NewsMay 15, 2012 3:47 PM ET7,204 views

Black Sabbath drummer not playing reunion shows

As he had threatened in February, original Black Sabbath drummer Bill Ward will sit out the band's forthcoming reunion performances. Ward explained his rationale via the following, lengthy statement:
I sincerely regret to inform you that after a final effort to participate in the upcoming Sabbath shows a failure to agree has continued. At this time I have to inform you that I won't be playing with Black Sabbath at the Birmingham gig dated May 19th, 2012, nor will I be playing at Download on June 10th, 2012. Further, I will not be playing at Lollapalooza on August 3, 2012. It is with a very sad heart that I bring you this news. I am sincerely passionate in my desire to play with the band, and I'm very, very sorry that it's fallen to this. This statement is even more painstaking to write, as I was particularly excited to play alongside Tony Iommi after the recent treatments he underwent. I wanted that to become a reality. To express my thoughts about you, the Sabbath fans, I'm going to speak to you all through an experience my brother James had recently. My brother Jimmy lives in the U.K. When speaking with him a couple of days ago, he told me that an acquaintance had stopped him on the street and confronted him, "is your brother playing Birmingham? What's going on? I waited in line with my son and paid x amount for the concert tickets." The man's son is a young drummer. He's going to see Sabbath, and he wants to see Bill Ward play drums. Upon hearing this news, I felt horrible. I couldn't help feeling some resentment towards the failure to reach an agreement, the failure to remember where we came from, the failure to be as brothers, as we once were. To be clear, I'm not blaming the other guys or finding any faults with them. I would think it can't be easy for them either, but this situation is just really sad. It's sad that it's come to this. "This" will surely leave a mark and be unwelcome to the memory. Hopefully "this" will heal and pass in time. My heart sank when Jimmy told me about this young boy. I know this boy is going to be disappointed, and I don't know how to amend it, other than to put my arms around the boy and tell him I love him. Sabbath fans have a voice and a face, to me you're human, you have families and despair. You have ferocity and emotions and graciousness, and at this moment as far as I'm concerned you are also that young boy in England. I don't know how to amend my part in these failings other than to put my arms around you and say I love you and let you know I'm very, very sorry. Throughout this process, which began over a year ago, I have had to stand up for myself time and time again. I have had to stand up for myself and in doing so realize my actions indirectly, although unintentionally, are upsetting and hurting a lot of you. I know in my heart I couldn't have done these concerts by agreeing the terms suggested. I made a solemn vow after the last European and Ozzfest concerts that I would never again enter into what was, in my opinion, a totally unsatisfactory contract. I have to stand for something, and as painful as it is, I'm doing it. Earlier in April 2012, I'd been asked to participate "minimally" in the Download festival. I believe I'd been offered no more than three songs to play while another drummer presumably played the rest of the show with Black Sabbath. I was not willing to participate in that offer. I was not prepared to watch another drummer play a Sabbath set, while I was to play only three songs. I found out about the Birmingham gig on Monday, April 30 through the Internet ad. I was taken aback somewhat by the date, and the fact it was Birmingham. Knowing the "signable" contract negotiations were at best in shreds, I was upset by the idea that the band was going to play Birmingham and play it assumedly without me. I had no prior knowledge of the date and location, and I felt totally excluded. We contacted the representative for Black Sabbath to see if something could be worked out. In the meantime my drum crew and I, along with our US endorsers, finished all the necessary planning for a swift departure to the UK. There wasn't a whole lot to complete; we'd all been on standby more or less since mid-January 2012. The remaining work in the UK was confirmed done by our European and UK endorsers and we were good to go by Friday, May 4 2012. There were two stress points: firstly, getting an agreement in place, and secondly, getting to England in a timely manner. Jetlag time was taken into account as well as drum practice, a drum practice room in the heart of Birmingham, accommodation, and travel arrangements were all in place to meet with any band rehearsals that may have transpired before the Birmingham show. So far everything that had been arranged was on my dime, but we didn't move ahead without a realistic confirmation. ... read the remaineder of Ward's statement

44 comments

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Kevl 5/15/2012 12:54:25 PM

If ever the Waaaaambulance was needed, it's now. Also, no way that story about the kid is real.

