Bill Ward: Why I left Heaven and Hell
Black Sabbath drummer Bill Ward has broken his silence on why he left Heaven and Hell before the band recorded forthcoming album The Devil You Know.
Speaking to Rock DJ Tom Russell, he explains he was "uncomfortable" with some of the issues surrounding the performance and the organisation of the variant Black Sabbath lineup.
And his position seems to be more or less supported in a separate interview with Sabbath mainman Tony Iommi.
Ward says: "There was a track I was uncomfortable with. I was trying to accommodate the wishes of a couple of the band members, and I'm not good at that - I'm not that kind of drummer. The way the guys wanted the drumming to be, I was unable to see it that way.
"All the way through that project everyone had an open mind - we didn't know if it was going to work. I went in to lay the best track I could, but it was just one of those musical things that didn't work out.
"I've never spoken publicly about this. At the time some things were said about me having other schedules to meet. That wasn't the case at all. There was a misunderstanding with the music, I was uncomfortable with some of the things surrounding the project, and that was it. I moved out.
"I thought Vinny Appice would be a much better choice - he's able to accommodate the kind of things that were being asked, and I'm not. I react. Vinny plays drums. There's a big difference."
Listen to the interview, including Ward's comments on the recording of the Paranoid album and track.
Meanwhile, Iommi broadly agrees with Ward's sentiments, albeit from a different angle. In an interview he explains: "The record company were asking for the songs fairly quickly, and Bill wanted to take more time over doing them. We thought, it's probably best we don't do them with Bill - he was feeling uncomfortable.
"He felt even more uncomfortable when we told him about touring for a year - he nearly had a fit! He hasn't done that for a long time. So he said, 'I don't think I'll be up for touring to that extent.'"
Speaking about the return of Appice, Iommi says: "Vinny's played more albums with Ronnie than Bill has. Bill only did Heaven and Hell. And Vinny's done all the live stuff."
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