Why did Bill Ward reject the Black Sabbath reunion?
Bill Ward might well be the definitive heavy metal drummer. He was the ballast behind all of Black Sabbath’s records of worth. In the early 1970s, there was no rhythm section quite like his partnership with bassist Geezer Butler. The duo were both dynamic yet muscular. Without the pair, the quartet’s most musically sophisticated twosome, guitarist Tony Iommi and frontman Ozzy Osbourne might not have been discussed in such glowing terms.
The original lineup of Black Sabbath recorded the formula for all metal genres to come. Sabbath were the progenitors, and for this reason, Ward’s significance to the development of music is undoubted. However, if he didn’t have the great misfortune of being overshadowed by Led Zeppelin’s John Bonham, he would likely be hailed as the era’s finest sticksmith.
Interestingly, both drummers hailed from the West Midlands and took their cues from past virtuosos such as Gene Krupa. More importantly, they blended intelligence with a natural flair and refreshed rock drumming. For the most part, the discipline had been notoriously rigid before their emergence.
For instance, take his drum solo on ‘Rat Salad’ from the 1970s album Paranoid. To fans, it might not be comparable to Bonham’s tour de force on Led Zeppelin’s ‘Moby Dick’, yet it’s still a luminous display of his mastery. Like his Led Zeppelin counterpart, Ward drew on many different genres, which allowed Sabbath to really up the ante following their debut album.
From the start, Ward always knew Sabbath had a cutting edge. “I knew from the day we went into Aston Community Centre and played ‘Black Sabbath’ for the first time that we were different,” he told Louder Sound in 2022. “We had something I didn’t understand, and I knew that I loved it.”
Although Ward has a deep connection to Black Sabbath, despite his bandmates nearly killing him, in 2012, he surprisingly announced he’d no longer be participating in their reunion, which left fans bitterly disappointed. The drummer maintained that he would not regroup with his old friends until he received a “signable contract”. Then, when the band played a series of shows without him in the summer and recorded 13 with Brad Wilk, any hope of Ward rejoining Sabbath was quashed.
Years later, when speaking to Rock Candy, Ward gave greater insight into why he turned the reunion down, revealing he holds no ill will towards his old gang. The drummer said: “I wish the others all the best; I really do. Do I still love them? Yes. I certainly don’t resent them. Just wish them well.”
He continued: “I made it well known to everybody who was important that I wanted something that was fair, and it just didn’t happen. Even if someone had held a gun to my head, I couldn’t have signed that contract.”
Ward concluded by expressing regret at his decision. However, it hasn’t stopped him from loving his friends: “It was one of the most regrettable things I’ve ever gone through in my life, and I was particularly sad for the fans over how things ended up. But that hasn’t stopped me from loving the guys. Sabbath is where my heart lies.”
