told Classic Rock. “Then there’s another nine songs we’ve written together. The material is less bluesy than [debut track] ‘Down In Flames’ and not really what you’d class as heavy metal. It’s not like a modern heavy band, like thrash and all that stuff. I think it’s more like the old Sabbath kind of hard rock.”
He noted that "we’ve really got to prove ourselves again, which is something I’ve been missing for a long time,. We’re just another band. If we were a ‘supergroup,' we wouldn’t be playing small clubs and we wouldn’t be fifth on the bill at festivals. If you look at yourselves as superstars, you may as well pack it in. We’ve got seven new songs in the set, and we’re coming to people that have never heard them before, so that’s a bit more of a challenge, So it’ll be interesting to hear what the reaction is.”
Sabbath frontman Ozzy Osbourne recently said he’d like to stage one more performance, and include original drummer Bill Ward. Asked for his thoughts, Butler said, “If it came up, I wouldn’t say never. I can’t imagine it ever happening, but then I said that about the Sabbath tour, and it happened, so who am I to know? I haven’t seen Ozzy at all. I’ve seen Tony [Iommi] and Bill at a couple of awards things we’ve done, and me and Tony stay in touch through emails, but that’s about it.”
Butler added that "it’s good between us. It’s like having brothers. You don’t have to be in touch.”
Listen to Deadland Ritual's 'Down in Flames'