Bill Ward just posted a short followup on his site to the how shall we say, fracas online of the last two days or so. Here’s what he said.
Dear Sabbath Fans,
This is Bill. I just wanted to humbly thank you all. Your support from across the world has given me further strength and hope for a positive resolve. I have been moved and overwhelmed by the thousands of messages. I love you all.
Rock forever,
Bill
It’s not a true Mk. 1 reunion again without Bill Ward! This whole nonsense deserves a giant WTF! from every true Sabbath fan on the planet! Get the situation fixed ! Again, best wishes to Tony Iommi, and may the real Black Sabbath serve a warm plate of classic mayhem later this year with all members involved. No one wants another let’s test the water for a true reunion like in 1997! Don’t go out on a final tour like this! After all these years! C’mon!
Bill is the man. Sharon, Geezer, Ozzy and Tony, you lose. Go beg him a chance.
No Bill Ward= No Black Sabbath= One Less Ticket Sold. We love you Billy.
EXACTLY!
I can’t even believe I’m reading this. Greed when we are THIS CLOSE to a REAL Black Sabbath reunion? Bills switches and rhythms ARE SIGNATURE, NOBODY ELSE is what Bill is. He’s an original member, and THERE SHOULD BE NO DISRESPECT OR INEQUALITY IN THE MIX!
This blows my mind!!!!!!!!!! I’m 47 and have been waiting since I was 15 to see them play live, the four. I’ve been beside myself that they are reuniting. I won’t even buy the album if Bills inputs are not in from the beginning.
Without the four? I WILL NOT BE IN THE STADIUM! Fuck that!!
What’s going on here???…there’s NO BLACK SABBATH without BILL
I think Bill Ward is a big part of Black Sabbath as well, but I cannot support how he did this. IMHO, this is a pansy-ass, wear my heart on my sleeve move that unfortunately has become all to common for Bill in the last few years. He may well have valid concerns, but he should have worked this out in private before he ever committed to the reunion. He is asking for support from the fans, when he should be asking for forgiveness. This public display of pitting one side against the other is something I would have expected from Sharon or management in general, but not from Bill. His ego is out of control for someone who has been pulled out of the gutter by his band mates on more than one occasion. His new found self importance, while presented in a humble manner, is evident as far back as the Last Supper DVD interviews up through the latest reunion announcement. I for one, am insulted by his attempt to black-mail me as fan. It’s almost an act of terrorism.
I’ll miss him on the album and the tour, but I will be buying both.
I give the man the benefit of the doubt. Much may have changed
once the base moved to England. Think about it.
Totally agree,whats with the “we found out via facebook publicly that bill declined”?!As you said he’s done it before as late as the heaven and hell reunion.I’d like to see him in it too because his style is a little unique -but- mike bordin did great live.I would like to see him on the album cause i do think devil you know needed something xtra from the drumming parts.
Either way i’ll go to the tour no matter what.
Who knows though his final contract might be diff than what was originally talked about.But i seriously doubt its only about cash.
Keep going Bill. You had just as much to do with the first Sabbath sound as anyone
else. This is ridiculous. Listen to the bonus discs on the deluxe editions. There is
Bill playing drums in his unique style. Same with Tony and Geezer. Then there is
Ozzy with his stupid I lost my woman lyrics. It is obvious that Ozzy is the weak link.
Think of how his songs would sound without Bill, Tony and Geezer writing, or
Daisley, Kerslake and Rhoads. If anyone should be having trouble negotiating a
contract it is Ozzy. I am sick of this pathetic crap. By the way Ozzy and Sharon.. I bought
the Ozzy Blizzard deluxe box set and it’s crap. Go Bill !!!!
