Tony Iommi Has ‘Four or Five Hundred’ Unused Guitar Riffs on His Phone
Black Sabbath icon Tony Iommi keeps a stockpile of guitar riffs on hand. It's something the guitarist reaffirmed in a recent radio interview with Planet Rock when he mentioned he now has "four or five hundred" on his phone, just waiting to be used.
But will they ever see the light of day? Iommi seems to be discussing the possibility more as of late, and he even released a new song last month, so indications are good that more new material could emerge.
Iommi told Planet Rock, "I've got so much stuff, I just wanna get started on getting it together now. Because my phone, there's four or five hundred riffs on it. And I've gotta get 'em off." [via Blabbermouth]
The prolific musician added, however, "It's getting around to doing it — that's the thing. It's just an abundance. … The pandemic put a bit of a block on it, really. And I was working it out and the engineer was coming over and we were getting through some things. But then when that happened and you couldn't have anybody in the house or in the studio, it put the kibosh on that for a bit. And then I started getting involved in other stuff. And it's just kicking back on again. I've gotta get back into getting these things down properly."
He could start fleshing out the unused riffs with Brian May, the Queen guitarist who's also his good friend. It's a long-discussed collaboration idea that Iommi earlier this month said he still wants to pursue.
As for what it might sound like, listeners can get a sniff in "Scent of Dark," Iommi's first rock song in eight years. It accompanied a signature Tony Iommi fragrance released in November with perfumer Xerjoff.
In the same Planet Rock interview, host Neil Jones mentioned to Iommi the story of Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett losing a phone with hundreds of his riff ideas on it. Iommi laughed, "I heard that. That must be awful. Somebody will nick my phone now."