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He is a fun interview where Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iomi set origional drummer Bill Ward on-fire while recording “Heaven and Hell”, it’s total Rock-N-Roll.
Jim Harrington of Bay Area News Group wrote an article of an unused portion of his interview with Tony, that happens to be this story. Pasted is an excerpt of that article.
Q: Is it true that you set Bill Ward on fire during the recording of the “Heaven and Hell” album?
IOMMI: I’m afraid it is, yeah. We would always play pranks on each other. Bill and I had this novelty thing where we’d pour the liquid on him — like the studio cleaning alcohol. I’d pour it on him and he’d light it. And it would burn off him, normally — off his hand, as a bit of a joke.
But I poured too much on him (this time) and it soaked into his clothes. I put two bottles on him. And when I lit him, he just went up like a bomb. God, it was terrifying.
The producer at the time — we were doing it as a bit of a novelty for the producer – he thought we’d gone mad.
I said to Bill beforehand, “Can I set you on fire, Bill?” And he said, “No, not just yet. I’m busy.” And he went out into the studio room and I am in the control room with the producer.
Then Bill came back in and said, “OK, I’ve finished that. Do you like to set me on fire?” Of course, Martin Birch, the producer, looked at us as if we’d gone mad.
So, I poured the alcohol on him and lit him. And it just went up. He’s rolling on the floor and I’m still pouring it on him. And I thought it was all part of the act. It burns through his clothes and it gives him third degree burns. Oh, no! Of course, he had to go to the hospital.
It was just surreal. It just went wrong.
Q: Did you have to sign a pledge that you wouldn’t mistreat future drummers before Vinny Appice — Ward’s replacement — agreed to join the band?
IOMMI: (Laughs) Well, Bill was in it all the way. He was really game for it all. We always played things on Bill, because he loved it.
We did a couple of pranks on Vinny but not like that.
Read origional article: HERE