your welcome bill. now get yourself on that plane, meet the guys IN PERSON and sort this shit out
Bill’s contributions on the first 8 albums is awesome and unique. On ‘Heaven and Hell’ and ‘Born Again’ it was just drums that probably Cozy, Bobby, Eric, or Vinnie could have played just as well (or Better). I know this will piss off some folks and other are just afraid to say it- but as a “true” Sabbath fan I don’t care who’s in the band as long as Tony Iommi is one of them. I’m probably in a small group (but I’m sure that I’m not alone) when I say I’d be fine if Ozzy and Bill both backed out and they bring back Tony Martin and Bobby Rondinelli. Or Glenn Hughes and Vinnie Appice- that’d be a cool line-up. Don’t get me wrong the early Sabbath is Classic but, to me, the more “Metal” Sabbath came with Dio and Vinnie.
LOL. Nothing is heavier or more metal than Master of Reality. Period.
Hands up all those willing to pay to see Tony Martin and Bobby Rondinelli play War Pigs. Thought so.
Mr. Ward,
I’m just a local symphony clarinet player out here in Missouri, who is keeping my fingers doublecrossed that the Sabbath reunion happens WITH you. 3 out of 4 – good. All 4 a phenomenal dream come true. A lot of us could use something cool like this happening right about now. I really hope you can do it, and that whomever is not treating you right will “sot off.” I’m not going to go see just 3 – the dream is too close to happening. Sabbath never sounded right without you on the drums. Surely no legal rigamarole can stop SABBATH!
I love Black Sabbath. There’s a lot that can be said about this, but my intuition tells me the deal will be made through divinity. I love you Bill. Stay empowered!!
You guys better put this stupid show behind and keep on doing what you can do at best: recording music and playing it live. You are all bound by your own statement of 11.11.2011. If you do not stick to it, a few million people who know you (incl. those who are not your fans) and heard the news will convince themselves that you are a bunch of idiots. Black Sabbath is a band far too famous to allow yourselves to pull such a show!
Who plays drums now, if Bill doesn’t play? That was almost 100% reunite of Black Sabbath. Now There’s 3/4 guys of offical Sabbath and one guy who play drums:-(
No one is interested in a Black Sabbath without Bill Ward. Do yourselves a favor and remedy this situation asap.
I ordered and payed for tickets just a few days ago. Without Bill I want my money back…
I am with you, Freddy. No reunion without Bill Ward!!
I love Black Sabbath, you are GOODS!!!
Sweden LOVES YOU!! SE YOU SOON!!
I’ve seen Black Sabbath every tour since 1978. I saw Ward, Appice, Bevan, Singer, Powell, Rondinelli, Bordin all play in this band.
The writing will suffer without Bill’s unique style, no doubt. But what’s worse is what they have done to Bill the man.
There’s nothing worse than betrayal. That said, we all love you Bill.
~d.
Hi Bill it is not the same without the four of you i hope you will came through brother can’t wait to here new sabbath best heavy rock band on the planet keep rocking and stay true
No Bill Ward no concert for me!
If Tony, Ozzy and Geezer think for a minute they can produce a new Sabbath Album without Bill Ward they have lost their minds. It will fail! I say don’t ruin the Sabbath name by producing a 3/4 Sabbath album and still call it Black Sabbath. If Bill Ward is not in the mix there can be no new Sabbath album period. As a Sabbath fan since 1971 I would prefer this whole project be scraped if all four members are not part of it. This really pisses me off!!!
No Bill on the bill? Then why waste time and money on a new album? I totally that everybody shouldn’t make the same money. It depends on what you throw into the project! However, that is not really what Bill is after from what I understand. He wants fair recognition I guess. How pathetic to fuck all the fans for money. Anybody starving in the band? No? Thought so. Anyway, now we all can laugh this band off. ‘It’s about the music’… Hahaha… Good one guys!
Ok let’s all hope for a real band to re-unite, Modern Talking! Real at least compared to these clowns.
No Bill on the bill? Then why waste time and money on a new album? I totally get that everybody shouldn’t make the same money. It depends on what you throw into the project! However, that is not really what Bill is after from what I understand. He wants fair recognition I guess. How pathetic to fuck all the fans for money. Anybody starving in the band? No? Thought so. Anyway, now we all can laugh this band off. ‘It’s about the music’… Hahaha… Good one guys!
