Geezer Butler on New Black Sabbath: ‘This is the First Time We’ve Done an Album Together Sober’

During a recent radio interview, Black Sabbath bassist Geezer Butler talked about the band's new album, which they've finished and are preparing for a June release. The temporary title is '13' because it's coming out in 2013, he said, and because there were originally going to be just 13 cuts on it. It seems the track-listing is the only place where the rock legends dabbled in excess. The final project could have as many as 16 songs.

"This is the first time we've done an album together sober," Butler tells Frankie DiVita at KCAL. "None of us have been drinking or doing drugs or anything, so it's been more professional in that way. And we've stuck to a schedule every day. We'd go in at one o'clock and finish at six, just to keep everything fresh."

Contrary to previous reports, Butler says '13' is just a temporary title, although it may stick. The band just needed something to refer to the album as, so they chose the year. In terms of content, the bassist tells DiVita the new album has the rawness of the first three albums. The lyrics are about "life and death and doom." He jokes, "You get Prozac with each album."

Black Sabbath wil tour in Australia and Japan prior to the album's release. Butler says he's not sure who the touring drummer will be as Bill Ward is still on the sidelines in a contract dispute. Rage Against the Machine drummer Brad Wilk played drums for the making of '13.' Butler says that was producer Rick Rubin's idea.

Watch Geezer Butler Talk About Black Sabbath's New Album