Bill Ward Excluded From Black Sabbath Reunion Due To ‘Lack Of Time’

In a recent interview, Black Sabbath guitarist, Tony Iommi, has explained that the group’s original drummer, Bill Ward, was excluded from the band’s recent reunion due to Iommi feeling as though he was short on time. Upon being diagnosed with lymphoma, Iommi developed a sense of urgency to get the show on the road that Ward wasn’t responding to, which lead to the drummer being cut from the lineup.

The reunion took place towards the end of last year, a process dragged out by a back and forth between Ward and the band. When he was diagnosed, Iommi explained to Guitar World, that the need to get things happening became more dire than ever.

“Once I heard ‘cancerous lymphoma,’ I thought, ‘That’s it. I’ve had it.’ We waited a long time for Bill and we wanted to sort it out. But at the end of the day, especially after I was diagnosed, I thought, ‘Fucking hell, that’s it – we’ve got to get a move on. I might pop off next year!”

Soon after, Iommi made if official, “I emailed him and said, ‘Bill, we can’t wait any longer. We’ve got to get on with it.’ And that was it.” Since then the band have gone on to tour extensively, including a string of dates in Australia (see photos below), and will be releasing their new album 13 on Friday, 7th June.

(Via Noise11)

PHOTOS: Black Sabbath – Allphones Arena, Sydney 27/04/2013

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