ORIGINAL BLACK SABBATH DRUMMER BILL WARD SAYS HE’S “VERY SAD” ABOUT HIS RIFT WITH HIS FORMER BANDMATES
Bill Ward has described his estrangement from Black Sabbath as “very sad” and repeated his demands for an apology from Ozzy Osbourne.
The drummer is locked in a war of words with Osbourne which seems unlikely to be resolved. Ward says he still needs a “signable contract” and a full, public apology before he’ll consider a return to the band. He also adds that the impasse is leaving him sad and frustrated.
When asked if he could play with Sabbath again, Ward tells 106.5 WSFL, “If everybody could get on the same page – my page. I’ve been quite pronounced about my page, which is a signable contract and an apology over certain issues that Ozzy said about me that weren’t true.
He said these things at the public level, so I’d like him to publicly apologize. He’s already responded to that, saying that’ll never happen. So, as long as that’ll never happen, then I probably won’t be joining the band in 2016.”
He adds “I’m very, very sad by all the fan reactions and the way that things have split and gone different ways and everything else. It’s not nice at all to be in this position, and it’s not an easy responsibility for me to maintain when uncountable amounts of people are angry with my decision-making process.”
Ward insists he’d love to get back behind the kit for Sabbath should they go back on the road.
He says, “It’s very sad, but I would love to. If we could get past everything, and everything else, I would love to be a part of it. You know, I love the guys. I mean, I still love Ozzy. Just because we have a disagreement, or there’s a disagreement on the table, I still love him very much.”
additional source: classicrock.teamrock.com
its a shame,because im sure ozzy really is not a bad guy,i mean lets face it,ozzy probably cant even take a piss without help,or even know what time of the day it is anymore,this is all yoko oh i mean sharon,she started all this shit,too bad for them,she could care less about legacy or the fans or the fact that these guys were friends for what like 50 years,nope she could care less,she came in and like everything else she touches she made it out to be a joke
Listen, I LOVE Ozzy too, but after reading Bob Daisley’s book, I am not entirely convinced that he is unaware of the all the business decisions being made in his career. He allows Sharon to wear the black hat, and be the heavy, because that is the easy thing to do, but I do not believe that he is that naive.
Kelly Garni, who was one of Randy Rhoads’ former Quiet Riot bandmates, said Ozzy punched Randy in the face when he told Osbourne he wanted to leave the band. Here is the quote from an article dated April 5th, 2004:
Speaking to The-Fuze.net about his former Quiet Riot bandmate’s final days, Garni said, “Randy wasn’t happy in the end. He wanted out. There’s a lot of friction between me and Ozzy because I speak my mind about that. Him and Sharon paint this lovely picture — ‘Randy could have left any time he wanted. Whatever Randy wanted, we wanted. To see him happy — that was the most important thing.’ Bulls–t, bulls–t, bulls–t. They wouldn’t let him out of contract. They threatened him… Ozzy punched him when Randy said he wanted to leave. Two weeks before Randy died, Ozzy punched him in the face, over breakfast. They were adamant about not losing him. They didn’t care about his happiness. And who would want to let him go? The guy was a great guitar player, a nice kid, very serious…so I can’t blame him for that, but the reality of it was when it came time for him to really try to get out of that band they played hardball. It turned into a very unhappy situation. Randy was the kind of guy who didn’t like to hurt feelings and didn’t like confrontations. I think he just kind of resigned himself to, ‘Well, I’m stuck here.’ I’ve read some letters that he wrote, and he actually wrote to Kevin [Dubrow] about it more than anything. He thought Kevin could advise him a little better. Kevin made me copies of these letters. He was miserable in that band. He didn’t even like anybody else in the band. . . [Randy] and Rudy never really were all that close. Rudy was at least a little bit of a connection to where Randy came from, and Rudy’s a very nice guy, but he’s not really… ‘Randy people,’ I guess is the best way to say it. I don’t think Randy felt like he had a good close friend there, or an ally. Rudy has a tendency to mind his own business. So Randy was stuck. It’s weird that, to get out of that band, he had to die. You could almost say that was the only way he was ever going to get out of it. They weren’t going to let him go.” Read the entire interview here: http://ultimaterandyrhoads.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=22%3Akelly-garni-invterview&catid=34&Itemid=64
Now, does that sound like someone who is completely oblivious to a business decision? He knew Randy was a goldmine of talent and what losing him would cost him, and his musical career. If he was so mindless and clueless, he would have never had such a visceral reaction to the thought of losing Rhoads. If he was such a happy-go-lucky innocent, he would have shrugged it off and moved on with another guitar player.
While I certainly think his years of substance abuse have caused physical and mental damage, I think he plays into the feeble, absent minded professor routine. I think Ozzy is a lot shrewder, and smarter, than the image he chooses to portray to the public.
D 🙂
It’s sad that his only way out was his unfortunate demise if he was allowed to leave when he wanted to may be he would not have been on that plane and alive today.
Very sad, indeed. Rhoads was the greatest, in my humble opinion.
D 🙂
SIGNABLE CONTRACT? Just say that you want more money than what was being offered. It is business and nobody will fault you. Say what you want about OZZY, that book I AM OZZY is very funny. Ward’s place in history is set. He is the very best ever at what he does but he’s done very little since HEAVEN AND HELL. BORN AGAIN was album only, no tour. The reunion tour is also almost 20 years ago as well. That is like 35 years with no repetition or consistency. I wonder if he can still sing IT’S ALRIGHT?
Thank you!
There are all these tweets here on Eddie’s site praising Bill for his “honesty”. Eddie talks all the time about people’s “honesty”. It’s not “honesty”, it’s just their point of view, and it just so happens it might ruffle feathers. ANY contract is signable if you want it to be. Bill wants more money, and he wants a guarantee for something he can’t necessarily deliver on.
I don’t think this time is much different than the last 15 times Bill left Sabbath.
Why should they do that? I agree with Dana; I think blaming Sharon is the easy way out. I think Ozzy knows full well what is going on and why. Whatever Sharon might want to do, Ozzy still has to put his name on it, and still has to sign the documents, and still has to walk out on stage. Not like that level of “puppetry” hasn’t happened before, but I don’t believe that is the case here. Ozzy’s too much of a loose cannon for there not to have been some inkling of dissent if it was.
I don’t understand this “Kumbaya” mentality; music is a business. Many big bands are not “friends” in the way you are friends with your buds from high school. That doesn’t mean they don’t get along, or that they can’t be nice guys, but would you go to work and give the guy in the cube across from you half your pay just because you have a ‘bond’ with him?
tony is the riff master like Sharon is the rift master.