Ozzy: Bill Ward 'couldn't cut' Sabbath set

Ozzy Osbourne has spoken out on the Bill Ward/Black Sabbath saga, claiming that the drummer wasn't up to the gig.

In an interview with Mojo, Ozzy indicated that the band were concerned over Ward's ability to play a two hour show, with the frontman suggesting they ran through the set at rehearsals to see how Ward fared.

Ozzy added: "We looked at Bill, and he couldn't remember what the f*** we were doing. But he didn't come clean and say, 'I can't cut this gig, but can we work something out, guys, where I'll come on but with another drummer backing me up?' Or, 'I'll come and play a few songs.' That would have been cool."

It wasn't just Ward's condition that Ozzy called into question, he also said that the drummer simply couldn't remember the songs.

Ozzy said: "You know them yellow f***ing stick-on memo notes? He had them all over his f***ing drums. I was like, 'What the f***'s that for, Bill?' He said, 'I can't remember what I'm doing.' I go, 'How are you gonna remember out of those 500,000 bits of paper stuck all over your kit, which one you're looking at, Bill?' [He said:] 'I'll know.' Ah, OK great

Sabbath release their new album, 13, this summer with Brad Wilk on drums.