Bill has sent in the the latest in his Audio Diary series (the tenth). This new edition, totaling 20:22 in length is a little shorter than some of the others he’s done, but this one has a lot of really good information in it. Here’s the bullet poiints…

* – Details about the special Christmas episode of his Rock 50 radio show

* – A few thoughts on the induction of Black Sabbath into the UK Hall of Fame

* – Jack Bruce & Cream

* – A huge update on the status of Bill’s long awaited third solo album, “Beyond Aston”. Bill uses the phrase “light at the end of the tunnel” in his update, so you definitely do not want to miss this.

Bill refers to a few things in this diary, and I wanted to make sure that everyone knew how to reach them.

1) You can download the song “The Dark Half Hour” from the sounds page here on this site. The Dark Half Hour is a song from Beyond Aston that Bill has made available as a free, legal download from his website.

2) Straws. While the free download of Straws was withdrawn awhile ago, you can still obtain it by donating to one of several charities that Bill has teamed up with. You can get more information on the Straws charities here.

3) Rock 50. Here is the page with further information about the Rock 50 show.

Here’s the link to the audio diary:

https://www.billward.com/sounds/diary110705.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.

There’s a new interview with Bill Ward online now. It’s with the website allaboutjazz.com, and you should definitely check it out, as Bill talks about his career playing the drums and how it felt to be influenced by the blues growing up in Birmingham, England. Here’s a few quotes from the article:

AAJ: At what age did you start playing?

BW: I think I might have been about four, four or five, because my mother told me that they thought there was something wrong with me because I continually kept tapping on furniture. They thought I had something which, in Birmingham where I was born—or actually I was born in Aston which is in Birmingham—they said that I had Saint Vitus’s Dance, and Saint Vitus’s Dance is a common term in the midlands for somebody who can’t sit still.

AAJ: How would you say the group’s creative approach differed in the early days as compared to later albums?

BW: That’s a tough question actually. I think it comes in several parts. The first three albums or four albums, for me at least, I felt like they came out of big jams because we literally would sit in a room and just jam and a song would come from that. Giving credit where credit is due, I think that Tony would jam a little bit more than everybody else [Laughs], definitely work more on the arrangements and spend a lot more time with the song.

“Being influenced by dynamic music, I felt quite suited for blues and jazz which is pretty much what we really liked to play, especially more traditional blues.”

You can check out the full interview over at the All About Jazz site here.

We often get many requests here at billward.com asking what Bill plays. What snare drums, what cymbals, etc… Well, we finally have an answer to these requests online. Below is a thumnail for a diagram showing Bill’s kit that he used on tour with Black Sabbath in 2005. The diagram was done up by Tony Moon (Bill’s drum tech).

All the drums are Tama Imperialstar (circa 1980) unless otherwise noted.
All the cymbals are Sabian.

Check out a larger version of the kit here, or by clicking on the thumbnail.

Bill phoned in from home in California with the latest in his 2005 Audio Diary series (the ninth). This new edition, totaling 35:40 in length has these highlighted points:

* – Some Rock 50 Show Updates

* – Bill’s Musical Saturday Morning Childhood

* – Autographs & Email Backlog

* – Being Back Home off of tour, and how that affects his body

* – The status of Black Sabbath from his viewpoint.

* – More thoughts on the Hurricane victims in the US

There is of course a lot more than that, so make sure and download the entry and check it out!

https://www.billward.com/sounds/diary091705.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.

Bill phoned in from West Palm Beach Florida with the eighth in his 2005 Audio Diary series. This was recorded before Sabbath played the final gig on Ozzfest on Sunday the 4th. This new edition, totaling 29:42 in length has these highlighted points:

* – A toothache Bill is currently suffering from.

* – Remarks about the various gigs played since the last diary update

* – Continuing problems getting good vegan food on tour, and how this impacts his playing onstage.

* – Hurricane Katrina

* – Bill gives a lot of thanks to various friends and crew as the tour is winding down.

There is of course a lot more than that, so make sure and download the entry and check it out!

https://www.billward.com/sounds/diary090305.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.

Bill phoned in from home in California with the latest in his 2005 Audio Diary series (the seventh). This new edition, totaling 24:50 in length has these highlighted points:

* – How it feels good to be back home

* – Feeling bad about the cancelled gigs.

* – How the cancelled gigs affect his playing, and how his age in general affects his playing.

* – Recollections of stories of a special hotel to the band in the past.

* – Some friends of his in other bands, including Velvet Revolver, Iron Maiden, & Slipknot.

* – Bill has no comment on the “bullshit rumours” regarding the Iron Maiden & Black Sabbath stuff that happened on the gig on the 20th.

* – Music he’s been listening to lately, including an album he’s really into, the new one from the Foo Fighters.

There is of course a lot more than that, so make sure and download the entry and check it out!

https://www.billward.com/sounds/diary082205.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.

Bill phoned in from Pittsburgh with the latest in his 2005 Audio Diary series (the sixth). This new edition, totaling exactly 18:53 in length has these highlighted points:

* – Some final thoughts on the European gigs

* – Coming back to the States for Ozzfest

* – Some thoughts on the first few Ozzfest 2005 gigs.

* – Other bands on Ozzfest.

* – A few thoughts about homeless folks

* – The London Subway bombings and terrorists in general.

There is of course a lot more than that, so make sure and download the entry and check it out!

https://www.billward.com/sounds/diary072205.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.

The website Sin’s Metal News (SMN) has a new interview with Bill Ward online. It’s a wide ranging interview, and was done when Bill was in Stockolm on the recent European Black Sabbath tour. Check out a few quotes from it:

Q: it’s been a pretty repetitive Sabbath set-list for the past few Ozzfest’s. Back in 2001 you lads spiced it up a bit with ‘The Wizard’ and the likes of ‘Scary Dreams’ – so, what are you envisioning your upcoming set-list to look like?

A: Definitely. I got to get my album out first! Everyone else has something out. Mine’s still back there somewhere gathering dust! If I had some…if I was able to get out there, get backing from a record company, and just tour, I got no problem at all with doing that. I would look forward to that actually. The first thing is to finish 1 more song from the album, and then it’ll all be good to go. Get this album done and out, it’s been about 5-6 years in progress, I feel as though I’m ready to move onto the next album.

Bill talks about a lot of other subjects, including his audio diary series, the status of his long delayed solo album “Beyond Aston”, to Straws, his performance at Live Aid 20 years ago, and of course a new Black Sabbath album.

Make sure and check out the full interview here. It’s a very good read.

Bill phoned in from Sweden with the fifth in his 2005 Audio Diary series. There was a little bit of a bad phone connection on this and it generated some technical issues so the sound quality is a little scratchy, but is still pretty good. This new edition, totaling exactly 30:00 in length has these highlighted points:

* – Difficulty trying to find Vegan food

* – Bill talks about the following gigs: Sofia, Bulgaria, Vienna, Prague, Athens, & Roskilde Denmark

* – Some thoughts on Bulgaria itself.

* – European audiences in general

* – Ticket availability and his thoughts on scalpers

* – The Pink Floyd reunion at Live 8!

There is of course a lot more than that, so make sure and download the entry and check it out!

https://www.billward.com/sounds/diary070405.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.

An interview with Bill will air on New Jersey Rock Station THE WRAT,
95.9, this Sunday, July 3 at 10:00 PM EST on “The Electric Ballroom” show. If you’re not in the NJ area, you can listen on the web at http://www.wrat.com.