LoydChristmas 5/15/2012 12:57:58 PM

^THIS. maybe its mentioned in the "remaineder"

anonymous 5/15/2012 1:08:41 PM

I'm just going to say it. Regardless of what negotiations were brought forth, and regardless of "sign able" or "un-sign able" contracts...the guy is a fckING MUSICIAN. Shouldn't you be doing it for the love of the music and the love of the fans? This guys a big fcking baby and it sounds to me through his various posts over the past months that he only cares about the monetary gain that comes out of it.

anonymous 5/15/2012 1:12:47 PM

he needs to get over himself & shut the fck up. it it mattered to him as much as he claims, he'd find a way to make it work.

anonymous 5/15/2012 1:22:23 PM

who is bill ward and why can't he get to the point

anonymous 5/15/2012 1:23:55 PM

Nobody gives a fck about the cry baby gay drummer. Iommi and Ozzy are what make Sabbath great.

dickzit 5/15/2012 1:24:26 PM

Nobody gives a fck about the cry baby gay drummer. Iommi and Ozzy are what make Sabbath great.

anonymous 5/15/2012 1:26:40 PM

too long no read

anonymous 5/15/2012 1:34:22 PM

what a fcking baby, I bet they found a better replacement anyway.

anonymous 5/15/2012 1:34:40 PM

Guys entitled to what he wants I don't see any of these clowns doin free shows....know why....cause it's a business....reunion.....or chestrated business...just cause he's cryin to his "fans" now.....why that's like me telling my customers why I empathize w them waiting 30min for me to get to their haus w there pizza

anonymous 5/15/2012 1:44:53 PM

no wins in here. you are all gays. hail rollins.

anonymous 5/15/2012 1:59:00 PM

Guys, I'm going to remind you of the two words that caused this whole situation: Sharon Osbourne.

cgrind3000 5/15/2012 3:40:03 PM

No care, but my grandpa is really bummed about this

Black_Jacob 5/15/2012 5:19:28 PM

DO YOU REALIZE HOW PENIS THIS IS?!

TheLoudestGuyInTheRoom 5/15/2012 5:45:54 PM

They couldn't afford to pay Bill Ward for the gigs because Sharon Osbourne needed that money to buy her new grandson a gold-plated pacifier

anonymous 5/15/2012 7:02:04 PM

They Got mushroom penis guy who used to play in Emmure.

anonymous 5/15/2012 7:18:45 PM

who?

anonymous 5/15/2012 7:25:11 PM

they should get that guy from avenged sevenf....oh, wait...

anonymous 5/15/2012 10:24:54 PM

Dear Bill Ward, don't say that you regret not playing for the fans when your reasoning is related to you being a c*nt about a contract. If you gave a shit about your fans, getting a lot of money instead of a shit lot of money wouldn't be an issue. fck you.

anonymous 5/16/2012 12:23:21 AM

That would be totally fcked up to only be allowed to play 3 songs and have to leave the stage so some scab could finish the set. Gotta agree with him there. fck all you gays! Bunch a young idiots that have no sense of loyalty, or appreciation for music history for that matter. Shitheads! LOL

anonymous 5/16/2012 1:10:58 AM

cgrind3000 take the grind out of your name because only people who don't listen to grind say No Care. You chode overhang.

ineedsalt 5/16/2012 5:42:13 AM

OBVIOUSLY he needs the money. they are a new band and touring in a van hoping they will make it big

anonymous 5/16/2012 6:06:31 AM

Black Sabbath sucks, fck this gay cry baby drummer

hardware 5/16/2012 6:18:28 AM

The only people that care about this band won't be able to afford the tickets anyway.

anonymous 5/16/2012 7:19:54 AM

who cares who plays the drum parts it's not like their songs take much skill to play anyway

