Birmingham’s Judas Priest was one of the first successful metal bands and certainly one of the few that has survived and prospered over the years. The band was initially put together in 1971 when two schoolmates, namely K.K. Downing and Ian Hill, joined talents. In the meanwhile Judas Priest was, in fact, in existence since 1969 featuring singer Alan Atkins and Bruno Stappenhill. This latter two had initially signed to Immediate Records, but were disappointed when the company had folded. Downing had previously auditioned and failed to be accepted into the band. So, in late 1970 it was Al Atkins who would join the band of K.K., Ian Hill and drummer John Ellis. The monicker Judas Priest was inspired by a Bob Dylan song, The Ballad Of Frankie Lee And Judas Priest. The band’s very first gig was on March 16, 1971, at St. John's Hall in Essington, England. The band would break up, but reform and soon recruit local urchin, Rob Halford. A contract was also signed with IMA Management co-owned by Black Sabbath’s Tony Iommi.

A contract with Gull/Decca yielded two albums. The band’s hippie and blues-inspired music soon became progressively heavier and soon yielded what most fans today recognize as classic hard rock and heavy metal. In particular, listeners would cite the band’s unique dual-guitar approach as enterprising. Arriving onto a major label with Sin After Sin the band replaced Alan Moore (who had already rejoined once) with session man Simon Phillips and asked Deep Purple’s Roger Glover to produce. The album’s supporting tour was notable for a fight between fans and gorillas at a London show. The band also opened for Led Zeppelin at San Francisco’s Day On The Green Festival. Following Stained Class, the medieval outfits were replaced by a new image of chains and leather. This image was later understood to be inspired by Halford’s gay lifestyle. Killing Machine’s name was toned down for the conservative American market and was called Hell Bent For Leather. This edition also added the cover of hippie icons Fleetwood Mac’s, Green Manalishi. The album yielded the band’s first British single Top 10, Take On The World. The band’s Unleashed In The East (in Japan and originally in the UK entitled Priest In The East) live album from 1979 is generally regarded as the seminal live recording of the genre, despite many misgivings regarding its dubs as a studio recording on an English sound stage. The band would later insist that only some of the vocals were redone as during the original two Japanese shows the singer was afflicted with laryngitis. The album, with its sped-up versions of old favourites, has garnered so much acclaim that the band had a hard time agreeing on the release of its disappointing follow-up, Priest Live. Either way Les Binks was gone by the time the album was released and the promotional shots were staged so Halford obscured the drum kit. By the early ‘80s, the band was even hitting the single and album’s charts. In particular, the British Steel album had sold very well and yielded two singles, Breaking The Law and Living After Midnight. It was during this period that Priest takes a young Iron Maiden on the road with it. However, the heavier Screaming For Vengeance and Defenders Of The Faith are generally regarded as the band’s very best. Two of the band’s fans committed suicide while listening to Stained Class in late 1985 prompting a suit alleging suicide-inducing and back masked music and lyrics by parents sensing an income opportunity. The parents lost the case in 1990. 1986’s Turbo was an experiment with electronic drums and synthesized guitars that did well commercially nonetheless. A Porsche Turbo or two the band members had purchased supposedly inspired the album’s name. Strangely, Legs Diamond drummer Jonathan Valen was hired to play electronic drums back stage, while Dave Holland practiced the more conventional art before the public. The band acquiesced to commercialism and the American market next before rebounding with Painkiller, another definitive work – grammar faux pas or not.

Despite the success, Rob Halford would unilaterally depart in 1992 citing a need to engage in some solo work. At first, the understanding was that the man would continue in Judas Priest as well, but contractual necessity and a confused way of thinking nixed the notion. Halford would spend several years slagging metal as dead, emulate Pantera and engage in industrial techno pop. He would also appear on MTV coming out of the closet, although, to quote the other Priest musicians, the revelation was the worst kept secret in rock and roll. Priest would remain in limbo until 1997 when a new Judas Priest was born, complete with a new logo, a new American vocalist called Tim "Ripper" Owens, a new record company and a supposedly modern sound. American drummer Scott Travis who had also joined Halford for a while would be part of the line-up again. While Jugulator was mildly welcomed, Demolition was less so and the band, management and fans fuelled the flames of a reunion. Simultaneously, Halford was signalling a desire to return given his lack of success.

