H! Everybody!

Bill Ward here.

I wanted to drop in a brief message about what’s in store for our November 19th and December 10th radio shows.

First, I’m still celebrating/acknowledging that it’s Sabbath’s 35th Anniversary in the U.S., so there will be Sabbath music and some pre-recorded well-wishes. There are two interviews in the November show, Shadows Fall – great band – Jason & Jon talking backstage, and also, recently I interviewed Matt McDonough of Mudvayne, particularly about their last CD “Lost and Found” (check out the October show Mudvayne track “Pushing Through,” incredible song). Matt’ s interview is great. So if you can, check out these guys, Matt McDonough of Mudvayne and Jason Bittner and Jon Donais of Shadows Fall. All most talented musicians.

On the November show, I finally get to catch up since coming off tour with the Sabs and play some more GZR as promised back in the early summer. If you’ ve not heard this CD or GZR period, then go buy their CD. The album’s superb. Try not to miss them on our November 19th radio show.

Other tracks being played in November: Soilwork, Fear Factory, Foo Fighters of course, Darkest Hour, possibly Soulfly (an incredible album) and surprise tracks. Surprise tracks are tracks I’ve not chosen yet, so it’ll be a surprise for you and me, hopefully. In any event, if you like hard rock and metal with some Pavarotti, blues and jazz thrown in from time to time, then check us out.

Our December show is kind of like my “Best of” show I do in one of the summer months, except I play what I think is cool for Christmas. Rather than playing Bing’s “White Christmas,” our mascot song pretty much is Type O Negative’ s “Red Water (Christmas Mourning)” which upon first hearing, I fell in love with, and I’ve been playing it ever since. There’s a brief interview with Johnny Kelly (drummer, Type O) who sets up the “Red Water” track. Again, there are pre-recorded Happy Anniversary messages for Sabbath.

I mentioned earlier the summer “Best of” show I do. It’s not necessarily slamming all the way. I go across the board, playing stuff from all musical paths. The Christmas show is like that, too. We don’t slam all the time. Those listening know that “Rock 50” plays 70% of what I consider hardcore metal, not to be confused with the corporate retailers’ version of “hardcore,” although what I call hardcore often intertwines with that latter definition. I digress.

My point is, we deviate from our normal programming for Christmas. At times, I’m tempted to put the Barking Dogs barking “Jingle Bells” next to Killswitch, but I’ve not done so yet. Songs featured so far for December are probably Killswitch, and possibly Spineshank’s version of George Harrison’s “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.” We’ve played that version many times on “Rock 50.”

Speaking of George Harrison, I’m checking out some Bangladesh cuts. U2 have what I consider a great Christmas song, “Crumbs from Your Table.” I may play “Welcome to the Strange” (Murder Dolls), but we always play that on our ” Best of” show. Maybe we won’t play the Foo Fighters, that’ll be different.

I love doing the Christmas show. We’ll make it rock. Again, check it out, guys.

Long live music and the freedom to express exactly, precisely, what’s in the heart.

“Place your head upon whatever you’ve been chosen to call bed.” “Ward One: Along The Way

Thanks,
Bill

P.S. Big News: In Flames interview on the January “Rock 50” show and track glimpses from their brand new CD.

For more on Rock 50, please visit the Rock 50 page here at billward.com

A special thanks go out to Richard Johnson, who provided Bill with several behind the scenes pictures he took during several Ozzfest 2005 gigs. There’s plenty to check out, so click on the thumbnail below to view the photo gallery.

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.

This Saturday’s Rock 50 episode will be a special edition. It features interviews with the band “The Haunted” as well as with Craig Nunenmacher of Black Label Society. You won’t want to miss this.

For more info on Rock 50 including links on how to listen in, check out the Rock 50 page here on billward.com.

Bill Ward Band drummer Ronnie Ciago has some upcoming drum clinics in October and November. These follow up the successful clinics given over the last couple of months. If you’re in the area, and are a drummer, you might want to check ’em out.

October 11th @ 7PM
? Guitar Center, Covina CA
? Full Address: 1054 N. Azusa Ave, Covina CA 91722
? View Interactive Map here
? Store’s Telephone Number: 626-967-7911
? Store Website: Click here.

October 22nd @ 4PM
? Sam Ash, Westminster CA
? Full Address: 14200 Beach Blvd Westminster CA 92683
? View Interactive Map here.
? Store’s Telephone Number: 714-899-2122
? Store Website: Click here.

November 2nd @ 7PM
? Sam Ash, Torrance CA
? Full Address: 19800 Hawthorne Blvd Torrance, CA 90503-1523
? View Interactive Map here.
? Store’s Telephone Number: 310-214-0340
? Store Website: Click here.

November 9th @ 7PM
? Sam Ash, Rowland Heights, CA
? Full Address: 18031 E Gale Avenue, Rowland Heights, CA 91748
? View Interactive Map here.
? Store’s Telephone Number: 626-839-8177
? Store Website: Click here.

If you’ve attended any of Ronnie’s drum clinics and have taken pictures or would like to say a few words about the clinics, please contact Joe Siegler at siegler@billward.com. Thanks.

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 Ward Band drummer Ronnie Ciago will be holding the latest in his drum clinic appearances in September. It will be held at Sam Ash. The date is September 3rd at 6PM.

Sam Ash is at 12651 Artesia Blvd in Cerritos, California. If you’d like to see an interactive map which can give you directions on how to get there, please click here.

Sam Ash can also be reached by telephone at 562-468-1107.