I was commisioned by an On Line magazine to do a simple article on Bill Ward. Well, as you will see, nothing is ever that simple. I do want to say that talking with Bill was very cool. He was very easy going, and made me feel like we were old friends. He is one of the nicest people I have ever had the pleasure of dealing with, famous or otherwise.

Bill Ward - To Hell and Back by Patsy Cupito Copyright 1999

When I was first assigned this article, I was very apprehensive. I was not very familiar with drummers in general, and knew nothing at all about Bill Ward, except that he was the drummer for Black Sabbath.

After much poking around, finding little available research materials and asking all sorts of questions of all sorts of people, I got a story that really surprised me. The story I was looking for was about the drummer for Black Sabbath, and his trials and tribulations while in the band. The story I came out with was about Bill Ward, and his journey through hell and back again.

Born May 5th, 1948 in Aston, England, Bill Ward was a kid with a destiny. He began his drumming career on boxes at age 3, and by the age of 15 was playing gigs with his high school bandmates. Some of his earliest influences include Gene Krupa, Buddy Rich and Louis Bellson. His first real band was The Rest, followed by Method 5. In 1964, his band was looking for a guitar player so they advertised in Birmingham local music and record shops. That was how he met Tony Iommi. From there, they formed the bands Mythology and Cumbria. They met Terry (Geezer) Butler in 1967 when Geezer was playing with a band called Rare Breed. Bill was intrigued as he watched Geezer trying to climb a dressing room wall. The three hooked up with Ozzy Osbourne in 1968 to form Polka Tulk, then changed their name to Earth, and finally Black Sabbath.

Early on they played mostly in Germany and Europe. They didn't exactly fit in with the mainstream of people in those days. They had long hair and wore bright outlandish clothes. Playing mostly small clubs, they turned up the volume to the max making it absolutely deafening. Unusual looking and sounding, they were very aggressive and became violent on stage, sometimes throwing things and breaking equipment. While playing a show in New York during their first tour, they became upset over the lack of audience response. Anyone that has ever seen Black Sabbath live knows that they work hard to get a high level of audience participation. At this show, getting little response, a frustrated Bill Ward threw his drumset at the audience in absolute frustration. That night they did seven encores, and made a name for themselves in the American music scene. They were stoned, acting crazy and loving every minute of it. Bill likens their appearance and performance at that time to the personification of Iron Man or the first line of the song Black Sabbath; "What is this that stands before me?" They were dark, rebellious oddballs.

They wrote and recorded their music for the first Black Sabbath album in 1968 in just 24 hours. It was first released in England on a Friday the 13th in 1969, which Bill feels was a bit prophetic. In the beginning, the band members had an incredible bond between them. They often wrote songs as they played them, each person just naturally filling in the sound that fit best. Tony would start by playing a riff. Bill would then just fill in the drums that properly complimented the riff, adjusting it and providing either simplicity or other styles as it developed.

Although Terry (Geezer) Butler's nickname is very well known, Bill's is not. His nickname is Nibby. This came about when they were all stoned and the other band members decided that Bill looked like a "pen nib". The name stuck, and actually materialized as a Sabbath favorite: N.I.B. Although people have tried to assign the song name as "Nativity in Black", it is actually Bill's nickname with periods strategically placed in the middle. They couldn't decide on a name for the song, so they named it for Bill's new nickname.

Black Sabbath toured for an incredible four years before taking any significant break. By that time they were exhausted and burnt from the excessive drinking and drug use. It was during this break they recorded the album "Masters of Reality". Bill feels this was the last "genuine" Black Sabbath album because they were still together with all the original motives at work during the recording of this album. After that, they became more and more dissatisfied with things in general. Bill became a "full-on junkie" addicted to cocaine, and was self-admittedly a "pain to deal with at times" as a result. By the end of their next tour, they had run themselves into the ground, physically as well as mentally, with Bill even being diagnosed with Hepatitis as a result of it all.

Finding his creative side, Bill designed the Sabotage album cover, which he is very proud of. During the recording of Sabotage in Brussels early 1975, Bill awoke from his sleep with great pain in his chest. His first heart attack. He was advised by his doctor to take at least 30 days rest and to ease up on the booze. He took exactly that, and then Black Sabbath was back on the road full force again.