Halford rejoined in July of 2003. Tim Owens would claim anything but surprise, although he would acknowledge that he was fired via an e-mail! Several compilations and tours accompanied the reunion album, Angel Of Retribution. Earlier, drummer Holland had caused controversy by being accused of child molestation. His trial would reveal the man had been bi-sexual and been spending the last several years offering drum lessons. Judas Priest would headline Ozzfest, with Halford even briefly replacing Ozzy as frontman for Black Sabbath, before the end of 2005 would bring Angel Of Retribution. Judas Priest, Ian Gillan, Boned, Scorpions and others appeared at the Royal Albert Hall in central London to honour the deceased BBC radio DJ, Tommy Vance. The band was also working on a new album. It turned out to be a concept album about and named Nostradamus. The album was issued on June 17th through Epic. The double-disc was the band’s first concept album. It was recorded from 2006 to 2007 at Old Smithy Studio in the U.K. The band announced a tour with Heaven And Hell, Motörhead and Testament.

JUDAS PRIEST – PAINKILLER – COLUMBIA  
Painkiller was one of only two Priest studio albums in the 1990s. The reason for this is that singer Rob Halford decided to leave the band shortly after the very successful Painkiller tour. The other’90s album, Jugulator, was recorded with vocalist Tim “Ripper” Owens, formerly of Winter’s Bane, and was a cold CD, which was an emotionless piece of modern riffing and mediocre songs (with a few exceptions). Ripper’s vocals were great, but the songs just were too close to the prevailing trend. Like Iron Maiden, Judas Priest decided to get their original singer back after just two albums with the replacement. After the Demolition album, Halford was back in.
Painkiller belongs to the top five of Priest albums and is one of the best classic metal recordings of the ‘90s. Drummer Scott Travis, acquired from Paul Gilbert’s band Racer X, shows incredible double-bass drum skills, especially on the opener and title track, which is one of the heaviest songs the band has ever written. The guitar solos are amazing also. There is not one weak song on the album, but some really stand out. Hell Patrol is a majestic hymn, Nightcrawler would make a great soundtrack for a horror movie, and Between The Hammer And The Anvil cites many common metal metaphors in the lyrics. One more thing: Painkiller is second only to Screaming For Vengeance in terms of copies sold worldwide. It is up to you to decide which album is better. – Andreas Herzog

Metallian correspondent Sheila Wes Det was recently offered the opportunity to speak with Judas Priest singer Ripper Owens on the occasion of the release of the Live In London DVD and the accompanying live CD. The two discussed the band's recent releases, the future plans for the heavy metal legends as well as the plethora of rumours swirling around the quintet of the aforementioned Tim Ripper Owens, guitarists K.K. Downing and Glen Tipton, bassist Ian Hill and drummer Scott Travis. - 14.02.2003

METALLIAN: Ripper, allow me to start off with asking you why Judas Priest has a new live album.
RIPPER: Better than not having one, I guess. We did the DVD, we had extra tracks as the concert was recorded. It's also, in my opinion, a much better CD than the last live record ('98 Live Meltdown). I think I am a much better singer now. I think the singing and the performance is better here. It's just a great live CD you know and people say, 'you put one out in '98!' Yeah, well this is 2003. It's not like its 1999 and as a Judas Priest fan I would want to have this come out because it's a good live CD. It's just something we can have now as we to start writing a new record, you know what I mean?

METALLIAN: Speaking of the one that came out in 1998, I think what Judas Priest will always be known for is a classic live album like Unleashed In The East. People will be more prone to compare your live albums to that one.
RIPPER: Yeah, I agree. This live record, to me, is just raw. There are no overdubs. The vocals, any mess-ups I did, any bad notes I hit they are all there. I didn't attempt to change anything and I think it just shows how much the band has gelled now and how much we get along. I feel so much more comfortable that I did during Meltdown. On that album I felt more like I am a machine. I just wanted to sing well and say the same things. Now I just feel like myself.

