Black Sabbath drummer Bill Ward – who is currently sitting out the band’s ongoing reunion citing contract disputes – has hinted at some of the specific reasons lying behind his decision to not rejoin the band in a new interview.
“I was offered a contact and I couldn’t sign it,” he tells Guitar International. “As for some of the stories – I would never, ever show up for a commitment that I could not do physically. So that should answer that one! In the statement that I did last year, I was quite clear that I came to the end of the road and promised myself and my family that I would never sign a contract that was not workable.
“It was one of the toughest decisions that I ever had to make. Because I absolutely and without question wanted to play. I haven’t left the band. Everybody thinks I have left the band. I didn’t walk out; it wasn’t like that at all! I just didn’t sign the contact and life took its own course.
“I’m the drummer in Black Sabbath so I want to do the entire show. I play all or nothing. Playing partially would kind of be aligning to my demise in Sabbath and minimize me. I’m the drummer in Sabbath and quite capable of doing the job.”
Read the entire interview at Guitar International.
In other Bill Ward news, the drummer is about to debut a fine art collection, called Absence of Corners, on August 1st. For more information, please visit www.billwarddrumart.com.
additional source: metalhammer.co.uk
36 Responses
talk about denial.
I just saw Sabbath in Tampa on Monday night and they were excellent! I have seen them several times over the years but never with Ozzy. The drummer that they have playing is awesome! Ozzy’s voice was better then when I saw him on the Blizzard tour in 81. Great concert!
the new SABBATH debuted at number 1 old fart they are doing just fine without you Bill. And KISS is better than ever without the two losers.
Uh oh Doug. Get ready for Bigsled and his opinions on 70’s bands and what losers they are.
Once Bill did the Press Conference he should have been committed. He chose to , it’s not the first time in Black Sabbath’s long history that Bill “sat out” . Anyone thinking OZZy isn’t getting “his ” share or it’s wrong, BS would be back to selling 30,000 albums and playing to about 4-5,000 a night on a 3 band ticket without him.
I do wonder though, if this was 1 of the big acts Ed talked about in his previous blog that were “papering” some shows. There’s claims on the internet that they have so far. Of course when you sell 10-14,000 tickets , then give out thousands of free tickets to fill these sheds, HUGE profits are then made at merch and concession stands(in the sheds all they give away are mostly lawn tickets ).
And Doug , you can love KISS(they just finishing up their biggest tour ever of Canada) without shitting on any of the former members.That comment comes from a guy that sees no harm in who’s wearing the make up. BUT, if I did have a problem with it, I’d be asking the guys that sold it why, not complaining like a girl because the guys that bought use it.
thank you that makes more sense than what most people say. and you are 100% right, but I do think ACE and peter stink as players.
Bill was in no condition to tour 13 or even record it. If you think this album/tour was going to implode due to Ward…..it couldn’t, they got him out of the picture way much like Dio did getting the Black & Blue Tour on track instead of falling apart.