Bill recently did a couple of interviews with a few magazines, and we want to make sure you see them, as there’s some cool stuff to read.

First up is an interview with ‘Sup Magazine.  This one is titled “Invasion Meets Sabbath“, and covers a wide range of topics from the much trodden ground of Sabbath’s beginning to the kind of tunes that Bill listens to and is into today.  It was originally conducted in the Summer of 2009.  Here’s a bit from that interview:

I’d agree that Metallica definitely picked up your baton in 1983 and they and Black Sabbath are easily the best metal bands ever for me. It feels to me there are lots of good new bands who understand what you were about back in the ‘70s, and I think that the next decade is going to be really exciting for metal. I guess Geezer wrote a lot of your lyrics, but you had this power and intensity. Where did you pick that up from?

Bill: Part of it came from our predecessors. There were great bands in the ‘60s. A lot of bands were referencing flower power and peace. I want to make it clear that I’m not being negative about that whole movement, but we were from Aston and there wasn’t much of a hippie era going on there. At least 50 percent of our day was spent looking at the guy across the street to see if he was going to run over and kick you in the head. That was our reality.

There still is a sense of counter culture in there though “Sweet Leaf” and “Children Of The Grave” and other antiwar songs.

Bill: Well, we were pissed off, you know? “Sweet Leaf” is a very aggressive song when we do it live. “Sweet Leaf” and “Iron Man” were the rallying points for all the young men coming back from Vietnam. And when I think about it– to be quite honest with you, Marek–I start to cry because life is precious and I can still see the audiences when we played those songs. All the vets were up the front, so all we could see were the vets. When those songs came on, they were trying to get out of their wheelchairs. They came to hear those songs. We’d give them our all. They were men that didn’t want to go to war. They were pushed into it and nobody thanked them when they came back.

The second of the interviews is a new interview from February of 2010 with the “Stay Thirsty Media” site.   This interview, entitled “Never Say Die!” has some tidbits which will be of particular interest to fans.  Here’s some tidbits to whet your appetite.

THIRSTY: What are you currently involved in musically? Does the Bill Ward Band still participate in the modern music scene?

BW: Oh yea! This year I’ve worked nonstop. I’m in the process of finishing up three albums, which are ALL my albums. When I write songs, I usually write everything (tracks), so I compose in guitar, bass, keyboards, melody arrangements, the vocals…just everything really. So I’m really active inside my own music…

THIRSTY: And how about playing live? Has the Bill Ward Band, or any other projects you may be affiliated scheduled an upcoming tour?

BW: I haven’t played live at all in a long time. The last time I played live was with ‘The Sabs’ (Black Sabbath) which was about four years ago. I’ve been really active in the studio, writing and spending time with a lot of musicians.

THIRSTY: On these upcoming albums, are you the sole musician or do you have a group accompanying you on the tracks?

BW: When I say I write, I write the parts and so forth, but I have other players that play the music. On the newest work, that’s coming out in the spring, Keith Lynch (Bill Ward Band veteran) is playing guitar. Paul Ill is playing some bass and then I have a couple of other guys that will play bass as well. Paul’s also from early years of the Bill Ward Band. And then I have my own drummer, Ronnie Ciago who’s playing on several tracks. I’m playing drums on several tracks too, so it’s pretty much a band album if you’d like. There are some guests coming onto the following two albums after the spring one, but it’s all under wraps right now [laughs]. They’re rock and rollers man…so they agreed to do it but now let’s get them all together in a room and nail it!

The Thirsty interview also talks about other things too, like Bill’s relationship with Ronnie James Dio, the early days with Tony Iommi in 1966, Jimi Hendrix, Michael Jackson, online music piracy, and of course Black Sabbath.   You won’t want to miss this one for sure!

Once there is some more concrete information about these albums (plural!) from Bill, we’ll be sure to pass it on.