BLACK SABBATH's BILL WARD On Surviving The Music Business

November 5, 2009

Legendary BLACK SABBATH drummer Bill Ward recently spoke to ClashMusic.com about surviving the music business. A few excerpts from the chat follow below.

Read Your Contracts:

"I think one of the things a band needs to have, besides a good accountant, is to sign really good contracts. I'm a victim of wanting fame and fortune so badly that I paid the price for that. I can't speak for the other members of BLACK SABBATH in this regard, but we were all part and parcel of things like that where we signed into not very good contracts. I think it's very important that any band, no matter how humble they may be, they need to sing into good paperwork which allows them what they need to have: freedom and security. Then you need to have a fucking ass-kicking logo and then, above all, you have to have kick-ass songs."

Power To The People:

"The best thing that I can say is to let the audience do what it wants to do. Let the audience react; they have a right to applaud and they have a right to boo. Let the audience be and leave them alone. If you go down well then great, and if you don't go down well, then you've got to go and do it again tomorrow. When you watch Ozzy (Osbourne),he'll go onstage and say, 'Come on, you miserable bastards.' But that's as far as he'll go with it, he just says it to get people to join in. A lot of artists do that but they'll have a point where they'll let go of the audience's reaction."

Have A Laugh:

"One of the biggest things that you've got to do when you're out playing on the road is you have to laugh. And most of all laugh at your fucking self. You have to have a good laugh every single day. You're supposed to be having fun out there; it's not supposed to be all serious - the music can be serious and the discussions can be serious but I have to find those silly, fucking stupid things that happen and really laugh. Otherwise there's no point in being out there."

Read the entire interview at ClashMusic.com.

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