Black Sabbath have had their fair share of grief when it comes to metal media outlets during their stint together, so naturally we've got one more for you; the band tried to recruit the legendary Carl Palmer of Emerson, Lake and Palmer on drums, who told them no… for now.
Since Bill Ward was too fat to be a drummer for Black Sabbath, the band apparently turned to Carl Palmer. Palmer told Wenn.com all about the affair:
“Tony and I did talk when they were looking for drummers to make the album and he put me forward. I couldn’t do it because I was off with Asia, we were touring and then something else came up. I couldn’t have done it but I would have loved to. It just wasn’t on the cards… I was classically trained but basically I’m a rock drummer and I’ve never been in a true out-and-out guitar band like Black Sabbath, where it’s just big riffs – very simple but very dynamic… It would be extremely invigorating."
And:
“The older I get the more I appreciate that music… I was late to come to heavy metal. Asia had a bit of that but we were a little bit more corporate rock and melodic.”
So it's not so much a "no" in the sense that he's not interested, it's just that the timing was terrible. Palmer also said that Emerson, Lake and Palmer would never happen again either, so the guy obviously has some time to fill outside his solo stuff. Palmer is one hell of a drummer and here's to hoping that once Black Sabbath call it quits for good this time that Iommi and Palmer could get together on something. Even a studio project would be awesome!
