Bill Ward’s new band, Day Of Errors, featuring Joe Amodea on guitar/vocals and Kill Devil Hill singer Jason “Dewey” Bragg on vocals, has announced some West Coast tour dates.
They are as follows:
December:
7 Wow Hall – Eugene, OR
8 High Dive – Seattle, WA
9 Dante’s – Portland, OR
12 Great American Music Hall – San Francisco, CA
13 Catalyst – Santa Cruz, CA
14 The Garage – Ventura, CA
15 The Casbah – San Diego, CA
Ward says, “We play loud, hard, with overtures of gut-kicking heavy, heavy parts.”
In 2015, Ward released his first solo album in 18 years. Titled Accountable Beasts, it can be purchased on iTunes.
16 Responses
I wanted to say something about the issue of money , the money you make for a job you perform is not petty , you all go to work every day and you all expect to get paid what your worth come payday- { if bill ward not being in the Sabbath reunion was in fact just about money } that is not a petty situation, it is a big deal- in any industry if it gets out you work for less , you will get less- bill was a founding member of one of the best selling bands of all time , and was every bit as important as ozzy in forming the sound and foundation of Sabbath , exmp: he has now put a project together and I guarantee you he is commanding a solid fee, a fee he probably would not have gotten if he took a low fee to do the reunion – I would love eddie to speak on this if possible ?? – I don’t want to beat a dead horse , i’m sure ive made my point
Robert, you bring up good points. But, IMO, while Bill W was a founding member, he was the least involved founding band member keeping Sabbath alive. Perhaps the other members felt he didn’t deserve an “equal share” as a result Sadly, its a business to the band members and money will often get in the way of decisions in the music business. And while I’m glad Bill W. got his “revenge band” together for a seven date west coast bar tour, there is no way he will earn more than if he had agreed to the “unsignable contract” to tour the world.
Perhaps pride and ego got in the way of a reunion? Perhaps money got in the way? Perhaps health issues got in the way? Perhaps all these, and other factors got in the way? We may never exactly know….but in The End, us fans who supported Sabbath throughout its career are the ultimate losers, and the original band members lost an opportunity they may never be able to capture again.
Robert, in no way did I mean that money is not important. As you say, everyone who has a job wants to be paid what they are worth. But some things are more important than money. Your legacy is one of those things. Bill was a founding member of one of the most important rock bands of all time! A band that INVENTED a whole genre of music! A band that millions of fans followed and supported for almost 50 years! So, if it was a matter of money that prevented Bill from performing at those last shows in Birmingham, where Black Sabbath started it all, I believe that it is a petty reason. Do I blame Bill for this? Not necessarily, since we don’t know the details. If the rest of the band didn’t offer him a reasonable contract, then Bill had every right to refuse. But Tony and Geezer have kept Sabbath going for a long time without Bill. And, whether it’s fair or not, Ozzy will always be the face of Sabbath, so his involvement is essential to make the reunion a success. So, those three guys, in my opinion, deserve a bigger share of the pie. Having said that, Bill deserved a reasonable cut from the proceeds of the shows he performed at. If it wasn’t offered to him, then the rest of the band should be blamed. Again, nobody but the parties involved know the truth. And, as with all such things, everyone involved will have their own version of that truth. But, in my own opinion, to let something like money tarnish a legacy that Black Sabbath created is just sad.
the beatles said it best: “pay the ward and you’ll be free”.
rattlehead,
I think all the posts yours included bring up very valid points regarding bill wards new band , and his non involvement in the reunion, if he can still bring it live {there will be clips on youtube } that question will be answered- being a drummer myself one thing I do know is if you have a bad drummer you have a bad band, and they find a good one real quick – so I stand by my opinion that bill was just as involved as all the other guys were in the sound and style of Sabbath – common sense tells me bill wanted an equal share of money no more no less, as for the money issue again of course he will not earn on this little 7 date tour what he could have earned with Sabbath I agree with you 100% my larger point is when you are damn good at something, athlete, lawyer ,accountant what have you , we all know what the pay scales are- you should get what your worth period – who knows how well off bill is ? he has bills to pay – I agree that all of us who love Sabbath lost an opportunity to see all the original guys play – my gut tells me it was Sharon who caused this , we will probably never know
Robert, I agree with you 100% about the importance of the drummer (and I’m a guitar player, not a drummer). Bill W. was indeed of significant importance in creating the sound/style of Sabbath. I was lucky to attend a show of The End tour and I thought it was great. But I was somewhat saddened by the fact that Sabbath was ending its touring life without the original four who created all the great songs that were performed on stage that night. All parties are responsible and share some of the blame….and I may never, ever get my one and only chance to see Bill W. perform with Sabbath.
Well said Rattlehead. Personnally I think all 3 got in the way. One thing I know for sure is Bill isn`t making much off these club dates. I was deciding between going to the san fran show or the santa cruz show and the ticket prices for each show are Santa Cruz $15.00 and San Fran is $30.00. Pretty sad.
The price of the tix certainly doesn’t reflect the skills of the musicians being enjoyed, that’s for sure. They’re only charging $18 for the Portland-Dante’s show. Fuk’n sad-A-right!
I have a Sabbath oral history published just as there was still uncertainty about the late 90s reunion tour. Osbourne and Iommi gave a joint interview in which they listed some bizarre demands Ward was making – like refusing tobacco and leather to be sold at the performance venues. Their opinion at that time clearly was “why bother?” Why indeed, especially if that “signable contract” had more than just money demands.
And even if this dispute was solely over money, as Rattlehead said, all the other members have brought to the table what Sabbath needed for a successful reboot this decade, not just a greatest hits performance at Ozzfest. Osbourne – the business side. Butler – the lyrics. Iommi – the Sabbath name, for it was he who had to suffer the indignity of its slide in the 80s. Sure Butler walked away from Iommi every time Sabbath saw a dip in earnings, but he has bargaining rights for writing the lyrics to their most notable songs.