In a recent interview about the band’s headlining spot at this year’s Download Festival, Black Sabbath members Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler shed some light on their turmoil with original drummer Bill Ward. Although Iommi described the conflict as a “nonsense” battle between lawyers, Ozzy stated the the door is still open for Ward if he would want to return.

In Black Sabbath’s interview with NME, Iommi put the issue with Bill Ward into perspective. “We’ve tried everything with Bill at the moment — it’s just not happening,” says the guitarist. “Our legal people are dealing with his legal people. It’s all nonsense. We haven’t actually heard from Bill [about] any of this stuff. It’s all been through his lawyers.”

Although frontman Ozzy Osbourne pleaded ignorance to exactly why Ward’s requests were so “unreasonable,” Ozzy insists that the drummer would be welcomed back into the band if their contract issues could be settled.

“Door’s open. As far as I know, all I can say about it is his requests were very unreasonable. I don’t know why his requests were. Nothing would have been better [than Bill returning]. I don’t know. I don’t deal with the business.”

Ozzy went on to speak about the 2012 Download Festival. “You never know what’s going to happen,” says the singer. “Your voice could go, the band could blow up, [you could] fall off stage — hopefully you can give them a good show. My job is to give the audience value for money.”

Black Sabbath are set to close the festival on June 10 before heading out to North America to play Lollapalooza‘s Aug. 3 date.

Watch Ozzy and Black Sabbath Talk About Bill Ward in Their NME Interview

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