For this holiday season, Bill Ward has made available for download one of his songs. The song he’s made available is “Light Up the Candles (Let There Be Peace Tonight)” in mp3 format. This song is from Bill’s first solo album “Ward One: Along the Way”, and was originally released back in 1990.

This is a special gift from Bill to his website visitors during this holiday season. However, this is a limited time download, come January 1, 2005 – the download will be withdrawn, so if you’re interested in it, grab it now (legally, too!) from the sounds page here on billward.com. Enjoy!

If you’d like to discuss the release of this song, you can do so here on the billward.com forums!

I GOT PRIDE
IT’S LIKE YOU CAN TRIP ME OVER
BUT I WON’T FALL DOWN
UNTIL I’M A MILE
OUT OF YOUR SIGHT

© BILL WARD QUOTE 6/10/04

Bill Ward has released a song to the Internet today entitled “The Dark Half Hour”. Here’s a message from Bill about the release…

Hello everyone,

It’s been an extremely busy beginning of the New Year, and I would like to wish you all a happy, healthy, and rockin’ 2004. We’ve been hard at work in the studio completing mixes for “Beyond Aston,” and I wanted to share one of the new songs with you now. The song is titled “The Dark Half Hour,” and it’s about sexuality and sexual shame in part. This version is a close master mix, and therefore, will be different than the final master that will end up on the album. This version will only be available here as a free download. I hope you like the song.

I would also like to thank everyone who purchased a copy of “Straws” over the past few months to help raise money for several deserving charities. For those of you who have e-mailed to ask if you may still purchase a copy “Straws” — yes, the CDs are still available via the web site. I greatly appreciate all your generosity and your support of this project.

Hope you enjoy “The Dark Half Hour” and look for more information on “Beyond Aston.”

— Bill Ward

We know that you’ve been waiting for some information regarding the release of Bill’s third solo album entitled “Beyond Aston”. While we don’t have a release date for you for the CD at this time, we can bring you this news.

Bill Ward has decided to release a close master mix of one of the songs from the Beyond Aston album free online. The name of the song Bill will be releasing is “The Dark Half Hour”. More details as to exactly when you will be able to download this file along with further details regarding it’s release, Beyond Aston and other information will be available shortly here on this website. If you’d like to discuss this topic online, you can do so here on the Bill Ward Online forums.

In related news, the MP3 download of Straws which has been available here on billward.com will be withdrawn when The Dark Half Hour is made available, so if you still haven’t downloaded Straws, you should do so now.

Also, remember, Straws is a charity song – we urge you to make a donation to one of Bill’s charities and help out some needy folks. In exchange for your donation, Bill will send you one of his hand autographed Straws CD’s – more details on purchasing Straws is available by clicking on the cover art below.

There’s a great news article about Bill Ward done by the St. Petersburg Times website entitled “Bill Ward: Ozzy he’s not”. It talks about Bill’s internet release of Straws, his views on war, and other cool things you don’t normally hear from your average rock star. Check it out by clicking on the link below:

http://www.sptimes.com/2003/01/16/Artsandentertainment/Ozzy_he_s_not.shtml

Just got back from South TX, very tired, celebrated Christmas with my two youngest children. Real nice Christmas, I made it into the relax and fun zone and gave frequently to the ringing bells outside each mall entrance. I was actually able to detach enough from world crime and anticipatory doomsday feelings to see the incredible beauty in my wife’s strength, and my children’s hopes and resourcefulness, I sure got my Christmas present.

Today has been pretty much a day of, opening mail, answering e-mail, unwinding from the holiday travel. My eldest son, Aeron, sent me over some CDs I’d requested from the U.K. Spent this morning getting melancholy and listening to some great stuff. I got the Undertakers CD, Unearthed, which features Jackie Lomax, great Liverpool band circa 1963. Also just for the record, Black Sabbath were by no means the first band to be photographed in graveyards, which we seemed to do a lot in the late 60s. I have a photo of the Undertakers at Liverpool Cathedral Graveyard, and I see at least one tombstone, so there’s one for the debaters and history buffs.

OK. What a year. Ozzy and Sharon did everything and in hindsight gave us something to laugh about during a pretty morbid and treacherous year. Good people shouted out loud, and killers killed. The bad guys repositioned themselves. I feel like the round two bell will be ringing as soon as we let the new year in. I’ve got lots of things I want to do, mostly finishing some unfinished projects the first part of the year. Got some travel plans, too.

