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Classic Rock Revisited presents an exclusive interview with...


Judas Priest: Point Of Re-Entry

Classic Rock Revisited Talks With Glenn Tipton & KK Downing

By Jeb Wright

Judas Priest has never failed to make headlines. One can see why, as the band played a major role in creating the genre heavy metal. They also introduced the music world to the two-guitar heavy metal lineup that nearly every metal band since has employed. They have re-invented themselves many times and managed to remain both relevant and revered by fans and critics alike. But instead of the headlines being music related, they are often filled with rumors, lies and controversy. Instead of reading about the band’s music, fans are forced to learn about breakups, reunions, sexual preferences, suicides, court cases, movie plots, Satanism and ex-band member’s perversions. Meanwhile, Judas Priest simply want to rock. Perhaps that is the reason why Priest opted to take part in this years Ozzfest tour. What a better way to make the statement that they are back and rocking harder than ever than to co-headline the biggest traveling heavy metal festival in the world? Founding members, and dueling guitarists, Glenn Tipton and KK Downing, took a few minutes before they took the stage in Bonner Spring, Kansas to discuss -- dare we say it -- music.

The interview started out a bit like a scene from Spinal Tap. I was led back to the dressing room where Glenn and KK were waiting. We positioned ourselves where the tape would best pick up our conversation and I asked them how they were enjoying their first Ozzfest. Glenn Tipton surprised me by replying, “First one? No, we have been out for five weeks now.” I then asked, “Did I fuck up the first question?” to which Glenn quickly pointed out, “Absolutely.” KK came to my rescue by explaining to Glenn, “I think he means our first Ozzfest Tour” to which Glenn exclaimed, “Oh, then you were right!” Obvious Monty Python jokes aside, this broke the ice nicely, and we all had a good laugh.

Tipton quickly took control of the interview and told me why they decided to join Ozzfest, “I think it is safe to say that we probably wouldn’t have co-headlined the Ozzfest if it hadn’t been for Sabbath. Coming from the same town, we started more or less about the same time. We have a lot of respect for them and it is just a great heavy metal bill. We wanted to do it with Sabbath and I think that just makes the whole thing a great event.” KK agrees, “We’re proud that we were there at the beginning with Sabbath. It’s [the Ozzfest] a great opportunity. This is the first year it’s a 100% metal bill. It goes from classic metal, like Priest and Sabbath, to every form of metal. It is also a great way to re-introduce Rob to everybody again. We have a brand new record coming out too. We are putting the finishing touches on it and are mixing it. We have been busy quite a bit of time on that record, and now with this tour. It seemed a simplistic way to get our message out to a massive amount of people was to jump on the Ozzfest tour and start rocking.”

As great as a double bill of Priest and Sabbath is, Downing opened the door to talk about the new album. Tipton admits that the band was inspired to write new songs when Rob Halford rejoined Judas Priest. He also made the official announcement we have been hoping for, “We are looking at doing a world tour with the release of the album. The songs are all recorded and they all have vocals and guitar on them. Some lead work has been done; there are still some embellishes and overdubs to be done. As long as we are happy with it when we get back, then we will be ready. The plot is all there and the songs have all been recorded.”

After all the turmoil that Priest have been through, many questions have been raised concerning if things will really work out this time. “I am a great believer in timing. Sometimes you can make a record that may be a year or two too soon or too late or whatever,” Downing admitted, “I think people will be in the right mood for a new Priest album because it has been a lot of years since Rob has been in the band. I think people are very much pumped up for a classic metal album.” Tipton, however, takes a more cautious approach, “ People can expect too much and, even though it is very good, they can get themselves disappointed. This is another beginning; it is another album in the Priest book. It is going to be a really valid album. Maybe it will not be our best work, but then again maybe it will be. I am just saying there is a danger of expecting too much. It is like a film. Sometimes people build a film up too much and people are disappointed. But then you go back and listen again and again, or watch the film again, and suddenly it becomes your favorite movie. In our case, a lot of people’s favorite Judas Priest songs are not on their favorite album. We can’t really build it up too much because then we would be our own worst enemy. It is another Judas Priest album that is very much classic Priest. It is not too modern and it is not too dated. I think people will really like it.”

Perhaps one of the reasons for Tipton’s reservations is that the metal community simply can’t wait to hear Rob Halford singing for the band again. Many had given up hope that he would ever return to the fold. The catalyst for the reunion was a business meeting to discuss the release of the Judas Priest box set, Metalogy. Downing concedes that the reunion was a surprise, but it was also not totally a chance incident “There had been talk. People have been after us for a couple of years to reform. Going into that meeting, we were not even going to discuss a reunion. Whether it was in the back of everybody’s mind that someday we would is a different matter, but at that meeting it wasn’t the agenda at all.” Tipton chimes in, “We had a meeting over the box set and by the end of the afternoon; we were reformed. It was really amazing.”

With Halford back on board, the band sacked then current vocalist Ripper Owen and began creating songs almost immediately. The formula that has worked so many times before was still alive. “I think it is just classic Priest. We didn’t think that it was going to be 2004. We were not trying to think of it as a progression of Demolition, Jugulator or Painkiller; we really just let the juices flow. We had not been together with Rob for some time. The formula with Rob was a writing formula that really worked. It was very prolific and it was easy. We have a strange way of working; Ken does his own thing and I do mine. We are fortunate that it works.” When asked if this was truly a point of re-entry for the band, Tipton smiled, leaned back and replied, “Point of re-entry? Yeah!”

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Op zaterdag 14 augustus 2004 21:46 schreef Balthar het volgende:
Een redelijke Judas Priest kloon is trouwens Primal Fear.
Als je Priest goed vindt kun je dit niet slecht vinden eigenlijk.