Rei Nishimoto of Ghost Cult spoke with original Black Sabbath drummer, Bill Ward, about his current health status. Select quotes from the article appear below.
On his past health issues:
“There’s been some things that held me up. I got sick in 2013. Unfortunately that was out of the blue. It took a while to come out of that. It took me about five months to pull out to come all the way through that. So there’s been some setbacks…I spent nearly a year with Black Sabbath, working on what would have been the 13 album, but of course things had turned very sour with them. There have been some things and in the meantime I’ve been always writing this stuff. I’ve always kept moving on it so it’s emerging now. It’s coming out now.”
He adds, “I was never in a position where I was never able to drum. It’s really sad that those statements made about me that inferred that I wasn’t able to drum. When I’m in the studio, I can play in the studio. I was laying down tracks. We settled in 2011. By August 2011, I was already training and getting trained. You have to ramp up to go out on tour so that takes a different attitude. I started getting into shape for a tour. Touring is completely different to me than being in the studio. So I was already doing that work…Never at any time was my drumming impaired, my health impaired or my ability to play drums. I’m so angry about those suggestions and that was going on.”
So, other than his reported shoulder surgery, what other health issues did Ward have?
“The one thing that did stopped me of course…it stopped everything…was in 2013 when I had something called perforated diverticulitis, which is a very, very serious illness. That came out of the blue. It hit me like a ton of bricks. I had to have a couple of surgeries. I was on death’s door and I died. There was no way I could have played drums or sang or done anything else. I couldn’t even stand up. I actually had a lot of people helping me at that point. I’m very grateful I had a lot of love in my life and good doctors and everything, and they pulled me through…As soon as I was able to come through the perforated diverticulitis, I started playing again. The only issue that I had with my health at that time was that I had a shoulder operation. Four days before I had the perforated diverticulitis, I had a shoulder operation!…Coming back to Ozzy’s statements…whatever Ozzy expected of me, I expect far more than Ozzy expected of me. I expect far more of me. If anybody’s going to drive me, it’s me. I’m going to drive me. For being the best possible shape I could be in and play a good show.”
Read more at Ghost Cult.
source: ghostcultmag.com
16 Responses
bill working the double negative. classic!
‘I was never in a position where I was never able to drum…..except when I had shoulder surgery, then I couldn’t drum….but that was the only time I couldn’t drum..that time…. oh and the time I developed perforated diverticulitis….I couldn’t drum then either….but other than shoulder surgery and perforated diverticulitis those were the ONLY times I couldn’t drum’.
I love Bill Ward and wished he was with Sabbath, but he absolutely kills me with this stuff.
The best and most accomplished living drummer is really going out on a sour note. My IPOD played an ACCOUNTABLE BEAST song that I downloaded at random and I immediately skipped to the next song. It was awful. Surprise! Surprise! The other three guys probably are greedy but also Ward can’t get the job done. The late 1990s reunion produced a good live album with a lot of cursing so his SABBATH finale is dignified HEAVEN AND HELL, his last stab at greatness and SABOTAGE, his last stab at greatness with OZZY are 35 and 40 years old respectively. Moving on is long overdue.
He cracks me up.
Never at any time was my drumming impaired, my health impaired or my ability to play drums.. Except for you needed a trainer to get into tour shape a shoulder surgery and of course a bout with perforated diverticulitis, which is a very, very serious illness that he needed a couple of more surgeries and apparently was on deaths door. I`m starting to think the dude has dementia or something. Bottom line is he would have left them hanging on tour in 2013. He needs to quit stirring up crap and bow out with some dignity instead of blaming everything on a unsignable contract.
Bill’s feelings are hurt, that’s easy to see. He’s not going to let it go. Sabbath have moved on, even replacing Bill in all old pictures on their website. Tommy did such an awesome job on the 13 tour, they need to keep him even if Bill is somehow let back in. Maybe they’ll see it’s fitting to let Bill play with them one last time, even if it’s the very last show. Especially if it’s the very last show. Bad deals and bickering through the internet like teenage girls aside, they need to come together and stop this BS. Do I really think Bill could have recorded, the answer is yes. Do I think he could have physically done the entire tour, the answer is no. But if he gets himself in shape and he and Ozzy settle their differences, I think Bill can be involved. Black Sabbath is the all time greatest Heavy Metal band and the I’d like to see them go out with the same guys they started with.