Initial plans for a Black Sabbath North American tour have been revealed by bassist Geezer Butler, as well as plans to tour South America and Europe from July through December, upon finishing the dates for their already announced tour dates.  According to Butler, via Consequence of Sound:

“We start at the end of April in New Zealand, then we go to Australia, then Japan. June, we’ll be promoting the album, then July and August [is] USA. Then October is South America and Europe in November and December.”

Another interesting tidbit of information to come from Butler was regarding just who will be playing drums with Sabbath.  What we definitely know is that original drummer Bill Ward will not be joining due to “contract disputes” stemming from last year’s reunion shows, which also kept him from playing those shows.  Butler went on to comment that the gig is up between Rage Against the Machine‘s Brad Wilk, who is the drummer on their new album 13 (due out in June), and Tommy Clufetos, who tours with Ozzy Osbourne and played the kit for last year’s Sabbath reunion shows.  Butler had to say this:

“We’re not sure yet. We don’t know because I think Brad’s got commitments with Rage Against The Machine. So it’ll probably be either Tommy or Brad, depending on their commitments.”

Well, if that wasn’t a bomb dropped out of the sky.  Commitments with Rage Against the Machine?  Are you kidding?  Expect the rumor mills to start flowing, because that would be some of the biggest news of 2013.  Though Tom Morello recently told Rolling Stone that there is no plans for the band to make a comeback, and they were just concentrating on XX, the 20th Anniversary reissue of their self-titled album, it seems that these days anything is possible.  And, at this point, RATM fans would salivate at any inkling of hope that De La Rocha, Morello, Wilk, and Commerford would once again share the stage together.

As we know more, with regards to both situations, Live for Live Music will keep you posted.