BILL WARD Interview Page 4
By Bob Nalbandian and Mark Miller

SW: Regarding "Swinging The Chain," there's a song on "When The Bough Breaks" called "Hate" that also has a horn section. I noticed with old Sabbath your (and Tony and Geezer's) jazz influence is definitely apparent, especially on the first Sabbath record. Sabbath incorporated a lot of jazz rhythms and grooves around heavy rock music whereas most the other British rock bands of that era - Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, Free - were primarily combining rock with the blues.
BW: I think we were all blues and jazz based when we were young. One of Tony's favorite guitarists when he was really young (10 years old) was Django Reinhardt. Since we had those influences, it wasn't that unusual to show up with a little bit of brass, even though it was risquŽ. The brass section in "Swinging The Chain" just seemed to fit. I just think it's a nice piece of music.

SW: There's another song, "Air Dance", also from the "Never Say Die" album has a great brass section as well. I thought that was totally groundbreaking for any rock/metal band at the time. Speaking of you singing on Sabbath songs, there's a short, like 30 second tune at the end of the Sabotage vinyl - "Blow On A Jug"...
BW: (Laughs) That's me and Ozzy.

SW: Why wasn't that ever included on the CD?
BW: It was something that was never supposed to be recorded. We had left the tape running in the studio and Oz and I were having a party...it was absolute nonsense.

SW: Black Sabbath just recently released the "Past Lives" double-live CD. This essentially is the same recording from the "Live At Last" record released around 1980 [only available on British import]. It has been remixed with a few added tracks. Why has it taken so long to finally release this on CD?
BW: I don't know. It's probably because Sabbath is doing a lot of touring now. I honestly don't know the history of where the tracks came from and I don't recall the tracks that well. I do know that "Symptom Of the Universe" and "Hole In the Sky"...it kicks ass man!

SW: That actually leads me to my next question..."Sabotage" is probably my all-time favorite album. I know Sabbath used to perform those two tracks live back then, but you also do "Megalomania" on that album - that is a true rarity! Did you play that song for the entire tour?
BW: I think we did that the entire tour. But we played "Symptom of the Universe" in our show for quite a long time.

SW: Here's something you may remember...the first time I actually saw you perform live was I believe in 1981 or '82. I saw you at a small club in Anaheim playing drums with the band Max Havoc...
BW: Yeah, I remember that show.

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