GZR was an American heavy metal band founded by Black Sabbath bassist/lyricist Geezer Butler, with the band's name derived from its creator. The band has been marketed with three different names on their three releases. In 1995, they were marketed as g//z/r, in 1997, it was merely geezer, and in 2005 it was GZR. Most fans refer tothe band as geezer, although Butler himself refers to the band name as "gee-zed-R". This incarnation of the band is not to be confused with Butler's previous attempt in 1985 to form a solo band, then known as The Geezer Butler Band – the two bands are completely unrelated.
Band history
The band's music is generally of a much harder edge than Butler is known for in Black Sabbath. This is not a surprise, as the vocalist on his first album was Burton C. Bell from Fear Factory, who is known for more driving and harder edged vocals than ever was displayed in Black Sabbath. Before taking on Bell as vocalist for the debut album Plastic Planet, Butler contacted Devin Townsend to perform vocals. However, due to Townsend's recent stint with Steve Vai and having had to sing lyrics not written by himself, he was unwilling to enter into another band where he would have no lyrical input. Plastic Planet also features Pedro Howse, Butlers nephew, on guitars, as well as Deen Castronovo of Journey on drums. Bell did not stay with the band past the recording of Plastic Planet, due to Fear Factory commitments. In 1996, the band re-emerged with an exclusive track for the compilation titled "Outworld", featuring Anger on Anger vocalist Mario Frasca. This proved to be a one-time collaboration as Frasca was replaced by Clark Brown from the band Symatic for GZR's second album, Black Science, released in 1997. The GZR formation played a few live dates in 1997 behind the release of the album, however, this was not a full-fledged tour, as most of the gigs were played concurrent to the Ozzfest tour of that year. The band opened for musicians like Bruce Dickinson who was playing some live gigs at the time. Castronovo recorded, but did not play any of the live gigs. He was replaced on drums by Chad Smith. After the handful of live gigs in 1997, the band was mostly put on ice, as Butler was busy with various things Black Sabbath related for quite a while. Butler eventually got back into the studio with the same lineup that played the live gigs from eight years previous, and recorded their third album, Ohmwork, which was released on May 9, 2005.
Discography
1995: Plastic Planet
1997: Black Science
2005: Ohmwork
Appears on
"Mortal Kombat: Motion Picture Soundtrack" – performing "The Invisible"
