Photo by Christopher WagnerBill Ward’s drums are one of the reasons why you listen to heavy metal, and as one-fourth of the original Black Sabbath lineup, he and his stick-laden fists definitely deserve a prime spot in metal's hallowed halls. Unfortunately, things in Camp Sabbath have not been pleasant the last few years. First, Ward stepped away from a planned reunion in early 2012, citing bad contracts as the reason. Then, Black Sabbath opted to hire other drummers to record and tour their eventual Grammy-winning album 13; the cold war’s lingered since. Recently though, the bad blood’s welled up into a blister, with both Ward and Sabbath singer Ozzy Osbourne trading barbs across the internet at one another. With Black Sabbath recently announcing their intent to record one last album, fans still hope that an agreement can be reached to place Ward back where he belongs: sat behind the band that birthed heavy metal.In light of all this – or perhaps, in spite of it—two weeks ago, Ward quietly dropped his third solo record, Accountable Beasts. It's a heavy, somber, and poetic take on the prog-metal his solo works are known for, and a welcome addition to his solo canon, eighteen years after the last one. It’s been an arduous process though: Self-financed, the record’s gone through a couple of different mixes—one on monitors, then a second mix done specifically for ear buds—and its arrival on iTunes April 26 came as a pleasant surprise to the metal world.Noisey called up the original heavy hitter, and he answered in his trademark honest, forthright, and humble fashion.Noisey: Even when the songs are at their most dire, I get a strong sense of hope pervasive throughout the new record. Are you a hopeful guy?
Bill Ward: I always like to write something that will paint a cynical picture, but provide hope at the same time; I like to do that with my writing, even in the worst of times. A lot of these songs are very close to the bone for me, taken from life experiences I’ve had–not something pulled out of the air. Everything I write tends to come from my own personal experiences, or from people close to me that I’m singing about. But it’s a good point you’ve brought up; I try to be hopeful. Even with a song like “As It Is in Heaven," it’s meant to be tongue-in-cheek.Who would you count among your vocal influences? I hear a lot of Paul McCartney in your voice. Thanks! As much as I love Paul, I wouldn’t consider him an influence, vocally. Of the more modern contemporaries, I’d say Jack Bruce, we sang together. Steve Marriott. Ozzy’s obviously a man I’ve admired much as a vocalist, for obvious reasons. Ultimately, I’d say a lot of my vocal influences are jazz-based, people like Ella Fitzgerald, or Fred Astaire. I know it sounds kind of strange, coming from me, but a song like “Top Hat, White Tie, and Tails”… [sings] ”Putting on my top haaaat…” I just love the way Fred’s voice slides all over everything musically, the colors and shades in his voice. So when I’m singing “No more pain,” in the song “Wall of Death”, that’s where I try to go with it, in my way.You were sidelined for a good six months with shoulder surgery and diverticulitis in 2014. It must have been murder to not be able to play. What kind of training did you do to get back behind the kit?
I had the shoulder operation, and it was completely successful. Just a simple shoulder maintenance surgery, for old guys like me who played in rock bands for years, and played hard; your shoulder needs a repair once in a while.What was unexpected was the perforated diverticulitis. The shoulder surgery took place on October 18, 2013. And four days later, I had the diverticulitis and nearly died. The doctors operated immediately; they basically cut out my stomach, and I’ve got the scars to prove it! For the first month and a half, I was sedated, completely out of it; an absolutely horrible experience. And then, as a result of the emergency surgery, I wound up with a frozen shoulder, because the shoulder wasn’t taken care of immediately.Because of the diverticulitis, I couldn’t do my shoulder exercises; it was impossible in the state I was in. So I came out of the hospital with a frozen shoulder, and I was in constant agony. It wasn’t until January 6, 2014 that my stomach surgeries were completed, and that’s when I started to get into shoulder recovery and rehab to “unfreeze” the shoulder. I was back playing by February 2014, but the doctors cut away part of my stomach and, of course, drummers rely heavily on their stomach muscles! If you’re playing double-bass drums especially, you need your fucking stomach muscles, and I had none. So, since, I’ve had some incredible people working with me, and I work out with this four-pound medicine ball every day when I wake up and thank god that I’m alive.But one of the biggest blows was still to come. Because I have heart disease, my heart is checked all the time. And prior to the diverticulitis, I had about 68 percent of my heart working from the heart disease. That’s how I did all the later Sabbath tours—on 68 percent of my heart. But doctors said the emergency surgery took away another third from my heart, it was pretty devastating. I found that out in early January of 2014, and I thought, “Okay, what the fuck do we do now?” So I live on a treadmill now. And I’ve rebuilt my heart muscle, back up to about sixty percent, but the doctors want me back up to 68 percent.At the end of March, you participated in the Rock and Roll Fantasy Camp in Las Vegas. Tell me about your experience with that.
