It looks like this BS drama.....um, the BS stands for Black Sabbath, is just going to continue, so I guess I'll start keeping up with it.  Here's the breakdown so far - First there was all the drama about drummer Bill Ward not getting a fair shake during contract negotiations, everyone assumed he was offered less than a 25% cut.  Bill issued a statement, located here, and now bassist Geezer Butler has responded.  

HEAVY HEART

Posted on May 19, 2012

I feel sad to see the Sabbath reunion becoming a bit of a soap opera on the internet. It has been a very tough year for us as a band, having announced our reunion plans, only for Tony to be diagnosed with lymphoma, leaving us no choice but to postpone the proposed Sabbath tour, and then for Bill to go public on his site about an un-signable contract. None of us knew how Tony was going to respond to his intensive chemo therapy, and radiotherapy. Ozzy and myself flew to England to be with Tony, and on his good days, wed meet at his home studio and put ideas together for the upcoming album, all sitting down together, no drummer involved, just 3 of us quietly putting together ideas. We thought that when we had enough songs together for a full band rehearsal, wed move back to L.A and put the whole thing together with Bill. Unfortunately, to our surprise, Bill issued a statement on his site saying hed been offered an un-signable contract. He hadnt told any one of us he was having contractual problems, and frankly those things are worked out between our representatives, and never between the four of us let alone in public. We had the idea of keeping just one show in this year, hoping that Tony would be well enough for that show, and that things with Bill would be sorted. As you may expect, a one off show at Donnington Festival (Download) costs an absolute fortune to stage, involving over 50 people, transport, air fares, hotels, meals, agents, promotors, accountants, lawyers etc, so none of us, expected to make much money from it- it was a one off Sabbath show for the fans, before we go into recording the new album. Apparently, this wasnt acceptable to Bills representatives, they wanted an amount that was so unrealistic that it seemed to have been a joke. So we resigned ourselves to doing Download without Bill, hoping hed change his mind and at least make a guest appearance. We started rehearsals a few weeks ago with Tommy Cluefetos, the drummer who will be on the Ozzy and Friends Tour. Brilliant drummer and good bloke. It was decided wed better do a warm up show, to break the ice since we havent played together live. The O2 Academy was available in Birmingham, where we were rehearsing, so we decided on that, and to make a donation to Help For Heroes Charity, since wed be ironing out any glitches we may have. Then Bill put out a further statement saying hed been ready to play the Birmingham show , but he was expected to have to do it for free- well, I think thats basically how you raise money from gigs for charity you play them for free.

All I am saying is that there are two sides to everything. I do hope to play with Bill again some day. For whatever reason; it wasnt meant to be this time. Bills made his decision, and I have to respect that. Hopefully this painful year will be worth the wait for the new Sabbath album and end in joy and happiness for all.

Stay frosty,

Geezer