BILL WARD: I Wanted BLACK SABBATH To Go On

April 11, 2004

BLACK SABBATH drummer Bill Ward recently spoke to Classic Rock Revisited about the possibility of the band reuniting for a future tour and studio album. Asked if it ever gets frustrating that SABBATH is not out there, Bill said, "It is frustrating. On the last tour we did, we all worked so hard. I became frustrated and a little bit angry and disappointed at the end of the touring period because the band was sounding so hot. It made no sense to me to stop at the last gig. My chops were tight with Geezer and Tony. I was just learning what I had forgotten! I felt that I could go on for years but we had to stop and pull the plug. That is where commercialism comes in over musicism. However, we still sounded great and we were having a blast and I just wanted to go on. We could have gone around the world. Those were just my expectations and I could understand things from a business point of view but it was kind of sad."

In the same interview, Bill spoke about his substance-abuse problems that almost caused him to take his own life in the early 1980s.

"I came off the road from the 'Heaven & Hell' tour because my addictions were so strong at the time that the most important thing to me was getting high. It had reached such a point that I was just out of it all the time. I didn't know what was going on. I was completely fucked up, period. Booze became the most important thing in my life. It was more important than my children, my wife and even myself. I went on a downward spiral in 1980. By the time 1983 came I had already been in several detoxes. It was getting worse and worse all the time. On January the 2nd or the 3rd 1984, I finally relinquished and went into a hospital. This was after my final suicide attempt. I could not stand the idea of being sober. I had over a year sober at the time of my suicide attempt but I couldn't stand being sober so I decided to kill myself. . . I started getting sober in 1981. I would go a month or two and then drink again and then do the same thing over and over. If you add it up then it would have been about a year. On January 22, 2004, I celebrated my 20th year without any drinking and dope."

Read Ward's entire interview with Classic Rock Revisited at this location.

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