WhoCares

What hides behind this new band name is in fact the renewed musical union between legendary Deep Purple singer Ian Gillan, with none other than Black Sabbath's Tony Iommi. The duo have recorded two brand new songs with the intent to support the rebuilding of a music school in Gyumri, Armenia. Both Gillan and Iommi have spent a lot of time in Armenia, fallen in love with the country and the people and have dedicated a lot of work to a nation still shocked after the earthquake that struck Armenia on December 7, 1988 at 11:41am. In 1989 they were involved in a re-recording of Deep Purple's classic Smoke on the Water, featuring an elite roster of hard rock/heavy metal musicians, including Bruce Dickinson, Bryan Adams, Ritchie Blackmore, Roger Taylor, Cozy Powell, Keith Emerson, Alex Lifeson, David Gilmour, Geoff Downes, Paul Rodgers, Chris Squire and Brian May. The collaboration of Gillan and Iommi, who have also worked together before on the 1983 Black Sabbath album "Born Again", are joined by none other than Jon Lord on keyboard (partner with Gillan in Deep Purple), Iron Maiden drummer Nicko McBrain, ex-Metallica/Voivod bass player Jason Newsted and HIM's Linde Lindström on guitar. WhoCares released the 2 new songs on digital download and limited edition CD single on May 6th 2011 through Hamburg based earMUSIC: "Out of My Mind" and "Holy Water". The CD single also contains the music video of "Out Of My Mind" and a 40-minute documentary that shows Gillan's and Iommi's involvement with the Armenia cause over the years. The single was also released as a limited-to-one-thousand-copies 7" single. Ian Gillan said: "The idea came as Tony and I flew back from Yerevan together after being inspired by the enthusiasm of everyone there to get this thing done. It was brilliant working with Tony again after all these years; he makes life easy for a singer. The other guys need no introduction do they…" Tony Iommi added: "Some twenty years ago when the call came, I thought, well at least I've helped, but it was going to Armenia and seeing the actual devastation caused by the earthquake that really made me realise that funds were still needed. Despite all the money that was raised last time, here was a music school doing their best, forgotten, in basic tin sheds. After the warmth and honour bestowed upon us during our visit, we just had to help make a difference and get the school re-built. And what better way than to hook up with some of rock's greatest players and my old mate Ian, both an honour and a pleasure. " Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.