U.K. bassist Becky Baldwin has shared a playthrough video of “Stormwatcher,” a song from Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi’s upcoming solo album, From the Dark. But landing the gig was a surprise even to Baldwin, who initially suspected the offer was a hoax.
The 35-year-old musician, best known as a recent addition to Danish metal veterans Mercyful Fate, discussed how she came to play on Iommi’s album during a recent appearance on The Chronicles Of Podcast, hosted by Jamie Westwood and Tom Stevens.
“I got an email first on just some random Wednesday or something,” Baldwin recalled. “I think ‘Tony Iommi’ was the subject. I’m, like, ‘Oh, what’s this?’ And it said, ‘I’m Tony Iommi’s manager. Would you be interested in coming to the studio and listening to some stuff and seeing if you might like to work together with us?’”
Baldwin initially thought the message was fake, but after checking the sender’s credentials, she called to confirm it was legitimate.
The invitation was to play a song in the studio so the team could hear how she approached writing bass guitar lines and performed under recording pressure. The audition went well: Iommi’s team asked her to play on the rest of the album.
“I guess it was all right because they asked me to do the rest of the album,” she said.
Iommi had initially considered a more collaborative approach, similar to his 2000 solo album, Iommi, which featured an assortment of guest musicians. But he eventually decided a consistent lineup would give the new record a more cohesive sound.
Baldwin plays alongside Iommi, drummer Karl Brazil and Norwegian singer Jorn Lande on From the Dark.
The bassist’s path to the project began years earlier, when she started posting videos of herself covering songs by classic metal bands, including Black Sabbath. Those videos eventually caught the attention of Iommi’s producer, Mike Exeter.
“He said he’d been following me for a few years,” Baldwin explained. Exeter had been keeping an eye on musicians whose playing might suit his production work, and when Iommi needed a bassist, Baldwin was a natural candidate. She was local to the studio and had already posted covers of Sabbath songs, including “Children of the Sea.”
“So he showed Tony that, and Tony was, like, ‘Yeah, okay. Let’s bring her down for a jam and see if she likes the songs.’”
Baldwin had started making the videos with a specific goal: to show people in the music industry what she could do and the kind of work she wanted to land.
“I wanted to show people in the industry that I can actually play, and the kind of music that I like to play, and this is the kind of music I want to do, and please hire me,” she said. “So, actually, it worked.”
It just took a while. The videos helped Baldwin build an audience and secure endorsements, but for years they didn’t seem to be bringing her closer to the musicians she hoped to work with.
“It felt like it was never gonna get me actually to work with the people that I wanted to work with,” she said. Now, after years of posting covers, one of those videos has helped her land a place on an album by one of heavy metal’s most influential electric-guitar players.
![Stormwatcher - Tony Iommi [Bass playthrough by Becky Baldwin] - YouTube](https://img.youtube.com/vi/-2Mjfk-qrzo/maxresdefault.jpg "Tony Iommi bassist Becky Baldwin shares “Stormwatcher” playthrough 19")
