While Black Sabbath are in the studio and preparing for Download Fest and Lollapalooza, many fans remain hopeful that drummer Bill Ward will rejoin the group. However, many believe that if Ward and Sabbath don’t reach an agreement, former Black Sabbath/Heaven & Hell drummer Vinny Appice would be the best choice as a replacement. However, the Kill Devil Hill drummer has made it clear in recent interviews, including one he did with us earlier this week, that Sabbath has yet to approach him.
We’ll be posting our interview with him in its entirety soon. However, when we asked if Sabbath has yet to reach out to him, Appice told us the following:
“No, I haven’t heard a peep. And that’s why, even when I’m communicating with Tony [Iommi], it’s on a friendship level. I never write in ‘Hey man, what’s happening?! Hey how you feeling? Feeling good? Oh, good! Hey, what’s going on with the band? I’d love to do that!’ I never do that. I never did that with Sabbath at all, or with Dio. I’ve always been asked to be in a band…
But nobody’s said anything, and at this point it’s cool. I can understand because we also did four years of Heaven & Hell. If I was in the band, it would be like Ozzy [Osbourne] touring with Heaven & Hell. People could take it possibly as that, even though it’s bigger than that. But with Sabbath, you can never figure out what’s going on anyway. So at the end of the day, who knows what happens. There might be a call going ‘Ok, this guy is not working out, would you maybe come back?’ That’s what’s happened in the past.
I’d like to see Bill do it. I think Bill being in the band makes it the original band, and how many original bands are left from that era that had such influence as them? So I’d love to see Bill in there.”
When asked, though, what he’d do if he did get the call from Sabbath, Appice admitted it’s a hard choice. While he’s committed to his new band Kill Devil Hill (also featuring ex- Pantera bassist Rex Brown), Appice said it would also be difficult to turn down a chance to be a part of “history” (referring to the new and possibly last Sabbath album). However, he feels that at this point the offer won’t come, and that he’s already heard rumors of other drummers filling in.
So as of now, Appice will not be joining Black Sabbath this year. But hey, maybe someone could convince Sabbath to bring Kill Devil Hill on the road with them? Keep an eye out for our full interview with Vinny Appice, where he also discusses the birth of Kill Devil Hill, what he learned from the late great Ronnie James Dio, and his experience working with Dave Grohl on the Sound City Studios documentary.
