Into the Void by Geezer Butler

Author:Geezer Butler [Butler, Geezer]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Publisher: HarperCollinsPublishers
Published: 2023-06-15T00:00:00+00:00

7

BLOOD, SWEAT AND FEARS

GOING SOFT?

We were back on the road before Sabotage was even released, because we’d booked the tour three or four months into recording the album, not thinking it would take much longer. It was a relief to be back doing what we loved, after ten months penned up in the studio and wrangling with men in suits. And while Sabotage only made it to number twenty-eight on the American album chart (it made it to seven in the UK) and the critics gave it another mauling, we were still in great demand as a live act. We did two tours of the States in 1975 and saw the future of rock in Syracuse, where we were supported by Kiss.

I wasn’t a big fan of Kiss’s music – I thought it was a bit cringeworthy – and they gave our road crew a torrid time. First, they demanded our back line and drums be shifted to accommodate their gear, and wanted to confiscate one of our crew’s cameras, because he’d taken a photo of Gene Simmons sans makeup. He hadn’t a clue who Gene Simmons was, he was merely taking a photo of our stage setup and Simmons happened to walk in front of it.

But I will say that Kiss’s production was incredible. Once upon a time, rock bands would go on, plug in and play. The fans didn’t expect anything more than that. But Kiss were the first band I’d seen, at least who played our kind of music, to put on those kinds of theatrics. Arthur Brown had used fire and makeup in the 1960s, but nowhere near on this level. As well as makeup and flames everywhere, Kiss had explosions and thunderous sound effects, while Gene Simmons would spit fake blood. And we had to follow them. We ended up playing to a stunned crowd with polite applause after every song.

Back in the studio, Tony was spending more and more time experimenting and taking longer and longer to perfect his guitar solos. He even wanted a keyboard player to join full-time, which I was wary of. I thought it would soften our sound. In fact, after Sabotage, it didn’t feel like the same band anymore and I was losing interest. Ozzy started talking about wanting to leave, because he didn’t feel part of things. He even suggested we all knock the substance abuse on the head, which was a pretty drastic suggestion coming from Ozzy.

I never had the same capacity for booze and drugs as the other three anyway, so thought it was a good idea. I couldn’t physically drink a bottle of vodka, like Bill or Ozzy. I’d get drunk after two or three pints and want to kill everybody. I’d do a couple of lines of coke and my heart would go into overdrive; I’d be sweating profusely and panicking. But more than that, I just didn’t see the point of letting booze and drugs take over your life. We didn’t have that kind of money anymore and it was turning our brains to mush.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.