Jim Simpson is the promoter of Henry’s Blueshouse, a long-standing city music night that hosted the very first Black Sabbath performance
Black Sabbath manager Jim Simpson outside Snobs(Image: Westside BID)
Black Sabbath’s original manager is preparing for the band’s return to the city for one final show by arranging special gigs across the Midlands promising ‘we’re gonna rock this town’.
Jim Simpson helped propel Black Sabbath from four unknown Aston lads to global icons at his regular music night Henry’s Blueshouse, set within The Crown pub on Station Street.
The promoter gave Bill Ward, Ozzy Osbourne, Geezer Butler and Tony Iommi a start on the stage in The Crown, encouraging them to change their name from Earth as they began their career and developed a brand new genre – heavy metal.
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Now he’s hoping to recreate the ‘atmosphere out of which Sabbath emerged’ for music fans with a programme of events across Birmingham and the Black Country, called The Visit of Oz.
It includes live performances at Snobs as well as in bars and pubs in Digbeth, the Jewellery Quarter and the city centre as well as in Dudley and West Bromwich, the full programme for which can be found here.
Tickets to Black Sabbath’s final show sold out within 16 minutes, priced from £197.50, but Jim’s programme of events will be mostly free with only three of the 25 shows needing paid-for tickets, all of which come in under £8.
“Certain ticket prices are not rock and roll…” Jim told BirminghamLive. “Ordinary folks are at the heart of this.
“You know who was coming to Black Sabbath gigs in 1968 and 1969? Students. This is the audience, it’s not dignitaries, rock and roll is ordinary people’s music.
“This programme is live music, played by not only Birmingham musicians, but musicians that play in Birmingham, to create the atmosphere out of which Sabbath emerged. And some of that will be reflecting what Black Sabbath have done.”
Gigs are planned for The Brasshouse, Snobs, the Barrel Store, Wednesbury Library, The Victoria, Nortons, the Lord Clifden, Hennessey’s Bar, Barbara’s Bier Haus, The Bartons Arms, West Bromwich Central Library and O’Neills.
Also on the programme is the 10th Global Black Sabbath Convention, coming to Ye Olde Foundry in Dudley on Friday, July 4, a Q&A with Jim aboard a Brindley Cruises boat on the canal behind the Sea Life Centre and a live Q&A at Fair Deal Music on Sunday, July 6 featuring Cissy Stone, Jaci Davis, Des Tong, Roy Davis and Pete Francis.
That will be centred around Birmingham being the UK home of rock and roll, something Jim is passionate about.
He said: “Birmingham is UK home of rock and roll, there’s no doubt about it. I’ve been preaching this for years.
“We have a weekly show called Birmingham Rocks live on Broad Street, at Snobs, and a weekly blues night, Henry’s Blueshouse.
“We’re on our sixth home in 55 years. It’s still on, every Tuesday.
“I’ve always put on up-and-coming blues bands at Henry’s. But I’d always put on up-and-coming Birmingham bands because I was convinced we were the UK home of rock and roll.
“That’s why I put on Sabbath. They were very good, so I put them on again and the audience loved them. So I put them on again and it sold out!
“I knew they were hot. When we recorded them, 14 companies turned me down for what we now know as their first album. I knew I was right then because the audiences loved them.”
Jim said that he feels Birmingham ‘largely ignores’ its sonic history, but that he’s still working to keep it alive.
“Birmingham largely ignores its musical heritage. It shows no interest. When something gets fashionable, like Sabbath is suddenly fashionable, we get a ballet. That’s not rock n’ roll!”
He added: “There’s a feeling in Birmingham that if we do a job right, the world will recognise us. But it just doesn’t work like that.
“That said, we’ve got lots of guns in our locker still, so I keep chipping away at it.”
The Visit of Oz kicks off on Thursday, July 3 with a performance by Smokin’ Eskimo at The Brasshouse at 5pm.