OZZY OSBOURNE Offers More Information On BLACK SABBATH Drummer Drama

Triple M's Lee Simon conducted an interview with BLACK SABBATH singer Ozzy Osbourne ahead of the band's recent Australian tour. During the chat, which can be streamed using the SoundCloud widget below, Ozzy talked frankly about being sober again after his recent "major slip" back into drugs and alchohol, SABBATH guitarist Tony Iommi's battle with cancer and Osbourne's thoughts on of the group's new album, "13".

Osbourne was asked by Spin.com why the band's current touring drummer, Tommy Clufetos, did not record the drum tracks on "13", on which the drums were played by Brad Wilk of RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE. Ozzy replied, "The way it was dealt with was wrong, because you can't keep people waiting for nothing. We were going to use Tommy at the beginning, and Rick [Rubin, producer] was against it. And then it turned out that it wasn't dealt with professionally and I got a bit pissed off. Anyway, Tommy's doing a great job on the road with SABBATH."

Here's the way Ozzy explained it to The Pulse Of Radio when he was asked what happened: "Tommy was offered the gig until Rick Rubin came along. Rick Rubin didn't want Tommy, and nobody told — it was a bit of a communication breakdown. Tommy was on the side waiting, and it just didn't work out, you know. It works out in the end."

Asked what happened with original drummer Bill Ward, who was announced as part of the band's reunion in late 2011 but bowed out a few months later, Ozzy told Spin, "To be absolutely truthful with you, I can't really remember. It was such a long time ago. There was the business side of it and the money side of it. We just didn't have the time to keep the people waiting another fucking ten years . . . We would have loved Bill Ward to step up to the plate, but it never worked out."

Ward claimed that he sat out the reunion because of unfair contractual terms, although the members of SABBATH have hinted in other interviews that he wasn't physically up to the task.

"13" is the first album in 35 years to feature Osbourne, Iommi and bassist Geezer Butler all playing together.

The set, which came out on Tuesday (June 11),is likely to sell between 120,000 and 130,000 copies in the U.S. in its first week of release, according to industry web site Hits Daily Double. That could hand SABBATH its first No. 1 album ever in the U.S.