Geezer Butler rules out future Black Sabbath reunion
Geezer Butler has confirmed his retirement and ruled out the prospect of another reunion with Black Sabbath.
The Birmingham band played their final show in 2017 after reuniting six years earlier. During their final spell together, they released the album 13. However, according to Butler, there won’t be another chapter to their story and he doesn’t plan to remain an active figure in the music industry.
“I don’t want to do anything anymore,” he recently told Rolling Stone. Butler continued: “I didn’t realise how hard starting from scratch is, especially when you’re used to your own plane and staying at the Four Seasons and the Ritz Carlton,” Butler said. “You’re back in little clubs and getting on a bus together. It just didn’t suit me.” He added: “I don’t think Ozzy’s up for it anyway.”
In his new memoir Into The Void: From Birth to Black Sabbath – And Beyond, Butler revealed he’s no longer on speaking terms with singer Ozzy Osbourne, but stated it wasn’t due to any issues between the pair. “Me and Ozzy are fine, it’s just that we’re both ruled by our wives,” Butler writes.
The synopsis for the memoir reads: “A rollicking, effusive, and candid memoir by the heavy metal musician and founding member of Black Sabbath, covering his years as the band’s bassist and main lyricist through his later-career projects, and detailing how one of rock’s most influential bands formed and prevailed.”
Last December, Butler contracted pneumonia but thankfully recovered. On Christmas Eve, the 74-year-old musician’s wife, Gloria, shared a photo of her husband sitting in an examination room.
She wrote in the caption: “After day 1 at Dr with my husband & was told he was negative for flu, Covid, strep & tonsillitis; I said…well, he’s positive for being a pain in my arse. Day 2 at Dr, he was told he has pneumonia. Although, still positive for being a pain; I now feel guilty for thinking that.”
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