Ozzy Osbourne says "I'm doing one more Black Sabbath tour, one more Black Sabbath album, and then we're disbanding the name, I believe. And then after that, I'll be doing my solo stuff."
Speaking to the Times-Picayune, Ozzy continued, "In a way, I'm glad that I did the things with Black Sabbath. No. 1, it was the first time we ever had a No. 1 [album] in America. No. 2, hopefully we'll end on a happy note. The only sad note about it is that [original drummer] Bill Ward didn't do the last tour, for reasons that I guess have something to do with financing or something. I don't know.
"It would be great for him to get it together and sort all the problems out for the next tour. It would be a great way for the four of us to end such a wonderful experience of being Black Sabbath, and what we achieved.
"Tommy Clufetos [the drummer in Osbourne's solo band] did a great job [filling in for Ward on the most recent tour]. He's a great drummer. But he ain't Bill Ward, you know?"
Ward was supposed to be part of the band's reunion, but dropped out. Early speculation was that it was due to a contract dispute, but some said it was because Ward was not physically up to the task of recording a new album and embarking on a lengthy world tour.
Ozzy told The Pulse Of Radio: "Bill Ward has got the most physically demanding job of the lot of us, 'cause he's the timekeeper," he said. "I don't think personally he had the chops to pull it off, you know. The saddest thing is that he needed to own up to that, and we could have worked around it, whether we had a drummer on the side with him or something. But I suppose it was something to do with finances as well."
-Spencer