Never Say Die was a good statement to describe the band's mood at that time, although actually titled to commemorate their tenth anniversary together. They were tired, not only from the extensive schedule they had kept for the past years, but also from the excesses of drug use that were so prevalent in that point in time. Although Bill was very involved in certain aspects of this album, including the writing and singing on the track Swinging the Chain, Ozzy was more and more out of it and took a notable turn for the worse. Deciding they could no longer continue to work with Ozzy in his state, they decided it was time for him to leave the band. Unfortunately, Bill was the obvious choice of people to tell him. Bill and Ozzy were steadfast friends, and spoke to each other at least once a day. That bond of friendship between them remains even now. Having to break the news to Ozzy devastated Bill psychologically. His already excessive drinking became even more out of control.

Tony Iommi met Ronnie James Dio in a club around this same time, and invited him back to their house to jam with the other members of Sabbath. As soon as they began playing it became obvious to Tony and Geezer that they wanted to work with Ronnie, finding him to be a dedicated performer, and sincere in his wishes to be an active part of the band. Bill went along with the rest of the band, unable to object too fiercely with Ozzy in such bad shape.

Working with Ronnie proved very different than what he was used to with Ozzy. Ronnie had his own ideas of how things should be done, and took over most of the songwriting that had been Geezer's specialty up to then. Ronnie also had very specific ideas as to how the songs should sound, which changed the dynamic of the band's contributions. He had no real problem with Ronnie; he was simply unable to work with anyone but Ozzy as the lead man of Black Sabbath. He eventually became so frustrated he punched a wall and broke his hand.

The band had worked unsuccessfully with a few managers by that point, and at this time Bill pushed the band to work with another new manger. This proved to be a disastrous move for them. They were teamed up with Blue Oyster Cult on the Black & Blue tour in attempts to promote heavy metal music during a period when it was on a downturn. The stress levels of this particular tour were incredible, with the different bands becoming paranoid of each other. Things got so hot at one point that the band was evicted by venue management at gunpoint after one show. While on the American leg of the tour, Bill was nearing his breaking point. He dropped out of sight, deciding not to play for three or four shows at the very last minute which cost the band not only cash (a lot of it too), but tarnished their reputation. He made it through just half of the Heaven and Hell tour with Ronnie James Dio as front man before he left the band in August of 1980. The passing of Bill's mother during the Heaven and Hell tour only worsened his depression and his existing alcohol addiction. He was in such an alcoholic haze, he literally cannot remember recording Heaven and Hell. Totally alcohol dependant and deeply depressed, Bill was replaced without discussion by Vinny Appice. Following this, Bill hit rock bottom.

As I did my research, I became increasingly interested by Bill's story. I attempted to find out more about Bill and how he was able to attain the success he has today, but materials were very limited. I contacted Bill personally, and expressed my interest in giving his story the attention it deserves. I was shocked to be granted an exclusive interview with him. Shocked isn't really a strong enough word actually….maybe delirious would better describe it. Well, nevertheless, I think that you will find an amazing person with an amazing story behind the famous job description as "the drummer for Black Sabbath". I look forward to bringing you part 2 of this story, in interview format in the next month or so. Wish me luck in talking to Bill, as I am guaranteed to be a nervous wreck!

As always, the hardest part of writing any biographical account is doing the research, to obtain the most accurate information available. With Bill, this was even more involved than has been the case in the past. I got quite a bit of information from the Mike Stark book: Black Sabbath: An Oral History. I found this book to be very informative, and easy to read. Entertaining too!! I was told of another Black Sabbath book by Mike Stark which is even more informative, but also harder to find. Anyone interested in the name of it can email me. I will be happy to get it for you. My friend Joe Siegler not only did a great Job of providing information at www.Black-Sabbath.com, but he is now the proud webmaster of www.BillWard.com as well. I highly recommend both. One more honorable mention goes out to www.veinotte.com, site of Barry Veinotte. Also worth a visit, if you get the chance!

Read my Interview with Bill Ward from 3/24/99

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