Tony Martin, former Black Sabbath singer, has released his new solo album ‘Thorns’.

The new album features Danny Needham (Venom), Magnus Rosen (HammerFall), Scott McClellan (who helped co-write the album) and Greg Smith who performed with Alice Cooper, Rainbow, Blue Öyster Cult, and many more!

The album is licensed in all of North and South America by Dark Star Records, and is available to all other countries via Battlegod Productions. Tony Martin, is an English heavy metal vocalist, best known for his time fronting Black Sabbath, initially from 1987 to 1991 and again from 1993 to 1996. Martin was the band’s second longest serving vocalist after Ozzy Osbourne. ‘Eternal Idol’ and ‘Headless Cross’ are among the best known Black Sabbath albums featuring Tony Martin as well as ‘Scream’ his solo album from 2005.

“For me there must be a story… a beginning, a middle and an end”

What have you been doing in the last 15 years?

Tony Martin: Well, working really. I am a singer-songwriter and my career took me into the studio where I have been for the past 25 years! I have done many appearances for artists and my voice appears on about 76 albums and projects now. ‘Thorns’ is different in that it is my personal work, so in between the other stuff I have been doing, this came out and slowly it progressed into what you hear now.

For how long did you work on ‘Thorns’?

In total about 10 years!

Talking about the lyrics, how do you approach songwriting and what in your opinion makes a great song?

There has to be a relation between the words and the music or vice versa. If one lifts in a certain place the other should complement that, or if there is an accent in the music then the lyrics should try and capture that. For me there must be a story… a beginning, a middle and an end. The words must be clear and make sense … Even though a lot of the stuff I sing about is old school God and the devil stuff it still should have a story! … And that theme of good and evil is still making stories…. Imagine if you were the titanic … ok it’s a boat … ship … whatever … sure it was an event that affected many lives … but then add a love story and you have a massive film! The Titanic became a vehicle for the story.. in a similar way music is a vehicle for the lyrics. So I always listen to the music first.. Then write the story. Hopefully it turns into something that will lift people’s lives, but you never really know.

What I found really fascinating is that listening to your latest release, it feels that you never really left the music …

Correct… I never did… I took time to have a family get divorced and married again but the music was still there!

What’s the story with Scott McClellan? What’s the dynamic between you two when it comes to music making?

Scott found me on Facebook and started sending me riffs and songs … It was impossible to ignore … So I took some of his riffs and made music that I could work with, which involves cutting it up and putting things where I need them … verse here … chorus there … bridge et cetera. I sang a song and returned it to him which happened to be ‘As The World Burns’ and he was completely thrown by it! … But so was I. It turned out incredible … So I said don’t tell anyone! I made him promise to keep it secret and in the following years he sent more riffs and I cut them up and made songs out of them until we ended up with many of the songs you hear on ‘Thorns’. I had already started writing and recording the album though, and it was going to be called ‘Book Of Shadows’ … that song and ‘Crying Wolf’ and ‘Damnation’ were the beginning of it but then it took on a whole new atmosphere … someone else used the name ‘Book Of Souls’ so I changed the name to ‘Thorns’. Scott became a great person to work with because he is calm and humble and is able to understand what I do to make “songs”. He knows that if I rearrange the music it is the only way I can make the “Tony Martin” thing work…. so we get on very well. Well done Scotty my good man!

You mentioned that it reminds you of your work with Tony Iommi?

Indeed! That method of writing is very much the same. I approached all the work I did with Black Sabbath in that way. That’s what “Tony Martin” does to sound like “Tony Martin”.

Can you share some further words on how it was recorded?

Well, we did a lot of it in our own settings. Me in England, Scott in the USA, but I did get him to come here to the UK and record his guitar parts in the end. We now have the Covid lockdown thing which forced me to take advantage of the internet connections we have these days, but it wasn’t really a problem. I managed to get the drums recorded before Covid hit. Danny Needham did a great job, but then I play a lot of instruments myself so I play some drums, bass, guitar et cetera. So along the way it was assembled in many different ways. The wonderful thing was to hear it all come together and Pete Newdeck did a great job of getting all the sounds to match up and work together.

Have you found the isolation creatively challenging or freeing?

For my family it has been challenging. We have a vulnerable family so for us it was important and we did the whole vaccination and mask and distance thing. I know for other people it is different but we were happy to do that stuff, so yeah that was different … In the studio nothing much changed because I have been in there for 25 years. So life was normal really.

The new album features Danny Needham (Venom), Magnus Rosen (HammerFall), Scott McClellan (who helped co-write the album) and Greg Smith (Alice Cooper, Rainbow, Blue Öyster Cult). Was it difficult not to spend more time together?

Not really … not difficult … just a shame … It’s always better to be in the same room but these guys are amazing professionals! They know what to do and I trust them. Scott is slightly different in that he hadn’t had much experience at this level before, but I am happy to work with him so that he gets the best out of it. He was involved in the writing of 8 of the 11 tracks and it’s been a pleasure having him aboard!

Okay, I gotta ask about some of your favourite moments from recording ‘Eternal Idol’ and ‘Headless Cross’…

Being in those studio’s with those people, writing those songs … going to the places around the world … are all moments that I will never forget … and it’s not really possible to put down on paper what it felt like and there are too many to recollect here. But It was a ride!

“We blew out the stage ceiling in Amsterdam once!”

And what would be the craziest Black Sabbath story?

What … like throwing TV’s out of hotel windows you mean?? I’m not sure I could possibly comment!! We blew out the stage ceiling in Amsterdam once! That was crazy! Cozy Powell had gas jets pointing upward all around his kit and his roadie had strict instructions when to let those mothers off! … and at an appropriate moment he got the signal and turned them on! The problem was the gas pressure froze the valves and he couldn’t really control them so out came the ceiling and we were covered in all kinds of stuff that had been up there for the past century. I believe nobody played at that venue after that … And on another occasion we were moved from a venue in Rome because the Pope wanted to use it and didn’t want Satanists leaving an aura there … but hey … things … stuff y’know.

Are you still in touch with Tony Iommi?

Actually I am at the moment … doesn’t happen for long periods of time but right now it’s ok. I sent him a copy of ‘Thorns’. No idea what he will think of that!

Thank you for taking your time. Last word is yours.

Ah … 13 questions! Well, it obviously only remains to thank everyone for being part of the story … that includes you guys … we need you, to let everyone know what we are up to so thank you for that … and people invite us into their homes and cars and headphones … and that is great … it’s the reason we thrive … so thank you to every one and keep it rockin!!!

Klemen Breznikar

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