God Bless America.
I really hope America will not have to be dragged into conflict with other nations and suffer any more loss than what it already has. I hope world peace will remain uppermost in our hearts. I hope that leaders across the world will commit to themselves to better understand the word and action of humility to all things great and small.

Happy New Year
Long live Black Sabbath
Long live Rock and Roll
and God bless you.

Bill Ward

From Joe Siegler: “Over the weekend, I received a letter from Bill with a big status update on various things with Bill (his health, touring, Straws, etc..) Anyway, below is the text of the letter from Bill in it’s entirety. All of this is from Bill himself:

Dear Joe,

I wanted to give you some more info on Straws & Beyond Aston.

Regarding “Straws” as you know my company Aston Cross Music, Inc., is making 2,000 copies of Straws, 1,000 copies are already ear marked for family, friends, musicians, journalists, politicians, etc.

The remaining one thousand copies of Straws I’m thinking about putting on E-Bay to raise money for people in need here in America. However I haven’t chosen the U.S. charities yet. Also, in my private mail, I’ve been receiving requests to visit Sao Paulo and to play some small concerts to raise funds for a hospital down there.

At the moment, I’m a bit stuck, because three weeks ago I had shoulder surgery. In the summer, we (Bill Ward’s band) did start some preliminary work to tour this fall, specifically Bosnia and surrounding areas, and we also considered going down to Sao Paulo. The injury will hold me up until at least Jan. (By the way, the operation was a complete success.) And to add, won’t hold me back from touring with Sabbath, if that opportunity arises.

So, anyway, getting back to E-Bay, I had the mind to try to raise money to help out some people. There’s a shelter in my hometown of Aston in Birmingham, England that I’d like to support also, as well as what’s already been mentioned.

So, that’s where I am right now. And, regarding, Bosnia and Sao Paulo, I will continue to look into playing gigs in both areas at a more suitable time.

OK. Straws as a single, i.e. to record shops, etc., well that is not planned, so no to Straws as a single. Again, its a free download from billward.com. Straws will appear on Beyond Aston.

And, regarding Beyond Aston, here’s the progress report.

Artwork/credits underway and progressing.

Songs – all in full production, some at finite mixing stage, everyone is working hard, to get “beyond” Beyond Aston.

Following is a list of all songs appearing on Beyond Aston, with a brief critique. Please note these songs and titles have been copywritten and rights are protected. It would be an illegal act to copy or use these titles in any way whatsoever.

Beyond Aston© – Bill Ward
(Titles not in order of appearance)

1. Crow
A song about Irish struggles over the years, (soft rock) including choir and accordian

2. The Dark Half Hour
(Hard Rock) A song about the memory, child abuse and deep passion. Saxophone/Fender Strat Licks.

3. Straws
(Medium Rock) A song which appears as part of a trilogy of war songs on Beyond Aston – gimmicky effects and hardcore lyrics.

4. God and the Law
(Medium Rock) Religion and war, part of the trilogy of war songs, Bill played drums.

5. Hi Fi Life
(Medium Rock) Featuring the Perry Sisters, uplifting grooves, about music for what ails you.

6. Ashes
(Hard Rock) Takes a poke at current systems in place that are accepted as “normal,” excellent drums Ronnie Ciago.

7. Angel in the Rain
(Medium/Hard Rock) The gathering of human oddities and people from all walks of life and asking “Who left that angel in the rain”©. Bill played drums.

8. Beyond Aston
(Medium Rock) A song written originally about 10 years ago (after a long and sad conversation with Oz). Upon completion of lyrics it was realized the song not only reverberated the conversation but also reflected possible everyman/woman’s experiences. Small choir accompanies Bill’s vocals.

9. Monmouth Nights
(Medium Rock/Jazz) A song about Sabbath getting back together to rehearse for shows at one of their old haunts, Monmouth, a Roman town in Wales, the birthplace of Henry V in 1387, Paul Ill Bass/synth excellent.

10. First Day Back
(Medium Rock) Song’s about returning from whatever hell you’ve been in, and it’s your first day back. Gibson guitar licks/Keith Lynch.

11. Everybody Loves Me
(Slow Hard Rock) About the ego, and the loneliness that comes with ego, drugs and sexuality. Exceptional drumming by Ronnie Ciago, featuring Perry sisters.

12. Powder on the Moon
(Medium Rock) Cross fades from end of Everybody Loves Me, about obsession to be liked at all costs, even when dead.

