H! everybody,

It’s Bill. I wanted to check in with some info about the February 11th radio show. In January, we played excerpts from the new In Flames CD, street date U.S.A. 2/7/06. On the February show, we’re continuing with the In Flames interview and will be playing full-length tracks off their new CD.

I also played Vermin last month, and as of today, 2/1/06, I may play another Vermin track on the next show. Again, we have great bands for the February line-up: Soilwork, Fear My Thoughts, In Flames, Darkest Hour, Detonation, Water Down, Deftones, Chimaria and Fear Factory. Check the show out if you can. It’s mostly hardcore, in your face metal. Sometimes, I play classic metal, and I’ll throw in a few curves for the ride like Dylan or Pavarotti.

Got go to.

Stay strong. Stay strange.

–Bill

Newsflash for this Saturday’s Rock 50 radio show by Bill Ward…

The final 30 Minutes of Saturday¹s ³ROCK² 50² show are going to be dedicated to UK Music Hall of Fame Ceremony Bill will breakaway from the usual hardcore format during the final 30 minutes of this Saturday¹s ³Rock 50² show to highlight the UK Music Hall of Fame induction ceremony. Tune in while Bill shares his thoughts on the event and pays tribute to his fellow nominees, including Pink Floyd, The Who, The Kinks and Jimi Hendrix.

For more info about Rock 50 and Bill Ward, check out the Rock 50 page here.

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

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 will be featuring Tony Iommi’s new album ‘Fused’ on his ‘Rock 50’ radio show which goes out on WPMD.ORG this Saturday, July 23 at 11:00 AM Pacific time. Tune in to hear Bill kick off the show with a segment featuring the tracks ‘Face Your Fear’, ‘Resolution Song’ and ‘Grace’.

Click here for more details on the Rock 50 show.

The latest dates for Bill’s monthly radio show have been posted to the Rock 50 page on the website. The newly posted dates cover from May through October of 2005.

This is Bill’s last live show for a while, as he is scheduled to depart to Europe on April 20th. While Bill is away, the summer shows on Rock 50 ­ May, June, July, August and September ­ will all be pre-recorded with plenty of hardcore metal, classic metal, hard rock and blues, and surprises. The July show will be a “Best of” show, playing Bill’s all-time favorite rock & hardcore songs.

The Saturday April 2nd radio show Rock 50 featuring Bill Ward and host Mike Stark, will feature American Head Charge and more Sabbath material to celebrate their 35th Anniversary in the U.S.A. Also, Bill¹s playing his favorites Type O Negative, Manson, Mnemic, Priest and Soilwork, and answering your e-mail.

This is Bill’s last live show for a while, as he is scheduled to depart to Europe on April 20th. While Bill is away, the summer shows on Rock 50 ­ May, June, July, August and September ­ will all be pre-recorded with plenty of hardcore metal, classic metal, hard rock and blues, and surprises. The July show will be a “Best of” show, playing Bill’s all-time favorite rock & hardcore songs. If you haven¹t heard the show, check it out on Saturday, April 2nd, 11:00 AM ­ 1:00 PM Pacific Time at wpmd.org. The summer show dates will be announced soon — keep checking billward.com for all the latest details.

Traffic’s drummer, Jim Capaldi is remembered and highlighted on the next “Rock 50” show, March 12th. Bill will play a special segment of Jim’s work with Traffic and two tracks from the 40,000 Headmen Tour of 1998.

Also, while it’s short notice (blame the webmaster for being sick for the last week and a half), if you have any questions for Bill for Rock 50 show, email them to rock50@billward.com. Bill will answer some of them on the air!

Bill has a few words to add about Jim; check it out:

JIM CAPALDI

–Bill Ward

2005 marks the 35th anniversary of the release of Black Sabbath’s first two albums. To this, Bill wants to know what your favorite Black Sabbath song is. Please email it to him at rock50@billward.com – the votes will be tallied and will be divulged in a future Rock 50 show.

As regular Bill Ward site visitors know, Bill has been doing a monthly radio programme over the Internet. Well, with 2005 being the 35th anniversary of Black Sabbath’s first album release, Bill wants to do something special with his programme.

To this, he wants to collect your questions via email and will read and answer some of them on his show. So, if you have a question for Bill Ward, please email it to the following address: rock50@billward.com. Just make sure the question is about Black Sabbath. 🙂

Then make sure to listen in to the February 5th edition of “Rock 50” and see if Bill reads your question on the air!

Bill will stop taking emails on Thursday Feb 3rd at 4PM EST, so get your questions in!