Bill debuts column in Hails & Horns Magazine
Posted on Jun.06, 2006 under Bill Ward
Beginning this month, Bill will contribute a regular column, titled “Forte, Please” to new Metal magazine, Hails & Horns. The June 2006 issue is arriving in stores now and can be purchased at major music retail outlets, including Tower, Hot Topic, Borders, Barnes and Noble, Virgin, Newbury Comics, FYE, Strawberries, and Coconuts. Hails & Horns is a quarterly publication with the second issue due in September 2006.
Here is an excerpt from Bill’s first column:
From the childhood influences of Rock-n-Roll, Jazz and Blues, to Black Sabbath’s embryonic stirrings, past the mayhem of the 70’s to the Sgt. Pepper triumph of the 90’s, Metallica’s “Black Album”, and more recently, to the enlightening “Vol.3: The Subliminal Verses” by Slipknot, I have been immersed in music and, in saying that, I feel incredibly humbled and fortunate to still be a part of all of this momentum. My peers, and there are a lot of them, they too are still above ground, devouring the future with broad strokes of loud guitars, critical drumming and risking their very souls in the harshness and joys of life. I say again, I’m fortunate and delighted. I am a fan – a great place to be at 58 – and based on the above, I guess I qualify on some level as a person who could share something about Metal.
I’ll begin…
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Hi Everybody.
It’s Bill here. First off, I want to thank you all for the support you’ve given me throughout the years. I love to play– whether it’s playing drums in Black Sabbath, making music with my own band or working with other musicians, period. Being able to do what I love for my whole life, pretty much, has been an honour and privilege.
When I started playing in Sabbath, there was an energy of truth about us. We believed in what we were saying, the music we were making and the lives we were living. As time has moved on, I’ve nurtured and tried to save a lot of what I learnt playing in Sabbath. During the more recent years at the Ozzfest concerts, I’ve found myself immersed in the musical rewards of playing in such a unique and devastatingly, powerfully effective Metal band. Sabbath have been, and are, my greatest teachers, and I am forever grateful for the musical journey so far.
Today, I love what’s happening in music. I’ve been given the rare opportunity to play bands I like – Classic and newer Metal – on our Rock 50 radio show. These bands energize me.
I am humbled to know many of you. Music lives and brings and maintains life. Music has always brought me through.
Stay strong, safe and live. Enjoy the site.
Long Live Metal.
--Bill Ward
