Some bad news has been announced for Black Sabbath fans; drummer, Bill Ward, will not be performing at any of the group's three gigs scheduled for this year.
In a long post on his website, Ward explained that he was simply not able to come to terms with his bandmates. The metal pioneers are playing their first show since 2005 this Saturday evening at their hometown of Birmingham, England. Ward has since stated that he first heard about the gig through an ad on the Internet.
It was last November that the original Sabbath lineup announced that they would reunite for a tour, and were working on their first album since 1978's Never Say Die!. Sadly, less than two months later, guitarist Tony Iommi was diagnosed with lymphoma, forcing Sabbath to cancel the vast majority of their summer tour. Weeks later, Bill Ward announced via a Facebook that he would not participate in the group's reunion until he was presented with a "signable contract." The group vowed to carry on without him and had recently announced a headlining gig at Lollapalooza, as well as a warm-up show in Birmingham this Saturday.
In a recent letter from Ward, he says that the group asked him to play drums on three songs during their set at the Download Festival in June, an offer that he refused. On May 9th, Ward says, Sabbath asked him to play this Saturday's gig for free without any guarantee that he'd get to perform at the other shows, which he ultimately turned down.
You can read the full letter over at Ward's official website, www.billward.com