Ozzy Osbourne: ‘The Door is Still Open’ for Black Sabbath Drummer Bill Ward

Black Sabbath are playing shows with Tommy Clufetos behind the kit this summer, but Ozzy Osbourne says that there’s still a shot that original drummer Bill Ward could return.

The vocalist told NME in a video interview, “The door is open. As far as I know his requests were very unreasonable. Nothing would have been better [than] if he would have been [willing to play with us]. I don’t know. I don’t deal with the business.”

Guitarist Tony Iommi added, “We’ve tried everything with Bill at the moment, and it’s just not happening. Our legal people are dealing with his legal people. It’s all nonsense. We haven’t actually heard from Bill, any of this stuff. It’s all been through his lawyers.”

For his part, Ward has stated that he’s ready to travel and join the band if and when a presentable contract is offered and has publicly kept fans up to date on the proceedings.

It’s not exactly been an easy road to the stage for the Black Sabbath reunion, as the group has also been dealing with guitarist Tony Iommi’s cancer treatments and his recovery time has cut into the full schedule the group expected to play this year.

Black Sabbath will play Download Festival in the U.K. this weekend and Lollapalooza in August.