The last time Black Sabbath played together, they performed a couple shows in their hometown in Birmingham, England. Though many original musicians from Black Sabbath participated in the event, classic drummer Bill Ward was unable to join his bandmates. After these performances, Ozzy Osborne stated that he would be excited to do “one last gig.” Additionally the Black Sabbath drummer Geezer Butler expressed that he would also be down and “wouldn’t say never,” to a reunion show. 

The comments from Butler came after a recent interview with Classic Rock. While on the topic of a reunion show Butler stated, “If it came up, I wouldn’t say never. I can’t imagine it ever happening, but then I said that about the Sabbath tour, and it happened, so who am I to know?”

After ending his time with Black Sabbath, Geezer Butler decided that instead of retiring, he wanted to continue with music. The Black Sabbath bassist jumped in with a new band called Deadland Ritual. The group consists of Butler, the past drummer of Guns N’ Roses Matt Sorum, Billy Idol’s guitarist Steve Stevens, and Franky Perez from Apocalyptica. 

Butler expressed that after seriously trying out retirement, it was time to get back into the music industry. Butler stated, “I thought I’d been in my last band. I even swore to myself that was it, never again. I didn’t even pick up a bass for a year. I did believe in retirement — until I actually did it. I got addicted to watching TV every day and became a couch potato. So when Matt Sorum called to ask if I’d be interested in joining a band, I said yeah. Life is better when I’ve got a band on the go, definitely. … I thought I could do without it, but I can’t.”

Photo Credit: Aisha Humphrey