Rock legend Carl Palmer had to turn down the chance to become Black Sabbath's new drummer when the heavy metal stars reunited in 2011 because he was too busy touring with supergroup Asia.

The former Emerson, Lake & Palmer star has revealed pal Tony Iommi offered him the job when it became clear Bill Ward would not be part of the reunion but he had to decline the dream gig.

Palmer, who will launch his first Los Angeles art exhibit at Mr. Musichead gallery on Thursday (22Aug13), tells Wenn, "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."

But the rocker, who is hoping to attend Black Sabbath's homecoming gig in Birmingham, England in December (13), admits that playing in a band like Iommi's is something he'd still like to do.

He adds, "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.

"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."

One thing Palmer won't be doing is reuniting with Greg Lake and Keith Emerson anytime soon.

He states, "I don't really want to play with Elp anymore. I've made that very clear. We played in July, 2010 in London and that's gone."