Drummer Bill Ward has officially withdrawn from the upcoming Black Sabbath re-union.
Since confirming plans to re-unite last year, virtually nothing has gone right for Black Sabbath. Guitarist Tony Iommi is undergoing treatment for cancer, while a question mark remained over the involvement of drummer Bill Ward.
Pulling out of the re-union, Bill Ward hit out at the financial details behind the upcoming shows. Now the musician has officially resigned from Black Sabbath, writing a lengthy blog posting to fans.
The important parts (via The Daily Swarm)
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I sincerely regret to inform you that after a final effort to participate in the upcoming Sabbath shows a failure to agree has continued. At this time I have to inform you that I won’t be playing with Black Sabbath at the Birmingham gig dated May 19th, 2012, nor will I be playing at Download on June 10th, 2012. Further, I will not be playing at Lollapalooza on August 3, 2012.
The offer we received on May 9 was, “come to the UK, play for free and see how the first show goes.” I was tempted. Playing for free would not have been a problem for me, but “seeing how the first show goes” left an element of risk which could have affected Download. My ideal thought was to play in full the Birmingham show, in full Download, and in full Lollapalooza.
I hold no malice or resentment towards the other band members. I love them; I’m tolerant of them; I’m frustrated with them, as they may be with me. My fight has never been with them. I’ll love them forever. In my opinion, nobody wins this time; the band doesn’t win; the fans for an original lineup don’t win. Nobody wins, nobody. Even the ones who thought they did.
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Read the full statement HERE.
Black Sabbath are set to play the following hometown show:
May
19 Birmingham O2 Academy
