BILL WARD On Possibility Of BLACK SABBATH Reunion: 'I Have A Complete Open Mind'

David "Gus" Griesinger of BackstageAxxess.com conducted an interview with BLACK SABBATH drummer Bill Ward. An excerpt from the chat follows below.

BackstageAxxess.com: In May of 2009 there was a lawsuit Ozzy [Osbourne] filed against Tony Iommi over the trade marking of the name BLACK SABBATH. Ozzy was quoted that he thought "all four original members should have equal access to the name." Do you want to comment on that?

Bill: No, I don't know a lot about it. I stayed out of it. I wanted to see how things would fall between Tony and Ozz. I spoke to Ozz only a few days ago and he mentioned in passing that's all been done and dealt with now. Again, in my private notes, I have to ask our lawyer some of my stuff and if they can find out what was and what fell and what it fell to and so on and so forth. All of it is public knowledge, I would think. These things are usually placed in the legal columns. So the information I think could be found quite easy. So I don't know. I never talked to Ozz about that stuff. He just happened to mention that the other day. The band has been through so much. If someone is arguing with somebody one day that doesn't mean that's the entire future. These things have a way of sorting themselves out, settling, and then moving on. I don't think it paralyzes all or diminishes any possibilities of future BLACK SABBATH work. We have overcome some pretty mean stuff between each other (laughs) and still got on stage and played. I don't know what to make of it. I really tried to be completely neutral in it while supporting Tony and Ozzy at the same time.

BackstageAxxess.com: What's the status of your relationship with the other original members of BLACK SABBATH? Is everyone on good speaking terms?

Bill: Yeah! I spoke to Tony a couple of times this year. Me and him seem to be getting along fine. We had a good heart-to-heart on some things. I know he's been busy. We talk to each other over the phone. I talk to Ozzy at least twice a week. He will call and I'll try to call him back and what have you. We are always talking to each other. Geezer [Butler] ...I don't talk to on the phone. He likes to email. I don't get to correspond with him very often. He's always in my heart. He's just there, period, all the time.

BackstageAxxess.com: Do you foresee a reunion of any sorts with the original members of BLACK SABBATH at any point, including the possibility of recording new material?

Bill: Gus, I have a complete open mind. I would be available to see what we would like to do and how we would like to do it. I would have to look at the entire picture. Would I like to? My open mind says yes! We would have to see if that was possible by how everybody else is feeling, and if there is a possibility to move forward. It's hard. It's so wonderful to play with the band that I didn't want to come off the last tour. Like I said, I think the last tour ended like three years ago. When the band played Europe, Gus, I just thought the band was flying high and the band sounded great! It sounded tight. I thought, "My God, let's keep on playing! Let's go around the world with this all the way around and around again." It was hard to come off the tour. I know all good things must come to an end but it was tough.

BackstageAxxess.com: When that ended and the HEAVEN & HELL project took flight in early 2007, you had an opportunity to participate in that but decided it wasn't for you. Can you explain to your fans exactly what happened and why you didn't join the HEAVEN & HELL project?

Bill: I had some reservations going in. However, when we actually started to play the songs, I liked the songs and the music won me over. Unfortunately, for me, I had a bit of a difficult time bringing some chops to the guys, especially Ronnie [James Dio, vocals], who wanted a certain kind of feel. I'm not very good in being able to play to cater to musicians in a way that they might want something to be heard (laughs). It's the difference between being a drummer and an orchestrated drummer. I play in an orchestrated way. Whereas a drummer, you can give the drummer notes and he will play the notes. So it sounds like a little bit of fish out of water. Not quite comfortable. There were some other instances where I felt very uncomfortable with [the HEAVEN & HELL situation]. All in all, it made it very difficult for me to try to lay the tracks as I was hoping I could for the guys and for myself. I needed to be happy in this, too! It just didn't work out. I feel if I had enough [learning] time… I had about a week to learn three songs. To me that's not enough time as a drummer. I like to be able to know what the hell I'm doing and I was at a place at the time where I was still feeling the tracks out. I was still getting used to the tracks. It takes me a while to get where I want to be when I'm rehearsing songs. I wasn't able to slot in what they wanted me to be. It was incompatible and it didn't work out.

Read the entire interview from BackstageAxxess.com.