Black Sabbath have spoken Classic Rock about their current relationship with estranged drummer Bill Ward, and whether we’d see another new album from the metal legends.
“I haven’t spoken to Bill, but to be honest, I don’t actually know how to reach Bill these days because he doesn’t have the same phone number as I have for him,” says Tony Iommi. “I see people saying, ‘Why don’t they talk?’ But it’s not that simple. The only way I can reach Bill is by e-mailing his secretary, and then she speaks to Bill. It’s not as easy as picking the phone up. I e-mailed him the other week, because he’d been in the hospital and wasn’t that well, but that’s as far as it’s got at the moment. I’d like to talk to Bill — me and Bill have been friends for many years — but it’s not happened recently.”
“I don’t talk on the phone to anybody because I’m horrible on the phone as we didn’t have one in our house forever,” adds Geezer Butler. “But I’ve exchanged a few e-mails with Bill, just to see how he is. We all still love Bill, and we desperately wish that it had worked with him, we really do, because that’s the true Sabbath, the four of us. But we tried, and for some reason, it didn’t work, so you have to get on with life. When I’m in touch with Bill, I don’t mention the album or tour or anything. I wouldn’t do that.”
source: metalhammer.co.uk
Bill has a secretary?????
Ms. Moneypenny
“But we tried”. I think that says it all.
The reason it didn’t work out between Sabbath and Bill Ward is because of the wife of the man in the center of the photo. This is how the contract meeting should have went:
Hi, we want to do a Black Sabbath reunion album with all four original members.
Cool, give them what they want and make it happen.
So your working theory is that Bill was totally physically and mentally ready to go, and Sharon Osbourne told Ozzy, Tony, and Geezer that he couldn’t be a part of a Black Sabbath reunion?
BIG MISTAKE going forward without BILL WARD. I’m sure Zeppelin would not tour or record without Bonham ,if he was Alive.
What criteria are you using to define “mistake”? I agree that I would have rather seen Bill anchor the band on drums, but nothing is falling back on them at this moment which would emphasize the “mistake” they made. They made a calculated risk, and it paid off. While there have been some rumblings from fans, it certainly hasn’t approached anything that would beg them to reconsider.
Bill doesn’t want to tour. Hell he didn’t want to tour 30 years ago. I hope he releases his solo albums.