BILL WARD, Former BOLT THROWER And Ex-KYUSS Members Discuss 40th Anniversary Of BLACK SABBATH's Technical Ecstasy

Music journalist Joel Gausten has posted an extensive feature on the 40th anniversary of Black Sabbath’s Technical Ecstasy album. The piece includes an exclusive interview with original Black Sabbath drummer Bill Ward on the making of the album, plus exclusive commentary on the album (and Black Sabbath in general) by Brant Bjork (ex-Kyuss / ex-Fu Manchu), Karl Willetts (Memoriam / ex-Bolt Thrower), Johanna Sadonis (Lucifer / ex-The Oath), Dave Ingram (Hail of Bullets / ex-Bolt Thrower / ex-Benediction), Stephan Gebédi (Hail of Bullets/ Thanatos) and Fred Schreck (ex-The Ancients / ex-Crush/Satellite Paradiso). An except from the feature appears below:

Perhaps the band’s greatest departure on Technical Ecstasy is Ward’s gorgeous, Beatlesque ballad, “It’s Alright,” which also featured the timekeeper taking over lead vocals for the first time on an album.

“Way before Technical Ecstasy, I had a song called ‘It’s Alright.’ I first recorded it at Field Farm way back in the early ’70s, along with a lot of other stuff as well that I’ve still got lying around somewhere. I never thought any more of it; I just liked the song, and we recorded it… I never dreamed for one second that it would end up on a Black Sabbath record. At the time, I might have had aspirations of maybe one day making a solo album, which is what I think everybody goes through in a Rock ‘n’ Roll band (laughs) But we were just writing as individuals as well as collectively as a band that jammed together…We were all growing as musicians, and this (track) had been around for a long time. I’d play it every once in a while when we were in the studio, or I’d sing it if we were in the car. The guys in the band really liked it; they said, ‘Oh, that’s a great song, Bill,’ and that’s as far as it went. I think at the time (of the recording of Technical Ecstasy), we were one or two songs short, so ‘It’s Alright’ came up as an idea to put on the album. I felt really, really nervous about it because it was something that’s private to me. It’s kind of like some of the softer songs that I write, like ‘Light Up The Candles’ [off my 1990 solo album, Ward One: Along The Way] or other things that I’ve written over the years. I have that in me as well; I do like to write soft melodies and things like that. ‘It’s Alright’ would be the part of me that likes to write the softer songs. But the idea came up; I don’t know who suggested it. I think it might have been Ozzy, but I’m not sure. At the time, I think it was he who suggested I sing it as well, which I felt really uncomfortable with. I felt really uncomfortable with the idea of me singing on a Sabbath album; it didn’t feel right. But eventually, I stepped up to the post and did the best I could in singing the song. In hindsight, the whole thing felt a little bit awkward for me. I like the outcome; I thought, ‘Well, that sounds really good.’ I like what Tony did in the huge guitar solo. I had the bass drum part in the middle worked out, but when we were trying to mix it, I asked Mick Fleetwood to give me his ears and listen to that bass drum because I got really tied up with it in terms of, ‘Is it sonically okay?’ ‘It is too loud, or does it need an extra dB or minus a dB?’ I remember asking Mick if he could listen to it. (laughs) He was really a gentleman; he was actually quite amicable about listening to it and giving his thoughts to it.” 

“It’s Alright” returned to the world’s attention in the early ’90s, when Axl Rose would perform a solo piano cover of the song live with Guns N’ Roses. (A recording can be found on the band’s 1999 collection Live Era ’87 – ’93.)

“I thought Guns N’ Roses did a great version, and I was ever so pleased,” Ward says. “I was pleased about that because it validated me as a songwriter. I thought their version was like, ‘Yeah, fucking great!’ I’ve enjoyed listening to other bands’ versions of Black Sabbath’s music… Some of the bands have really done great work on re-doing a Sabbath song, which actually gives credit to Sabbath in terms of how much longevity is in those songs.”

Samples of some of the outside musician commentary in the feature include:

Brant Bjork: “To me, Black Sabbath was a freak of nature in the most beautiful way. They completely just personified – musically and spiritually and everything – what it means to be in a Rock band. They were a Rock band, and Bill Ward was a huge part of that. He’s one of my all-time favorite Rock drummers; there’s no one like him. Even though he’s celebrated, I still think he’s underrated. Technical Ecstasy is a fun record. Back then, bands were around for a long time and they put out a lot of records, and that’s the way you did it. A band like Black Sabbath put out so many good records that they were bound to put out some records that people might not have celebrated on the same level as some of the other [ones]. That’s just natural and kind of inevitable. I would arguably say Technical Ecstasy is one of those records, but it is a good record. You can still hear the greatness, and you can hear some exploration and you can hear some exhaustion. But it’s awesome; it’s still real and still authentic.

Karl Willetts: “I have lived all my life in Birmingham, and I am very proud of the musical heritage of the city, which I often refer to as the Metal Metropolis. Black Sabbath are the premier product of Birmingham, and I have grown up listening to their music; it has formed the soundtrack to my life. Black Sabbath have been hugely influential in the music that has been created in the bands that I have played in throughout my career in music, with both Bolt Thrower and more recently with Memoriam. I come from a Punk music background and play in an extreme Metal band. Black Sabbath stand head and shoulders above the other bands from the Heavy Metal genre, with the sheer heaviness of their doom-laden riffs and intensity of the music that they create. They are a band that any musician aspires to be like, and I consider them to be a major source of inspiration.”

The complete feature is available at this location.