In a new interview with Ricky Aarons from Australia’s Wall Of Sound, BLACK SABBATH bassist Geezer Butler spoke about how he has been spending his downtime during the COVID-19 pandemic. He said: “This is the longest I have been home in fifty years. My dogs and cats are loving it — not so much my wife. Based here in Los Angeles, I have ventured out on some amazing road trips, mainly in Utah, my favorite state in the USA, but apart from that I’ve read [a lot] of books, watched a lot of TV, eaten too much, and dabbled with various new basses — mainly five-, six- and even seven-string basses.”
As for what’s next for the legendary musician, Butler said: “I’m currently putting together a book about growing up in Aston, Birmingham and how SABBATH came about… but I’m really enjoying semi-retirement and not having to do anything or be anywhere, especially after being away from home for most of the last fifty years.”
Butler‘s three solo albums — “Plastic Planet” (1995), “Black Science” (1997), and “Ohmwork” (2005) — will be made available for the first time ever on vinyl, with both CD and LP using newly updated cover artwork, via BMG on October 30.
A founding member of BLACK SABBATH, Butler is also the lyricist of such SABBATH classics as “War Pigs”, “Iron Man”, “Paranoid” and others.
Butler, singer Ozzy Osbourne and guitarist Tony Iommi reunited in late 2011 and released a comeback album, “13”, in June 2013.
In February 2017, SABBATH finished “The End” tour in Birmingham, closing out the quartet’s groundbreaking 49-year career.
“The End” was SABBATH‘s last tour because Iommi, who was diagnosed with cancer in 2012 and is currently in remission, can no longer travel for extended amounts of time.