Ozzy Osbourne has revealed his hopes that Black Sabbath will reunite with original drummer Bill Ward on the band’s next album.
"It's a strong possibility,” Ozzy tells NME. “We would have loved to have Bill on this album. Maybe we can work things out by the next one. But it won't take another 35 years. I'm 65 now. There's no recording studios in the afterlife. We're all even closer for all this s**t so there's one positive, one silver lining."
Ward opted out of participating on the new Sabbath album, “13,” over a contractual dispute, despite having appeared with the original lineup at the band’s reunion press conference in Hollywood in November of 2011.
“13” producer Rick Rubin chose to record the project with Rage Against the Machine’s Brad Wilk instead of Sabbath/Ozzy’s solo touring drummer Tommy Clufetos, a decision that initially didn’t sit well with the singer.
"The way it was dealt with wasn't very fair on Tommy,” Ozzy told Billboard recently. “Rick Rubin just didn't want to work with him for reasons I don't know. He's a great drummer, and he's been with me for awhile now and I just felt that nobody discussed the decision about Brad to me, and it's not fair to Tommy. Tommy was promised the album... It's not because he was my drummer and my ego wanted him. It was just the fact the way it was dealt with. It just got me a bit, it got me pissed off about it. It's alright now. He's a great drummer. I don't know what the problem was."
The Billboard article isn’t clear on who “promised” the “13” album sessions to Clufetos, or why Ozzy’s manager/wife Sharon was unable to assist in securing the gig for him on the singer’s behalf.
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