Black Sabbath Sans Bill Ward via the Group’s Website

Earlier this week, Black Sabbath drummer Bill Ward announced that he was pulling out of the band’s upcoming reunion gigs in a letter posted to his website. As the statement reads:

I sincerely regret to inform you that after a final effort to participate in the upcoming Sabbath shows a failure to agree has continued. At this time I have to inform you that I won’t be playing with Black Sabbath at the Birmingham gig dated May 19th, 2012, nor will I be playing at Download on June 10th, 2012. Further, I will not be playing at Lollapalooza on August 3, 2012.

It is with a very sad heart that I bring you this news. I am sincerely passionate in my desire to play with the band, and I’m very, very sorry that it’s fallen to this. This statement is even more painstaking to write, as I was particularly excited to play alongside Tony Iommi after the recent treatments he underwent. I wanted that to become a reality.

Black Sabbath later responded to Ward’s statement with one of their own, which reads:

We have decided not to make any detailed comment on Bill’s latest statement. There are two sides to every story. We have been working hard at rehearsals making excellent progress after Tony’s treatments and we have engaged a substitute drummer for the forthcoming shows. See you at Download.

The group has now gone to even further lengths, by removing Ward from numerous pictures on the Black Sabbath website (see the image above).

Black Sabbath announced their reunion tour and a new album last year. Ward refused to participate under the group’s terms and so Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler responded to Ward’s announcement with a statement saying, “We have no choice but to continue recording without him although our door is always open.”