This Saturday’s Radio Show will be a special “Best of” program with two hours of the best music and interviews from the past 5 years/50 shows of Bill co-hosting Rock 50. Along with a great mix of music, this special edition will feature interviews with members of Slipknot, In Flames and Type O Negative – and a “live” in-studio performance by The Bill Ward Band.

We’ve got a couple of Rock 50 updates for you. First up is a preview of this weekend’s edition of Rock 50. Here it is from Bill:

H! Everyone.

For those of you who listen to our radio shows, here’s a reminder that the Metal/Hardcore show is this Saturday, February 24th. Bands appearing: Anthrax, Behemoth, Napan Death, Sepultura, Old Man’s Child, The Haunted, and many more great bands. Check us out if you like loud, hard music.

Stay strong,
Bill

Second, we’ve posted the track listing from the January edition of the show. You can view that here. We’ve also added Rock 50 dates for March & April. You can view those on the Rock 50 page.

Bill wishes to thank everyone who tunes in!

H! Everybody. It’s Bill.

Just checking in with you to announce some details of the radio show (New Year show) for this Saturday, January 20th.

I don’t know yet, if I’ll be at the show, however, Mike Stark and Liese will be there to make sure you get the best of today’s metal hardcore music and more. We’re featuring some new cuts, including new Deftones. We’ll be continuing to play recently new Strapping Young Lad and Lamb of God cuts also – both great albums.

The biggest feature will be an entire segment devoted to Type O Negative. They’re here in Southern California and playing live at the House of Blues in Anaheim, CA on January 21st and 22nd. I’ve selected the most played Type O music on our radio show from over the years. I hope you’ll enjoy what I’ve chosen.

We’ll also step out of our normal format to play a James Brown song and send our condolences to his family.

OK – I have to leave. Check us out. It’s a good show if you enjoy kick ass metal.

–Bill

Hi Everyone.

Our radio show is this coming Saturday, December 16th. My trip to the U.K., for the most part was very enjoyable. I particularly liked the cold rain, gales, and below freezing temps. Upon my arrival back in the States, my gusto, energy and determination to get back on track soared then fizzled. I am, as I write this, floundering in the mire, hating the Christmas show I put together and searching for a new show – brought to my knees by the California sunshine, winds and allergies. Between body aches, I argue in my mind – Slipknot here or Dylan? – such dilemmas I can afford every day.

Bottom line, whatever the show will be musically, it will be a show dedicated to all – rich or poor, with or without, for those in love, for those suffering, for all people everywhere. Expect some Slipknot, Type O, Lennon, Flaming Lips, U2, older songs and classics – I guess, a mixed bag of artists, every one of them great in what they do.

Check us out. It’ll be a surprise for me and hopefully for you.

Stay Strong,
Bill

It’s Bill.

I have been expecting negative letters, rumors, and general gossip mongering over my not participating in the “Heaven & Hell” project. It’s not unusual, as yet I’ve made only one brief statement to confirm that I would not be involved.

It has been brought to our attention that there is a posting on a few web sites which discloses a supposed statement I made to a Clear Channel personnel. THIS IS COMPLETELY FALSE. Every piece of verbiage therein that posting – supposedly quoting me – is FALSE also.

OK. I’m off to get on with my life. Hopefully there won’t be too many shite letters floating around, as I don’t think anyone out there – myself included – wants to waste anymore time on complete falsehoods.

Sincerely,
Bill Ward

Bill Ward today announced that he will not be recording new tracks for the “Black Sabbath: The Dio Years” CD or playing drums on the “Heaven & Hell” tour.

“I realize there has been some speculation as to whether or not I am participating in the Heaven & Hell project,” said Ward. “I want to confirm that I will not be involved in either the recordings for the upcoming CD or the subsequent tour. I want to wish the guys ­ Tony, Geezer, Ronnie, and Vinny – much success for the coming year.”

No further statements are available at this time.

Hi! Everybody. It’s Bill.

The hardcore show for November falls on 11/11, Armistice Day/Veterans Day this year. The host of Rock 50, Mike Stark will be running this show. I’ll be back in December for the Christmas Show, December 16th.

The 11/11 show will be a Best of Hardcore ’06 and some ’05. All the Greatest of the Great: Slipknot, In Flames, Lamb of God, Dimmu, Strapping Young Lad, Shadows Fall, Arch Enemy, The Haunted, Exodus, Ministry. It’s endless, and it’ll rock from top to bottom. However, one exception; there will be a tribute to those in harm’s way, a reminder of those lost but not forgotten, in fitting with 11/11. Tracks in the tribute so far, Gung Ho/Anthrax and Recruit/Waterdown; possibly Pavarotti, I don’t know yet.

Hey, Stay Strong. “And if it’s in the dark, put it in the light.” © Bill Ward.

Later.

From Joe Siegler, Bill’s Web guy.. “Additionally, the song lists have been posted for the October shows. Please visit the Rock 50 page for a listing of all of them.”

H! Everyone.

It’s Bill. October 28th is our Hardcore show. This month, I’ve thrown in a few Halloween surprises. We have some new releases, or relatively new. Strapping Young Lad, good stuff. Sikth, a new band – to me, they sound great. More Lamb of God from their Sacrament album; Arch Enemy; In Flames; new to me, Psychocharger; Zombie1s Death of it All – just right for Halloween; the Murder Dolls – mmm, I wonder what they1ll be playing; Exodus; new Mastodon – great album: Type O Negative – one of my favorite bands, quite brilliant, I think. The show, I hope, will get you moving. There are many more bands, and I hope you1ll like it.

Stay Strong,
Bill

H! Everybody.

Just a reminder that on 10/14/06 “ROCK 50” at 11:00 AM Pacific goes on the air and over the internet (for details, check out the Rock 50 Radio page.)

The Classic Rock/Metal show is usually a wider variation of music, if compared to our Hardcore show. It’s a combination of music starting from the 60’s, sometimes earlier, right up to the late 80’s, and sometimes beyond that decade. We try to make a good show, playing the heavy-hitting bands – AC/DC, Zeppelin, Iron Maiden, Priest, Sabbath – all of whom appear 10/14, as well as the Rock bands of the 60’s – Cream, Yardbirds, The Who. Also on this show, we’ll shake it up a little and play some old and new Blues to pay homage to those who’ve made a path for many of us to walk down.

Later.

Stay Strong,
Bill

Bill has sent in the the 15th edition of his Audio Diary series. This new edition, totaling 15:44 in length is available right now. It was recorded on Saturday August 12th, but due to some technical problems was not placed online until today (Aug 21st). Here’s some of the highlights of what Bill has to say in this edition:

• Talks about several of the bands he plays on his Rock 50 show, and a few words about Dave Mustaine’s Gigantour.
• An update on the Garage Sale
• Bill’s column in the “Hails & Horns” magazine
• An Update on “Beyond Aston”, saying he’s “nearly at the end of it”.
• A few brief remarks about terror issues in the world.

There’s plenty more to hear as well, so make sure to check it all out. Here’s the link to the audio diary:

https://www.billward.com/sounds/diary081206.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.