VINNY APPICE Says His Reunion With BLACK SABBATH Is 'Not Gonna Happen'

Former BLACK SABBATH, DIO, HEAVEN & HELL and current KILL DEVIL HILL drummer Vinny Appice says that it would be hard to turn down the opportunity to play with BLACK SABBATH again if he was asked to replace original SABBATH drummer Bill Ward , who announced in February that he could not participate in the planned reunion of the band's founding lineup.

"Everybody goes: Well, If you did get asked, would you do it?" Vinny tells Powerline in a brand new interview. "And how could you turn it down? It's part of rock history. It's probably the last album they'll ever make, so who wouldn't want to do it? But I wouldn't want to stop my [new] band [KILL DEVIL HILL] in its tracks. What am I gonna do, stop this and do that? I would say, if it was to happen, it would have to be both things, you know. With my band, maybe we can be on some of the dates and whatever… But it's not gonna happen anyway, because they're moving on. I don't know what's going on, but obviously they're moving on, so … And I got this and I'm stoked, you know. This is my dream right here."

KILL DEVIL HILL — the band featuring Appice, Rex Brown (PANTERA, DOWN) on bass, Mark Zavon (RATT, W.A.S.P., 40 CYCLE HUM) on guitar and Jason "Dewey" Bragg (PISSING RAZORS) on vocals — will release its debut album on May 22 via SPV/Steamhammer.

"I always dreamed I would have my own band," Appice tells Powerline. "And I did have bands in Brooklyn where I grew up but my dream was to make it in the business with my own band. And then I had a band called AXIS and that was becoming a dream but we couldn't do it. It was hard. And I had gotten in Rick Derringer's band, then we broke up and I went back to AXIS and try to make it happen, then I got a call from BLACK SABBATH, so that interrupted that. And then BLACK SABBATH lasted, then Ronnie [Dio] wanted to do a new band so, of course, I'm gonna go with Ronnie. So I always ended up playing with other legendary people, and never had the chance to do my own band. I did it a couple times with WORLD WAR III and a band called 3 LEGGED DOGG, but it just wasn't right at the time. It just fell apart. And then this thing, I still dream about having my own band, you know. And a great band, musically. And this [KILL DEVIL HILL] is more than what I expected. It's perfect."

When asked if Ward will participate in SABBATH's upcoming U.K. and U.S. shows, Ozzy Osbourne's wife and manager, Sharon, told VH1 Radio Network, "We don't know yet, we really don't know. It's up to Bill. The door is open for him to join us, so it's up to him."

Meanwhile, Ozzy, Iommi and bassist Geezer Butler are in London continuing to record their first album together in 33 years, although without Ward it is not the original SABBATH reunion announced last November.

Sharon said about the recording sessions, "It's going good. They're doing really well in the studio. Gosh, they must've written 15 new songs already and it's going great."

She also denied that she was responsible for Ward's current absence from the project, saying, "Everybody's got their own manager, so we have an independent group of people that have come in to manage the project, and I don't, and I get the blame because Bill doesn't want to play with the band; he doesn't like his deal and I get the blame. It's like, 'All right, I'm a big girl, I can take it.'"

Ward has been sitting out the sessions due to being offered what he called "an unsignable contract" in an open letter to SABBATH fans.

Ward posted an update on February 17 in which he said he "remains hopeful" for a positive outcome to the situation.

The rest of SABBATH's scheduled European summer gigs will be replaced by "Ozzy And Friends", at which the singer will be joined by Butler, former Ozzy guitarist Zakk Wylde and other special guests, including Slash on selected dates.