Drummer ERIC SINGER Talks About Recording With BLACK SABBATH

Metal-Rules.com recently conducted an interview with KISS/ALICE COOPER drummer Eric Singer. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow:

Metal-Rules.com: Wasn't this current tour with ALICE COOPER originally supposed to be one to promote a new album, the release of which was delayed for some reason?

Eric: "We were working on new material before the tour started and were originally planning to record a new record so we could tour for it. We did a bunch of demos, they wrote a bunch of songs and the producer that Alice was thinking about using at the time was busy with AEROSMITH, so he kept waiting. And before you know it he had this book coming out called "The Golf Monster" and he had to do the promotion for the book and all of a sudden we had to start rehearsals, so it just never got made. So he's going to do a new record at the beginning of the year."

Metal-Rules.com: Does the new album have a title yet?

Eric: "I'm not sure what he's going to call it because he's got a general concept or an idea that he's talking about, what he'd like to do, but now it's been almost another year, so as we all know, life changes. I'd imagine some of the same ideas he'd liked to do will still be explored, but you never know. It depends on who produces it and what kind of material comes up because now there are different people in the band."

Metal-Rules.com: Right now, however, you've got some gigs lined up with KISS in Australia and New Zealand, right?

Eric: "I'd heard there was supposed to be three Australian shows and one New Zealand show. I hear all kinds of things just like you do, but you've got to remember I'm out on tour. I don't handle any business to do with KISS, I don't do any business or musical decisions. Anything they do decision wise, I don't have any involvement with, so I don't always know what's going on. To be honest, many times I hear it from the fans or read it on the internet myself. That's how I find out what's going on because I'm here in Helsinki, Finland, on the other side of the world, and I don't pick up the phone and go 'What's going on?' I find out when they tell me, its better this way sometimes. I don't always appreciate... I mean honestly I would like to know so I can make plans for my life. Sometimes it's a little difficult, but I don't need to know everything every single day, that's what my point is."

Metal-Rules.com: How was it like to be in the recording studio with BLACK SABBATH for the first time?

Eric: "Well, it was Tony Iommi, you have to remember. It was great, look, Tony writes great guitar riffs for that style that he does heavy D-tuned guitar stuff, there's nobody better. A lot of people write some cool riffs, but I'm sorry, his riffs are the best. Anytime you hear any heavy band, even in the '80s when METALLICA came along and MEGADETH or PANTERA, it's all still copying BLACK SABBATH, in my opinion. BLACK SABBATH, nobody sounded like that before them. I mean I have heard bands that were heavy, but nobody sounded like them. So for me, not only was it a great experience, it was an honor. Anytime you get to play with, to work with someone who's been an influence on you musically, that's a great experience."

Read the entire interview at Metal-Rules.com.