Black Sabbath bassist Geezer Butler is as feisty as ever. The musician was arrested Tuesday, Jan. 27, after getting into a drunken bar fight in California. Police charged the 65-year-old with misdemeanor assault, public intoxication and vandalism. Butler was taken to jail and released after he detoxed and was cited, Rolling Stone noted.
According to the police report, "After the Inyo County Sheriff's Deputy arrived on scene and interviewed witnesses, it was determined that there had been an argument that escalated into a physical confrontation -- resulting in an individual being struck and a broken window."
Details about the how the argument started and whether anyone was hurt were not given.
Butler will have to be careful in the coming months, since Ozzy Osbourne wants to start work on a new Black Sabbath album and plan a final tour for the band this year. He is already not sure about including drummer Bill Ward, so hopefully Butler behaves himself in order to keep his spot.
The album will follow up 2013's successful effort, 13, which hit No. 2 on the Billboard 200. Rick Rubin will reportedly return for the new album to produce.
Osbourne relayed his plans for 2015 to Metal Hammer.
"Once the dust settled after the last tour, we started discussing the idea -- because we were getting asked about it all the time," he said. "I said [to my wife], 'Sharon, I ain't f**king 21 anymore. If we're going to do [it], I want to do it before I'm 70. Time isn't on our side.'"
The album 13 brought in rave reviews. Not bad considering it was the band's 19th studio effort.
The album "13 is steered by superproducer/superfan Rick Rubin, and it shows that, for all their innovations, Sabbath were a product of their era -- at core, they're a blues-rooted prog-rock band, and 13 may surprise some people in its protometal traditionalism," RS wrote about the album, giving it 3 1/2 out of five stars.
Dates for the final tour have yet to be scheduled, and by all accounts the band has yet to start work on the new LP.
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