News•October 23, 2014 10:09 AM ET•6,345 views

Ozzy hopes Bill Ward can return to Black Sabbath

In a new interview with Esquire, Black Sabbath frontman Ozzy Osbourne seemingly opened the door to original drummer Bill Ward returning to the band for their forthcoming album. After a falling out with his bandmates over compensation, Ward was not present for the band's 2012 reunion album and tour (Rage Against The Machine drummer Brad Wilk performed on the album). Black Sabbath recently announced plans to release a studio album in 2015, followed by a tour. Speaking to Esquire, Osbourne expressed his desire to have Ward return to the fold:

"If this is Black Sabbath's last hurrah, then we'll have ended it on an up note rather than when I left in 1979 and everybody was fucked up on one thing or another and I was marked out as being the worst, you know. It ended on a bad note, so... The only thing sad about it is I hope Bill Ward can get his stuff together to do this because... one of the biggest things I'm proud of in my life was that Black Sabbath wasn't a band that was created by some business mogul in London or New York. That we were four guys who had a great idea and it worked from record one..."