Stupid_News_Poster 5/16/2012 8:22:47 AM

mo' money mo' problems

everybandsuckslol 5/16/2012 8:32:34 AM

He can't sign those contracts dudes. Sorry yall

anonymous 5/16/2012 8:40:18 AM

don't care. will never care. don't have the time to care. this guy's a fcking gay. do it because you love playing music. not because of contracts, or bullshit stories like this.

anonymous 5/16/2012 10:05:30 AM

don't care, but could understand. if i participated in writing songs 30 years ago that became classics, i wouldn't want to watch some other gay retard newjack jerk play a majority of them and get paid more than me for it, while i sat on the sidelines.

anonymous 5/16/2012 10:13:09 AM

I got blocked from a Facebook fan page for this idiot yesterday because I called him a gay. He needs to get over himself and play. He's being a crybaby. Play the shows for your fans instead of giving them updates on how you're not getting enough money, what a gay.

anonymous 5/16/2012 10:58:06 AM

What a greedy piece of shit. Sabbath wants to get together to play again and because your the drummer, who had absolutely no popularity push at all for the band, and you sit behind a bunch of shit, take a dick and eat the 100k you'll be getting paid regardless (on top of the constant royalty checks that buy the enormous 15 foot dildos you sit on daily). What a fcking gay, I hope their replacement takes Wards place, dumb fcking gay. It's about the fans, not about the money you c*nt.

anonymous 5/16/2012 11:20:25 AM

^that would make sense if Bill Ward didn't START Black Sabbath and ALLOW Ozzy to join him and Tony Iommi. It would be like instead of usually fcking your sister all day, he only got to fck her for three hours and then had to watch your dad do it the rest of the day.

anonymous 5/16/2012 11:57:08 AM

I think a lot of you shitheads missed the point. He is bitching because HIS BAND wants SOMEONE ELSE to play songs in HIS place. HE started the band and now they want SOMEONE ELSE to take his place. Think about that for a second.

Snoopy2 5/16/2012 12:27:06 PM

By the time I finish reading this pitiful monologue the whole entire tour is already fcking over

anonymous 5/16/2012 3:06:37 PM

put my arms around the boy and tell him I love him put my arms around the boy and tell him I love him put my arms around the boy and tell him I love him put my arms around the boy and tell him I love him put my arms around the boy and tell him I love him

anonymous 5/16/2012 5:35:32 PM

bill ward is the original drummer of sabbath he was offered 5% while ozzy gets 75% geezer/toni get 10% - how is that fair for anyone but sharon who is ozzys manager and gets her percentage of that? "management" is also TELLING - BLACK SABBATH!!! - to write more "radio friendly songs" how does ANYONE tell BLACK SABBATH - what to write? then they only want bill to pay a few songs - then have a session drummer do the rest of the set? - what a slap in the face!!

anonymous 5/16/2012 5:37:19 PM

all you young idiots can complain all you want about how you dont care or listen to sabbath because they came out before mosh parts were invented and you cant head-walk to iron man... but the bottom line here is Bill Ward is right. maybe you morons should listen to a band thats existed for more/last longer than 5 years instead of trying SO HARD with your little quips about EVERY SINGLE BAND to try and make OTHER people laugh. we get it, youre the dane cook of lambgoat...

anonymous 5/16/2012 11:08:41 PM

^this

slut 5/16/2012 11:18:02 PM

My dad in the 60s: "no care ever."

hardware 5/17/2012 5:32:55 AM

I understand where the drummer is coming from and agree that it's wrong for him to be offered to play 3 songs. I simply meant he shouldn't be so upset over this because no one cares about the band anymore.

duckduckfootloose 5/17/2012 7:11:19 AM

If this dude wants our sympathy, he needs to come up with shorter, more incisive statements that don't make him sound like a total pssy: "Sharon's a bitch; if the fans want more than 3 songs, they'll demand it."

anonymous 5/17/2012 10:20:28 AM

In other news Andrew Mikhail recruits Bill Ward to Serpents.

anonymous 5/17/2012 4:03:34 PM

people still care about black sabbath? they have like what? one good record? maybe? whiners will be bummed.

RickRock 5/18/2012 9:31:44 AM

If it don't make dollars, it don't make sense.




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