Ok let’s all hope for a real band to re-unite, Modern Talking! Real at least compared to these clowns.
I think what may be required here is for the boys to get together and take a trip to their childhood homes for a little perspective. The prospect of a tour,or a recording, without Bill, especially under the Sabbath name, is preposterous- an absolute insult to this fan of 30+ years. Whether it be Ozzy, Sharon, Tony or Geezer, or a combination of the 4, you should hang your heads in abject shame. As someone has previously posted, you have already lost. Even if this all gets resolved, the stench of the total lack of respect for a fellow brother can never be cleansed. Peace and love bill.
I was already worried for Tony. And now Bill leaves the band?! Eighter you four or I won’t come in Milano!
PS: Bill, you had 33 years to ask a real contract. Why did you wake up now? :-\
If you can imagine a forward on a soccer team with an open shot on goal “no goalie” & he would not take the shot.Thats how the contract writer compares to for not maken this write.If you get Bill back on board
the goat is made & we all win.Lots of money & ticket sales are at stake here.Do what’s you can lawyers make this contract work. thnaks
I was so excited when I heard of the original B.S. line-up. The four of you were monumental in creating a genre and changing the face of music. Please work this out and have the “original” Black Sabbath. Bill’s drumming is just as important to the sound as any other part of the process. IT WILL NOT BE ANYWHERE NEAR THE SAME WITHOUT HIM. Many people have waited many years for this. Don’t disappoint .
I hereby join the ever increasing choir of real Black Sabbath lovers who express their true feelings regarding the reunion we have waitet for so long. For us the only Black Sabbath we want to see is the one with Bill, Ozzy, Geezer and Tony. THE FAB FOUR! There will be no real reunion with one of the original members missing! It’s just sad if they go on with the record and the world tour with a 75% “Black Sabbath”. To the entire Black Sabbath organization: GET YOURSELVES TOGETHER and end things with the flag on top. With pride! Please don’t let Black Sabbath’s initials (BS) become synonymous wit something else….
Every time there’s been a reunion it seems Bill is the one who gets the shaft. Luckily I got to see all 4 of them at one of the Ozzfest shows. I also saw them with Mike Bordin filling in for Bill. It’s just not the same. Black Sabbath is all 4 of them, not just 3. Please stop shitting on Bill and work it out. No Bill Ward = no Black Sabbath.
Call me a diehard, I was turned on to Sabbath in the early 70’s when they were not played on the radio. As far as I’m concerned, there is no Black Sabbath without all four of the original members. Come guys, get it together so that we the fans can rock out like we did in the day.
NO BILL, NO REUNION.
Please sit down and talk this through guys, please let your 40+ years of friendship overcome this :(
What exactly do you want Bill? This is the thing you haven’t explained to the fans! An ‘unsignable’ contract. What is unsignable about it? Put your fans before yourself and create something worthwhile – THEN you will get the respect you crave!
-facepalm- Sharon doesn’t manage Sabbath! When are you going to get that through your heads?!
Bill is just being a derp – he’s a great drummer, I give him that, but if he honestly doesn’t know that the entire world of heavy metal is waiting for all four of them to record an album and get on the road, and is going to jeopardize that, which will probably never happen again, just because he feels neglected…
To finish your last sentence up there…..”then he’s a bigger idiot than I wanted to believe.” What’s a “derp” anyway?
Obviously, you weren’t there in ’79.
The idiot has been and always will be Ozzy.
And apparently he still values his contributions in an uneven fashion.
All Bill has ever wanted is the same arrangement they used to have.
TO ALL THOSE INVOLVED:
STOP FU*KING AROUND AND SOLVE THE CONTRACT DISPUTE!!!!!!!
WE NEED ALL FOUR FOR A PROPER REUNION!!!!!!!
