BLACK SABBATH OFFICIALLY MOVING FORWARD WITHOUT BILL WARD

Just yesterday, Bill Ward released a statement in which he threatened to bow out of the recently announced new Black Sabbath album and world tour unless he was given “a ‘signable’ contract.” Now Black Sabbath have announced via their Facebook page that they are, indeed, proceeding without their now-once-again-former drummer:

We were saddened to hear yesterday via Facebook that Bill declined publicly to participate in our current Black Sabbath plans…we have no choice but to continue recording without him although our door is always open… We are still in the UK with Tony. Writing and recording the new album and on a roll… See you at Download!!!

– Tony, Ozzy and Geezer

So, that sucks. While Ward isn’t necessarily an irreplaceable piece of the Black Sabbath puzzle — Heaven & Hell more than proved that* — there’s no way this isn’t going to cast a pall over the whole reunion, especially given that a) Ward was part of the initial reunion announcement, and b) this is obviously a money dispute, not a creative dispute.

Hopefully Ward at least got a call from the other members of Sabbath before they made this announcement. But knowing the Osbourne camp, it’s entirely possible he’s learning about this the same way we are.

Now the question is, will Ward relent and walk through the “always-open door,” or will Sabbath need to find a new drummer? And if so, who? Personally, my vote still goes to Vinny Appice…

-AR

*Ozzy obviously isn’t an irreplaceable piece, either, but let’s not get into that right now.

[via Brooklyn Vegan]