Black Sabbath bassist Geezer Butler revealed why he’ll never release the jazz songs he’s written.

He recently acquired a seven-string bass, which he told Kerrang! allows him to “play guitar and bass pretty much at the same time,” and, as a result, he was writing new music.

Addressing a 2005 rumor that he might work on a jazz album, Butler said, “I’ve got loads [of] jazz tracks already written, but if I put a Geezer Butler jazz album out, who would want that? There’s [a] jazz bass thing I’ve written that’s so complicated, I can’t remember how I did it. I can’t reproduce it. I must’ve been pissed at the time! I had a go at it, but you play it to people and they go, ‘What is that?’”

Another project he’s working on is a memoir, which he admitted was difficult going. “I’m quite a private person … so it’s quite a challenge really,” he said. “But it has been fun looking back and thinking back to the early days.”

Butler also expressed doubt that his most recent band, the supergroup Deadland Ritual, may not return as a result of COVID-19. “We were all set to go and we had the album written, but then coronavirus came along,” he noted. “All the studios are closed, too, and if you’re going to be a new band, you’ve got to go out and tour your album, and touring’s out the window again. … So I’m not sure if that’s ever going to happen.”

 

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