BLACK SABBATH's TONY IOMMI On Split With BILL WARD: 'We Were All Disappointed In It'

May 30, 2013

Paul Cashmere of Australia's Noise11.com recently recently conducted an interview with BLACK SABBATH guitarist Tony Iommi. You can now watch the chat below.On drummer Bill Ward's decision to back out of the BLACK SABBATH reunion over a contractual dispute:Iommi: "It's been a on-off thing with Bill for many years with me. It was disappointing. We were all disappointed in it. It happened before with [the BLACK SABBATH offshoot band] HEAVEN & HELL [which featured Ronnie James Dio on vocals]. We wanted Bill to come in and Bill wanted to do it again. We got him in and he left again. We were used to it, really. It's a shame. We would have liked Bill to be on the [new BLACK SABBATH] album ['13'], and I'm sure Bill would have liked to have been on it, but it just got to a silly situation. It just didn't happen."On being the only member of BLACK SABBATH to have never left the band:Iommi: "It was just that I never left. I carried on. What do you do? You try and make the best of what you can. I enjoyed some of what we done. We did some really good stuff. With Dio, I thought 'Heaven And Hell', 'Mob Rules', they were good albums. 'Dehumanizer' and stuff. Also some of the stuff with Tony Martin [vocals] and Cozy [Powell, drums] I liked. When people aren't there, you try and replace it, and it's really difficult to replace original members, because that's the sound you have, you all create. I've done quite a few albums with Tony Martin, Cozy Powell, Neil Murray. We'd done 'Headless Cross' and the 'Forbidden' album, which was the last one we'd done with that lineup. I didn't really like that album."Ward was on board for the reunion when it was first announced in November 2011, but backed out soon after, claiming that he was given contractual terms that were not fair.SABBATH has used Ozzy's regular touring drummer Tommy Clufetos since then for live work. RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE's Brad Wilk laid down the drum tracks on "13", due out June 11.SABBATH finished the Australian leg of its world tour earlier in the month and played Japan's first-ever Ozzfest on May 12. A North American trek begins on July 25 in the Woodlands, Texas.

Find more on
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • reddit
  • email

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).