No Bill No Sabbath. This is bullshit if its true and its bullshit if its a commercial stunt. So whatever this ends up with, the magic is gone and we are left with bullshit.
Bill, for fuck’s sake!!! Get yourself a proper management that can explain Sharon the Snake that 25% of a big good cake is much better than 50 (or whatever…)% of a tiny bad tasting cake. Get them to explain to the rest (hereby referred to as Back Stabbath) that they have much to fear if they lauch a reunion with Vinny on skins. If I go. I will go just to loathe them.
Dear Bill, Geezer, Tony and Ozzy,
Please work things out en make a brilliant album en go on a brilliant tour. I still believe you can do it. Leave the bloody buisnisssite of music aside and have fun in making the album and play for the fans (and your self). You only life ones.
FUCK OFF MANAGEMENT.FUCK YOU ALL!!!!so its all about money at all???BLACK SABBATH ARE OZZY 25% BIll 25% GEEZER 25% and TONY 25%. to have the real black sabbath back we need those four pieces.you will loose and we the fans also. I will return my ticket back and I will not buy the new album if one of these four persons will not appear in the cd or in the concert.everything you do, do it well…go back to Bill and bake him to return.how can you be so apathy?you dont recognize gis offering in the band in metal general??whats wrong with you?i believe this time, it’s not Ozzy’w or Saron’w fault…find the responosimble persons, hit him and send him on his knees to apology to Bill and to return back.
IF WE DON’T HAVE THE ORIGINAL LINE UP,THEN I CHOOSE TO HAVEN’T A FAKE REUNION OR NEW ALBUM AND ANYONE WHATEVER HE’S DOING WITHOUT SABBATH
Hi everybody!
I keep it short: There can’t be ANY reason to replace anybody in Black Sabbath at this point. I don’t need a 3/4 reunion at all.
Either Bill is in the band or I am free to spend my money on a better band. Full Stop.
That is incredibly distressing news! Bill must be compensated at the same tier as the other three original members. The music world deserves a reunion with all four, not just three and a drummer that can pretend to be the professor that Bill Ward is to the percussion community. I will not attend a Black Sabbath concert without Bill Ward nor will I purchase a new CD without his aggressive hard rock style.
This news is highly disturbing. I thought that the entire point of Ozzy’s lawsuit was to make it impossible to use the Black Sabbath name without all of the original members. This should be very simple, all four members get an equal share of the profits, that is how it started and it is how it should end. Tell Sharon to get over her daddy issues (Don Arden), he’s dead now, and let the boys have one last hurrah!
Don`t do it You are making a massive, massive mistake. Mr Ward Is essential. I realise that I am unaware of the whole story but you do realise how it looks? Bill`s drumming is unique and you have to have him on the record. Do the right thing.
So Mote It Be
Without Bill – this is no better than the ‘Forbidden’ line-up as far as I am concerned. A big FU to Sharon.
I really really really hope this gets sorted out in the future….. I hope Rick Rubin is the key to getting all of this fixed…….. there can be no true sabbath album without the originals……
Dear Black Sabbath and/or Lawyers:
I can’t believe I’m reading this news written by one of my drumming idols. With all the money us fans spend to support the band over the past 40 or so years, I am really very surprise the band cannot take care of Bill on such an important historic tour?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! This is really unfortunate to read to say the least…
In the risk of sounding a bit over the top, (I admit I have been a tremendous Sab fan for almost 40 years) I must weigh in on this situation simply because I was truly taken aback reading Bill’s brutally honest e-mail. Because Sabbath has had such a great inpact on me throughout my life and has brought me such great joy in listening to your music (certainly Bill’s playing style is deeply embedded in every pore of my body – I play the drums!) I feel compelled to express my great dissatisfaction (for what it’s worth) with whatever is going on between Bill and the band/lawyers for Bill to write such a troubling letter.
