Bill Ward will rejoin Black Sabbath for a final, farewell studio album – but only if he receives a personal apology from frontman Ozzy Osbourne for what he describes as, ‘Wrongs spoken against me’.
Ward was a part of the Black Sabbath reunion back at the start of 2012, but pulled out not long after citing contractual disputes. Osbourne was subsequently more outspoken, telling Mojo at one point the drummer, ‘Couldn’t remember what the fuck we were doing’.
Osbourne has though invited Ward back for the band’s last round of recording sessions, to which a long response has been posted at billward.com.
“There is always speculation about a true, original Sabbath lineup for the next tour or record,” a portion reads. “With a sad heart, I have to say I will not participate in any musical undertakings until a righting of the wrongs spoken against me has been achieved.”
“I must admit, I have little to no expectations of this happening, but in the order of first things first, I’m looking for an honest accountability of all of Ozzy’s statements that I felt were untrue. I would want Ozzy to amend his opinions and exaggerations. I would want him to be forthcoming about his unrealistic viewpoints. And because I was chastised publicly, I would want him to amend publicly in his words, and not through an Ozzy representative, the nature of the wrongs.”
The statement can be read in full here.