Boston ‘s Guitarist Barry Goudreau, he talks about how he met Tony Iommi and Black Sabbath

“The first extended US tour I did with Boston it was as opening act for Black Sabbath. I had already heard about them, but I did’t know them very well back then, and the combination between our classic rock and their heavy metal seemed to be rather risky to me.  I must say that the audience received us very well and Sabbath guys did everything to make us feel right, including let us plenty of time to remain on stage.

The first time I heard Black Sabbath I was really impressed with how “big” was their sound, despite there were only three instruments . Tony was always impeccable on stage, but once  the performance was finished he used to turn into a very nice, quiet person, down to earth and with a great sense of humor: a perfect English gentleman.

Tony is undoubtedly the father creator of heavy metal, Black Sabbath have created a genre and managed to make it evolve in different directions, always with Tony as a leader, and still continue to influence new generations of musicians.

Tony’s music is not based on a usual verse / chorus structure, his arrangements have continuous changes and very often there are instrumental parts that seem to bring the song somewhere, up to bring it back to the starting point. This approach helped me to face the songwriting process from a different perspective, making me grow a lot as a musician, and trying to get out from the usual schemes to get closer to what could be called a musical journey, instead of a sterile trivial piece.”

For  Great Lefty record , I was asked to play with Kyle Cousins, he’s a big fan of Tony and Sabbath, and of course of Ronnie James Dio, incredible singer and a wonderful person that I got to know, and who treated me like a brother  since the day we met.

Playing “Heaven and Hell” I did’t want to get too far from the original version of Tony, I tried to be as close as possible, limiting myself to add something of my own here and there. I recorded the solo in a single take without even time to think too much about what I was doing: I hope I have done justice to the composition.”

Source: Tanzan Music Group
Image: Creative Common License