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February 27, 2006
Great interview with Bill
There's a great new interview with Bill online, and is definitely something you should check out. It's not the usual interview asking the same 6 questions about Bill's life in Black Sabbath. This one has some deeper probing questions than the usual interviews do.
It's over at allaboutjazz.com, and it talks about Bill's life in Black Sabbath yes, but in a way that's different than what's come before. Talks a lot about how Jazz influenced Bill's life musically.
Aw... just go read it. You'll be glad you did. :)
Posted by Joe Siegler at 1:25 PM
February 21, 2006
Audio Diary #12 now online!
Bill has sent in the the 12th edition of his Audio Diary series. This long delayed newest edition (the first in 2006), totaling 29:35 in length is available right now. Here's some of what Bill had to say in this edition.
- Some friends of his who have died recently.
- The upcoming US Hall of Fame induction for Black Sabbath. According to Bill, Black Sabbath will not be playing at the ceremony. Furthermore, Bill has no information on anything else happening with Black Sabbath in 2006, either.
- Bill's gonna be a daddy again (having a son), his fourth child.
- Some Beyond Aston updates - he's been making a real effort since January to get it completed. Also, you can still download (legally, for free) the song "The Dark Half Hour" from that album. Check out the Sounds page to obtain it.
- As if Beyond Aston wasn't enough, there's some details about other music he's written that isn't on Beyond Aston that he will use for his next few albums. Bill also goes into some detail comparing the music from Beyond Aston to When the Bough Breaks.
- Sends props to Slipknot and System of the Down for their Grammy Awards
- Lots of talk about his Rock 50 radio show including some details as to what some of the tracks he'll be playing on upcoming shows are.
There's plenty more to hear as well, so make sure to check it all out. Here's the link to the audio diary:
http://www.billward.com/sounds/diary021806.m4a
(Right click and select "Save As" or "Save Link As" and save the file to your hard drive, don't just click this)
You need one of any number of free audio players (Winamp, iTunes, or Musicmatch Jukebox) to play this file. Don't forget about Bill's Podcast for the diaries, you can get more info on that here.
You can discuss the audio diary in this thread on Bill's forums here on billward.com. A short note, if you have Windows Media player, you may have to rename the file extension from m4a to mp4 to get the file to play right in that player.
Posted by Joe Siegler at 3:33 PM
February 17, 2006
Rock 50 Archives Online
In addition to Bill's note posted today about the new "Classic" formatted Rock 50 episodes, we have some 'backwards' Rock 50 items, too. Available now on the Rock 50 page are playlist archives. We've posted all the songs/bands played on the January & February episodes from 2006.
Going forward we'll be posting track listings for those episodes shortly after they air as well. Enjoy!
Posted by Joe Siegler at 2:59 PM
Bill to Expand his Rock 50 Show
Beginning in April, Bill will co-host two "Rock 50" shows every four months. The additional show will focus on classic metal and hard rock artists, with the first program airing on Saturday, April 29th. Bill's regular show featuring his favorite hard-core bands will continue to run each month - check the Rock 50 page for upcoming dates.
Bill has passed along a letter about the additional shows for you..
Hi Everyone!
I'm very happy that Mike Stark, our host for the "Rock 50" show, has been able to give me the opportunity to present three classic rock shows per year, along with our hard-core shows. The hard-core shows have been going really well, and I am fully enjoying researching newer bands, as well as playing the established giants of metal today. I've been able to build a lot of new relationships with many of the bands we play, and I'll continue to look forward to meeting and playing the music of the bands to come. As much as I love the newer music, I have been missing playing hard rock and classic metal, and over the past year I've phased out mixing new metal with classic metal.
I felt both combinations somehow choked, or diminished the energy during a two-hour period. I feel much more focused when playing hard-core only, and vice versa when playing a total classic rock, metal show. I think by playing separate shows there will be less push and pull, and I think the end product of the shows will be stronger and more definitive.
As I do with the hard-core bands, I want to do more "classic metal" interviews (something I've wanted to do for awhile). I like the interviews to be direct from the guts, so I hope for good in-depth interviews.
I guess our first classic metal show is April 29th - check us out. For those of you out there that don1t like the new stuff, but love the older bands, then definitely check out this show, we1ll rock from start to finish.
Finally, calling all hard-core fans, check out the show March 22nd - Dimmu Borgir, the re-released "Stormblast" CD - need I say more.
Posted by Joe Siegler at 2:11 PM
February 2, 2006
Bill Speaks out on Rock 50
H! everybody,
It's Bill. I wanted to check in with some info about the February 11th radio show. In January, we played excerpts from the new In Flames CD, street date U.S.A. 2/7/06. On the February show, we're continuing with the In Flames interview and will be playing full-length tracks off their new CD.
I also played Vermin last month, and as of today, 2/1/06, I may play another Vermin track on the next show. Again, we have great bands for the February line-up: Soilwork, Fear My Thoughts, In Flames, Darkest Hour, Detonation, Water Down, Deftones, Chimaria and Fear Factory. Check the show out if you can. It's mostly hardcore, in your face metal. Sometimes, I play classic metal, and I'll throw in a few curves for the ride like Dylan or Pavarotti.
Got go to.
Stay strong. Stay strange.
--Bill
Posted by Joe Siegler at 11:32 AM