Carmine Appice explains why he turned down Black Sabbath
After becoming a drumming legend in his own right, Carmine Appice has explained why he turned down the opportunity to join Black Sabbath in the 1980s. Appice had previously been working with the band Vanilla Fudge and would go on to collaborate with other rock stars such as Rod Stewart and Jeff Beck.
While Appice had been offered the idea of replacing Bill Ward in Sabbath, he turned it down due to other commitments, telling Bravewords: “They wanted me for the gig, but at the time, I was playing with Rod [Stewart], and we were playing 20,000-seat gigs”. Appice’s brother Vinny would go on to work in the next incarnation of Sabbath with Ronnie James Dio, playing on albums like The Mob Rules.
Appice also thought the Sabbath gig wouldn’t make sense financially, going on to say: “Sabbath was not doing well, and they couldn’t even sell out one night at the same places Rod was selling out six nights at. So, for me, Black Sabbath was a much smaller gig. And with Rod, I had a percentage of the take, so that was good for me, too”.
Though Appice would not play with Sabbath, he would eventually work with Ozzy Osbourne, playing on some of his first solo albums, replacing original drummer Tommy Aldridge.
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