That said, it seems people oftentimes mistake a person’s kindness for weakness and I suspect this could be at least part of what’s going on here – but I’m just guessing and base my opinion solely on having read/viewed innumerable interviews of Bill over the years. Bill comes across to me in ALL those interviews as very very humble, highly intelligent, thoughtful, sincere, good natured, caring, sensitive, and loyal to a fault. That said, sometimes it’s only when an offended person says “Enough is Enough” does another realize that, intentionally or not, the person at issue has been finally pushed too far/taken for granted and/or taken advantage of to the point where the his sense of pride is seriously offended. After all people are only human…and how would you feel…?
That said, simply reflecting on who helped initially bring the band worldwide fame would I suspect readily put the situation in proper perspective. For example, IMHO without Bill each of the songs on those first four classic albums could not possibly have had anywhere near the impact, longevity and magic without that man’s superbly crafted and heartfelt rhythms, phrasings, and I daresay, orchestrations. To this day there is absolutely NOBODY that played/plays a drumkit like that!
As a drummer of many decades and lifelong student of the instrument who has played for many years in a popular Connecticut Sab tribute band (and continues to do so), as much as I love ALL the original members more than any other band ever (and some of the non-original greats also!), I must say that it would be VERY difficult for me to support a reunion without Bill simply because, call the band what you will, it is NOT , never is and never has been Sabbath without Bill! (And believe me I love Cozy Powell’s playing as much as anyone!!! – RIP COZY)
Please, show some respect for Bill!!! The members of the band are much too intelligent, mature and good human beings to treat Bill, (who is for all practical purposes your brother when you come right down to it), like this. It’s not like you’ll have to take a loan out to give the man his due respect monetarily! Most of us musicians won’t make the money in ten lifetimes that Sabbath make in one gig. Point is, yes, you deserve it without question – but so does BILL!!!
Black Sabbath has a chance to really show you are THE greatest hard rock band of all time – but I honestly believe that it’s only all four of the ORIGINAL members that will cement that legacy in this possibly final reunion. I know it’s only my two cents, but I believe that without Bill this reunion is not going to work – take it from me, a person who has been influenced by your great music, I venture to guess, as much as anyone on earth!
Black Sabbath symbolizes more than just great groundbreaking music that has and will continue to influence generations of fans and musicians for decades to come. Believe it or not, because you continue to influence so many fans, (including me) a major negative situation such as this with a band member you’ve been friends with for 50 years cannot possibly have a positive effect on both the band and your fans alike.
I sincerely believe that working out what surely cannot be insurmountable differences with Bill would surely pay great present and future rewards to the band in ways far greater than any extra saved dollars/pounds could ever impart. At the end of the day if it simply comes down to the almighty dollar then it would be really sad for all of us on so many levels when all is said and done.
Ultimately, I know you guys will all do the right thing with Bill (and by extension your many fans!).
God bless BLACK SABBATH!!! – Please Stay the BEST…(and lawyers please do the right thing )
Cheers,
Shevy
FIRE YOUR MANAGEMENT BILL,THEIR TO BLAME
Let’s get real here. Bill has a history of breaking down and pulling out of shit. Tony, Oz and Geezer may have some very good reasons for not putting up with any crap from him. I’d prefer he be along for the ride, but will see any show the boys put together regardless of Bill’s involvement.
I GET SICK AND TIRED OF EVERYBODY BLAMING JUST SHARON,HATE TO BREAK THE NEWS BUT IT’S EVERYBODYS MANAGEMENT THAT SCREWS THINGS UP,ALL MANAGERS STAY OUT OF IT AND LET THE BOYS DO WHAT THEY DO BEST.
ALL MANAGERS INVOLVED DONT SCREW THINGS UP FOR THE BOYS,STEP ASIDE AND LET THE BOYS ROCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
FIRE ALL THE MANAGERS INVOLVED AND LET THE BOYS ROCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
No Bill no Sabs…..I’m with Mr. Ward…God bless you