It seems that Ward’s found an even keel with his health and that there’s been no question of other drummers for the upcoming tour, Geezer emphatically reiterating that “oh for sure, there’s only one Black Sabbath and that’s the four of us together. He’s always had stamina; that was never a problem. I don’t know where he gets it though (laughs).”

“Yeah, I’m good. I totally stopped smoking cold,” notes Bill. “And I’m vegan now, although saying that on one hand, I still like to have a piece of cheese every once in awhile. And I like that Starbucks coffee too (laughs). Even though it’s non-fat milk, it’s not really vegan. I’m probably not exercising as much as I’m supposed to. But I do, yeah. I work out on the exercise bike and I walk. Yesterday I walked five miles.”

And how are the chops these days? Have you added anything to your drum style in the last few years?

“I’m trying to (laughs). I think I have, actually. I’m trying different things. I think I’ve improved a little bit between my feet and my arms and my head. I’m trying to put extra little things in. By the time when we finished with the Sabbath tours and the Ozzfest tours in 1999, I felt pretty good about my drumming. I felt that it was starting to awaken. And I thought, well, you know, you’re having a good time here because I was starting to put some jazz chops in between all the hard rock. So I was enjoying doing that. I don’t think the audience could ever hear it, but I was having a blast doing it. It just kept everything nice. So when we start rehearsals for the coming tour of America and of England on May the 12th, I’m kind of hoping to come out of the gate pretty hard and heavy. We’ve been rehearsing for six weeks already so my chops aren’t too bad.”