After months of speculation, the world knows why the Black Sabbath reunion was absent one of its four members, drummer Bill Ward. Guitarist Tony Iommi cut off the talks but not over dollars or arguments. It was because he felt he was short on time.
Tony Iommi, Black Sabbath, Photo By Ros O'Gorman
Iommi was diagnosed with cancer last year right after the reunion was announced. As negotiations dragged out between the band and Ward, Tony became worried that his time would run out before the band could accomplish anything.
Tony told Guitar World, “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!’
“So I emailed him and said, ‘Bill, we can’t wait any longer. We’ve got to get on with it.’ And that was it.”
Luckily, things look much brighter for Iommi as it does for Black Sabbath, who will release their new album 13 on June 10 and follow with a world tour.
Stay updated with your free Noise11 daily music newsletter. Subscribe to Noise11 Music News here
