Greece’s RockOverdose spoke with former Black Sabbath singer Tony Martin on August 1st. During the chat, Martin discusses Black Sabbath’s decision to retire, possibly working with Tony Iommi, his first Sabbath gig in 1987, and more. An excerpt follows:

RockOverdose: We can’t avoid asking about Black Sabbath. What do you think about their decision to retire? When do you believe is the right moment for an artist to retire?

Tony Martin: “Well the retire part is concerning that act, the individual members may well go on to do other things, and I know one of the things for Iommi is to re release the TM-era albums, so I guess you never completely retire.”

RockOverdose: “Recently, you met with Tony Iommi (during a Cozy Powel ceremony) and you spoke with him after many years. Is there a chance for both of you to do something together again? How is your relationship nowadays?

Tony Martin: “I had not heard from Iommi in many years, so I don't have a close relationship, but it was all very friendly when we met and so I have no doubt we could do something if the opportunity comes. He still has his cancer issues of course and that may well stop it all from happening but if he wants to do something I am ready.”

RockOverdose: A lot of Black Sabbath fans consider the “Martin era” very underrated”! How do you feel about that?

Tony Martin: “It's nice to think that people are supportive of what I did, but at the time these voices were not very loud. It was a hard time in Sabbath so I am glad that my era is recognized.”

Read the complete interview at RockOverdose.gr.

Earlier this year, in an interview with Australia’s theMusic, Tony Iommi opened up about his future, post-Sabbath, with hopes of reuniting with Tony Martin to record new music, in addition to the reissues of some of their classic material.

Iommi confirmed that re-releases of Headless Cross and TYR are just around the corner. "We've held back on the reissues of those albums because of the current Sabbath thing with (current frontman Ozzy Osbourne), but they will certainly be happening," Iommi said. "I'd like to do a couple of new tracks for those releases with Tony Martin. I’ll also be looking at working on Cross Purposes (1994) and Forbidden (1995)."

Read more at theMusic.

(Photo - Tony Martin Facebook)