Will Bill Ward rejoin Black Sabbath in the final year 2016?

Bill Ward, Black Sabbath’s original drummer, says that he still needs to get a ‘signable contract’ from the band and a public apology from lead singer Ozzy Osbourne before he will agree to rejoin the group for the final album and the last tour in 2016.

In a radio interview with North Carolina’s 106.5 WSFL radio station this week, Bill Ward answers on the question if there is any chance Sabbath fans could see him back with the band on their next album and tour “If everybody could get on the same page… My page, I’ve been quite pronounced about my page, which is a signable contract and an apology over certain issues that Ozzy said about me that weren’t true. I’d like him to publicly apologize. He said these things at the public level, so I’d like him to publicly apologize. He’s already responded to that, saying that’ll never happen. So, as long as that’ll never happen, then I probably won’t be joining the band in 2016.”

Bill Ward went on to describe the mixed emotions that he has felt since he decided to step away from the Sabbath reunion more than three years ago. Ward said: “Do I love them? Yes, I do. Would I like to play with them? Yes, I would. Am I upset about all the upset? Yes, I am. I’m very, very sad by all the fans’ reactions and the way that things have split and gone different ways and everything else. It’s not nice at all to be in this position, and it’s not an easy responsibility for me to maintain when uncountable amounts of people are angry with my decision-making process, which was that I need a signable contract. And now I need an apology as well. First, it was, ‘I just need a signable contract, guys.'”

He continued: “So, yeah, it’s very sad, but I would love to [return to Sabbath]. If we could get past everything, and everything else, I would love to be a part of it. You know, I love the guys. I mean, I still love Ozz. Just because we have a disagreement, or there’s a disagreement on the table, I still love him very much.”