13. Soldiers
(Medium Rock) Part of trilogy of war songs on this album. Respectful song in part about soldiers at the front line.

14. Abandoned Gift
(Soft Rock) I think it’s a song about me, I think it came out of the feeling of loss or grief.

15. Somebody’s Heart
(Soft Rock) Song’s about Bill’s reaction to the first Sabbath reunion at Ozzfest, played without Bill, sad and very loving song. Great slide guitar by Keith Lynch.

16. Elephant Man
(Medium/Hard Rock) Excellent drumming by Ronnie Ciago, song of assassinations and suffering.

17. Woodshop
(Medium/Hard Rock) About trying to find God inside chaos. Bill plays drums. Straight ahead rock bass and guitar.

Thanks a lot, Joe. If you could please post this, I’d appreciate it.

Bill

Not much going on since the last update, that’s the main reason why there hasn’t been much in the way of news here. Once there’s something to report, believe me – it will get reported. 🙂

However, there was a new interview posted with Bill Ward over on the Classic Rock Revisited site. It’s a great interview, talking about topics ranging from Bill’s solo career, his exclusion in the Ozzfest Sabbath 1997 shows, Ozzy’s The Osbournes TV show, and a whole lot of things. Here’s a few clips from the full interview.

Jeb: Who would have thought that Black Sabbath would have a happy ending?

Bill: I just came back from my drummer’s studio — I have a drummer in my band and we were recording some new songs for a new album, which I want to release in the future. I don’t have a title yet but it is going to be a Ward II album. We did Ward I back in the 1980’s and we want to do another. There were a lot of guests on the Ward I album and some were well known and others were not. I have been writing some songs for it today. The major thing that is going on right now is that we are mixing a brand new album that we are trying to get out this year called Beyond Aston. All of the guys in Sabbath — we were all born in Aston. It is basically a reflection of looking back on my life in Aston and the kind of energy that came from there and where we are now. It is kind of a retro thing.

If you have problems with that URL, you can go to the main site, and find the link there.

We’re back with another update. Yeah, not much has been happening with Bill. It’s been pretty slow in terms of Bill Ward solo materials. He spent the majority of last year with Black Sabbath related projects and events, and spent very little time on his own materials. However, over the weekend, I received an update from Bill on the status of several things. Here’s some news from Bill:

Regarding re-releasing Along the Way, Bill’s been trying to find some songs that he’s written that might work on that album. Bill has also been looking for musicians to play the new material. Bill’s not sure yet how many new tracks will appear on Along the Way. To say the least, it’s a slow moving project. Bill hopes that Along the Way could be resolved and reprinted this year. The Ozzy tracks will not appear on the new release. Bill’s second album, When the Bough Breaks, update: a world wide album deal is in the works at this time. And again, Bill’s hoping to be resolved on a re-release date sometime this year. Finally, Beyond Aston, Bill’s third album is scheduled for final mixes starting March 15th. This album is scheduled to be released as soon as possible. If there is a good reaction to Beyond Aston, he will do live dates this year.

This is good news, and hopefully we will be seeing new music from Bill shortly! Any further updates will be posted here.

Net metal station hardradio.com has published an interview with Bill & Geezer Butler – in it, Bill & Geezer speak of the state of Sabbath, and the state of their current solo projects. Here’s a bit about what Bill had to say.

“We’re nearly there. I just want to finish it” laughs Bill, “because I’ve been working on it for the last three years. And also, I don’t want to go into a major touring situation wondering about ‘cut five, did we do the Protools? Did we cut out A and B during the Protools session?’ I don’t want to have those kinds of numbers in my head. I’m going out there to rock and to drive Black Sabbath, and that’s my total intention and to do that I have to have focus and an absolutely clear head. So no, the whole reason why I’m kind of working a little harder in April is to make sure my decks are cleared so that when we go on that stage I know exactly where I am, best as I can be. So I wouldn’t do things that would either jeopardize my energy for my own album or jeopardize my energy for Black Sabbath.”

Ward has also scrapped for now plans to reissue Ward One: Along The Way, with or without the Ozzy tracks, with or without re-recording the entire album, an idea which was bandied about over the years as an additional disc completing a two disc set.

There’s more about Sabbath, plus there’s Geezer’s chat, too. Check out a copy of the interview over at Black Sabbath Online. Also, make sure and check out hardradio.com too!