BIll Ward: No Grudges Toward The Other Members Of Black Sabbath

Honestly, only Geezer is still up to his old level, IMO. Ozzy's voice is shot and I could see Tony nursing arthritis in his hands when I saw them the last tour they played with Bill, and that was before the cancer. Time's a bastard.

 

This idea of another drummer helping was put forward but Bill would not accept it.

Whether it was more like what you describe (a backup in case needed) or somebody actually on stage has not been made entirely clear. At least not that I've seen. It seems like maybe the latter was suggested and I can understand Bill having no interest in that.

 

As far as I always have been aware in the original 70s Sabbath, Tony (and occasionally Geezer) would come up with the riffs and bulk of the music. Ozzy would come up with the melodies which then Geezer would then write lyrics to. Bill was involved in the arranging of the material quite heavily, hence a lot of the songs had different sections with tempo and gear changes - all the things to keep a jazz influenced drummer interested. In that way they all deserved equal credit.
Of course there are songs where Ozzy also came up with music, melodies and lyrics - 'Who are you', 'Am I going insane', where Iommi wrote lyrics - 'After Forever' and that Bill wrote by himself - 'Thats alright' etc..
As far as I know Bill was involved early on with some of the rehearsals and writing of '13' - perhaps some of that is recorded somewhere...
The Sabbath story itself is so murky and such a soap opera I don't think it's over yet.

 

Sort of agree about Ozzy, but of course it depends what night. As the last couple of tours have progressed he has really improved. Not saying it's 1974, I mean, get real, but he's been very good on many a night. He's also been awful on some nights which some have speculated involves a hearing issue that maybe took time to resolve in terms of his choice of monitoring.

Tony is playing out of his mind. In some ways I'd say he's better than ever. He did have Carpel Tunnel surgery but this was years ago and I don't see it hindering him in any way that I can see.

 

I may have seen him prior to the CT surgery, because he was rubbing his hands before the solos as if to return circulation. It was still a great show, and loved that I got to see the four of them, after catching the three plus Faith No More guy when they first reunited.

 

http://bravewords.com/features/bill-ward-talks-new-solo-album-black-sabbath-reunion-feud-with-ozzy-basically-he-told-me-to-go-****-myself

Very, very different from the time Bill spend with Tony, Ozzy and Geezer working on the 13 album. Surely those guys must have appreciated that you could write at a high level.

“Yeah, I was asked to come up with some melodies, and when I came up with the melodies, they didn’t go down very well (laughs). I presented them to Oz, and Oz just kind of threw ‘em to the ground. So that was kind of the end of that. I can jump all over Sabbath music. I can jump all over it and come up with things all over the place. But I can appreciate that it doesn’t always work for Black Sabbath, for the idea that they want for Black Sabbath. Which is, I’ve never had an idea of what we ought to be in Black Sabbath.”

 

Your link doesn't seem to be working for me.

 

The forum won't let me copy and past the link. It replaces the f-word-yourself with'****-yourself.' Replace the **** with the f-word in your browser. Too bad, it's a great interview.

 

Yeah. Dont do it. You will get riddled with spam.

 

Sorry about that if you're getting spammed. I'm not getting spammed when I look at it.

 

But I believe Bill was against it because they wanted him to pay for it, even though Bill thought it unnecessary. So it goes back to my proposal, the band thought it necessary, so if they took a backup with and he wasn't needed, then the other 3 should have paid for him, not Bill. The 3 wanted the best of both worlds - take a backup and whether needed or not, make Bill pay. BS!

 

Who cares about a strawman. It's not to prove a point but point outcome some hypothetical situations that can arise from clauses in contracts. When I show my lawyer contracts, for each clause I ask him about dozens of possible scenarios that he'll advise me on from his vast experience as a contract lawyer, and point a dozen mores scenarios that never crossed my mind.

 

Objectively, I hear you.
But what I read was Ozzy trying to downplay Bill's role, and perhaps for financial gain.
I get planning for, but imo hard to see it reaches a point where Ozzy Inc tries strip Bill Ward out of history of Sabbath.
But no worries, I'll let u have the last word on this..

 

...and a gift.

 

Thanks for your great post, I think you're making a very good point. And here's a little update from November 2017:
BLACK SABBATH Drummer BILL WARD Hospitalized With Heart Problems; DAY OF ERRORS Tour Canceled

Obviously this isn't Bill's fault, but if I had been in Ozzy's, Tony's or Geezer's management, I would have suggested some backup drummer scenario too.

The whole Sharon-bashing is stupid. If Sabbath do something that people like, it's Sabbath who are held responsible. If they do something people disagree with, it's always Sharon's fault.

What I don't understand is why these 4 guys, who keep calling each other great friends, have never (AFAIK) talked about this whole issue to each other in person. What I don't understand either is why Geezer, Tony and Ozzy chose Tommy Clufetos as Bill's replacement for the tour, but I guess my drumming taste just differs a lot from theirs these days.

 

May 5, 2018 : today is Bill Ward's 70th birthday ....

 

I didn't know I shared a birthday with one of Black Sabbath!

 

Why would they be mad? Is there that much bitterness towards Bill on the part of the hardcore fans?

 

Not saying fans would be mad at Bill, but for the fact that they already did a Farewell tour but if Bill were to rejoin and they embarked on another tour. Would fans be mad and think they got duped?

 

May 5 : today was Bill's 71st birthday ......