Former Black Sabbath frontman Tony Martin has discussed the possibility of a reunion with the band, saying he is “up for” working with Tony Iommi again.
The vocalist took on the role of frontman for the band for a brief time between the mid-’80s and late-’90s, when the group membership had shifted around founding guitarist Tony Iommi.
The line-up included Iommi, Martin, famous drummer Cozy Powell (Whitesnake, Jeff Beck, Rainbow), and long-time Sabbath collaborator and pianist Geoff Nicholls (Bandy Legs, Quartz). With him as the frontman, the band issued six albums: “The Eternal Idol” (1987), “Headless Cross” (1989), “Tyr” (1990), “Cross Purposes” (1994), “Cross Purposes Live” (1995), and “Forbidden” (1995). He was later dismissed from the post after Iommi reconnected with his former comrades.
Now, following the guitarist’s release of a box set of recordings made with Martin earlier this year, titled “Anno Domini 1989-1995,” the singer has stated that he is willing to collaborate with Iommi again. “I would, and I’ve already said that if he felt like doing something, I’d be up for it,” he told RockSverige in a new interview, before adding that he doubts it will happen.
I don’t think Tony is really… I think he’s come to the end of his need to do things. He doesn’t need to do this stuff. As you get older, and he had that problem with the cancer thing, he’s definitely not interested in touring, really. He could do the odd appearance, but he doesn’t need to, so I don’t know.
“I’d like to, but it’s one of these things… Whilst everybody’s still alive, there’s always a possibility. I mean, they could still get Bill Ward back in the band and start again, in theory,” he added. “Once people start passing along, you can’t sort of do that anymore. I’ve already said that I wouldn’t mind doing something if they were interested. We’ll see how it goes.”
Iommi has shared praise for the material with Martin in the past, and openly discussed how it often flew under the radar when it came to Sabbath’s extensive catalogue.