Someone called my partners, who told me about it. They said, “there’s gonna be some young students there, so go and do it.” If it’s got some value to it I’ll do it. There were some younger drummers and musicians there, and also some older guys who just wanted to jam out. So, fuck it, we needed a break from the studio, so we loaded up the wagon, went up to Vegas, and did the gig. I met everybody, talked to everybody, and it was great! I met some of the young guys, who were fantastic players. I get protective of the younger guys. I get protective, period. I just wouldn’t want them to fall into some of the same things I fell into. If it’s helpful to the students, I’m into it.Do you have any plans to tour for Accountable Beasts?
There are definitely designs on gigging; we’re just dealing with a couple of logistic problems. Nothing’s ever easy! We just came out of a week of rehearsals with the Bill Ward Band, and there are a few things we need to change. Unfortunately, with the Bill Ward Band, it’s top-heavy; for me to reproduce the sound I want live, it takes about ten of us onstage, including a four-piece choir. I don’t know what it is with me and choirs. “Fuckin’ hell, let’s put a choir there!” I don’t like using pre-recorded tracks onstage, because all they’ve gotta do is go wrong one fucking time, and then we’re fucked onstage. So, why don’t we all show up and get onstage instead and hopefully make enough money where we can afford to go out and sustain a ten-piece band? We’re gonna work towards it and rehearse a really good band, and hope to talk to some more promoters who want to work with us.You’d had the title Accountable Beasts for a good long while, but in light of recent events with you and Black Sabbath, it’s taken on a different level of irony. Can you tell me about the title's origin?
I think the title came out of the song “Straws”, because I was really angry over 9/11, and I just had this incredible cynicism about us as humans, the worst animal in existence on the planet. We’re accountable for destroying everything on the planet. In the recovery of my life, I’ve been taught to be more accountable. Sometimes I fail miserably, but I try every day to be accountable: as a musician, to my wife, to my children, as a father, as a human being. So that’s the “accountable” part, but I couldn’t help but throw “beasts” in there as well.I know it’s kind of cynical, kind of depressing to talk of my fellow man as more than troublemakers. But if anybody can destroy this planet, we can, so that where beasts come from. At one point, I actually thought about just calling the record simply Beasts. But Accountable Beasts has that ring to it, that yin-and-yang; there’s a poetry to it. It’s topsy-turvy and I liked that immediately.Kylr Harcott exists on Twitter- @kyleantivenin
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Bill Ward: I always like to write something that will paint a cynical picture, but provide hope at the same time; I like to do that with my writing, even in the worst of times. A lot of these songs are very close to the bone for me, taken from life experiences I’ve had–not something pulled out of the air. Everything I write tends to come from my own personal experiences, or from people close to me that I’m singing about. But it’s a good point you’ve brought up; I try to be hopeful. Even with a song like “As It Is in Heaven," it’s meant to be tongue-in-cheek.Who would you count among your vocal influences? I hear a lot of Paul McCartney in your voice. Thanks! As much as I love Paul, I wouldn’t consider him an influence, vocally. Of the more modern contemporaries, I’d say Jack Bruce, we sang together. Steve Marriott. Ozzy’s obviously a man I’ve admired much as a vocalist, for obvious reasons. Ultimately, I’d say a lot of my vocal influences are jazz-based, people like Ella Fitzgerald, or Fred Astaire. I know it sounds kind of strange, coming from me, but a song like “Top Hat, White Tie, and Tails”… [sings] ”Putting on my top haaaat…” I just love the way Fred’s voice slides all over everything musically, the colors and shades in his voice. So when I’m singing “No more pain,” in the song “Wall of Death”, that’s where I try to go with it, in my way.
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I had the shoulder operation, and it was completely successful. Just a simple shoulder maintenance surgery, for old guys like me who played in rock bands for years, and played hard; your shoulder needs a repair once in a while.What was unexpected was the perforated diverticulitis. The shoulder surgery took place on October 18, 2013. And four days later, I had the diverticulitis and nearly died. The doctors operated immediately; they basically cut out my stomach, and I’ve got the scars to prove it! For the first month and a half, I was sedated, completely out of it; an absolutely horrible experience. And then, as a result of the emergency surgery, I wound up with a frozen shoulder, because the shoulder wasn’t taken care of immediately.Because of the diverticulitis, I couldn’t do my shoulder exercises; it was impossible in the state I was in. So I came out of the hospital with a frozen shoulder, and I was in constant agony. It wasn’t until January 6, 2014 that my stomach surgeries were completed, and that’s when I started to get into shoulder recovery and rehab to “unfreeze” the shoulder. I was back playing by February 2014, but the doctors cut away part of my stomach and, of course, drummers rely heavily on their stomach muscles! If you’re playing double-bass drums especially, you need your fucking stomach muscles, and I had none. So, since, I’ve had some incredible people working with me, and I work out with this four-pound medicine ball every day when I wake up and thank god that I’m alive.
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Someone called my partners, who told me about it. They said, “there’s gonna be some young students there, so go and do it.” If it’s got some value to it I’ll do it. There were some younger drummers and musicians there, and also some older guys who just wanted to jam out. So, fuck it, we needed a break from the studio, so we loaded up the wagon, went up to Vegas, and did the gig. I met everybody, talked to everybody, and it was great! I met some of the young guys, who were fantastic players. I get protective of the younger guys. I get protective, period. I just wouldn’t want them to fall into some of the same things I fell into. If it’s helpful to the students, I’m into it.
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There are definitely designs on gigging; we’re just dealing with a couple of logistic problems. Nothing’s ever easy! We just came out of a week of rehearsals with the Bill Ward Band, and there are a few things we need to change. Unfortunately, with the Bill Ward Band, it’s top-heavy; for me to reproduce the sound I want live, it takes about ten of us onstage, including a four-piece choir. I don’t know what it is with me and choirs. “Fuckin’ hell, let’s put a choir there!” I don’t like using pre-recorded tracks onstage, because all they’ve gotta do is go wrong one fucking time, and then we’re fucked onstage. So, why don’t we all show up and get onstage instead and hopefully make enough money where we can afford to go out and sustain a ten-piece band? We’re gonna work towards it and rehearse a really good band, and hope to talk to some more promoters who want to work with us.You’d had the title Accountable Beasts for a good long while, but in light of recent events with you and Black Sabbath, it’s taken on a different level of irony. Can you tell me about the title's origin?
I think the title came out of the song “Straws”, because I was really angry over 9/11, and I just had this incredible cynicism about us as humans, the worst animal in existence on the planet. We’re accountable for destroying everything on the planet. In the recovery of my life, I’ve been taught to be more accountable. Sometimes I fail miserably, but I try every day to be accountable: as a musician, to my wife, to my children, as a father, as a human being. So that’s the “accountable” part, but I couldn’t help but throw “beasts” in there as well.I know it’s kind of cynical, kind of depressing to talk of my fellow man as more than troublemakers. But if anybody can destroy this planet, we can, so that where beasts come from. At one point, I actually thought about just calling the record simply Beasts. But Accountable Beasts has that ring to it, that yin-and-yang; there’s a poetry to it. It’s topsy-turvy and I liked that immediately.Kylr Harcott exists on Twitter- @kyleantivenin