METALLIAN: I guess the CD is sort of an audio version of the DVD you released last year then? Obviously the DVD has more, but is that it or not?
RIPPER: It is. Well the thing is that when we recorded the DVD we knew we were doing it at this time schedule. At first we weren't planning to do a live CD, but we liked the quality and we liked the DVD so much and we knew there would be more material. What you get on the DVD is the extras. You get backstage, you get sound check, you get all that stuff like interviews. What you get with the CD is extra songs and all the talking between the songs, you get the whole concert in a nutshell. The CD was obviously recorded in stereo and the DVD was recorded in surround sound so it gives everybody what they want.

METALLIAN: What about the choice of London? Was it a natural choice to record the CD there?
RIPPER: Yeah, it was kind of. It was like a little Christmas show. It was the nineteenth of December and it was just one of those things that we were flying in from Japan. We had just toured Australia and Japan and we just decided to have a show in London. Saxon opened up the show and we just decided to make a Christmas performance to go out that year with that show. It was a two and a half hour show and naming it was the hard part. We had to figure out what to name it! We didn't want to make it something…we just wanted to make it a basic…that's what it boiled down to and it was live in London!

METALLIAN: Switching gears a bit I wanted to ask you about some rumours about Judas Priest. The first one that has been making the rounds, and you even had to mention it on your site in order to officially dispel the rumour, is about your being out and former singer Rob Halford coming back for a reunion. Is there anything you would like to say about that?
RIPPER: It's just a rumour. It's exactly that just rumours. I am the lead singer of the band and Rob's out touring right now and doing Halford. We are taking some time off and are all right now at home writing. Everybody is writing separately. We are all writing and putting stuff down and we are going to get together later. It's just rumours. People start rumours every single day and its unbelievable really want some people think up. That's what it is. I am still the singer and that's the only thing we had on the site right now.

METALLIAN: Why did you think this rumour was bad or big enough to deserve a mention on your site?
RIPPER: Well it started running wild you know. I mean you have Scott (drummer) saying something…and I think that's what fueled the fire. The problem is that one doesn't take Scott seriously and somebody did. Scott got somebody all worked up. I don't know if Scott had had a few pints or whatever and was out just talking. He was probably in a conversation with somebody and said something that might have sounded serious but he was saying that on purpose just to get somebody - and it worked. Unfortunately Scott had not realized that the person either had a tape recorder or he didn't think the guy would take him seriously. I mean you can't take Scott seriously and unfortunately somebody has and they have run with the story. We didn't talk too much about it on our page. We just made the point clear. That is, listen it is not true. That is what we said.

METALLIAN: You mentioned that you are sitting around separately and writing. One of the rumours that is going around is how the guys in the band want to go in different directions musically. For example, you want the sound to be more traditional and some want it more modern.
RIPPER: I haven't heard that one yet. Everybody has their own ideas obviously, but the good thing about Judas Priest is that you mould a record around that. Judas Priest has always changed and every record has been different. I think all we want to do is just all put ideas together and then put our heads together and write a record. We are not exactly sure what it is going to be right now. We'll find out when we all get together and put it down, but we are writing riffs every day. We don't have a timeline or anything as we are just trying to start writing at the moment.

METALLIAN: So there is no timeline for releasing a studio album?
RIPPER: There is no timeline. What happens when you put a timeline on it is that you miss it anyway. So if we said we are going to put it out on a certain date you would know we would never make it by then anyway. So you might as well not set a date!

METALLIAN: What about any planned tours or shows which might be on your agenda?
RIPPER: As far as I know we don't have any lined up now, but boy I would tour in a heartbeat. I love to tour. I wish we would have a summer tour, I wish we would have some summer dates, maybe some festivals or something or even to get on some kind of a package - I would love to do Ozzfest. I would love to do a lot of stuff, but that's not in our plans right now as we are just trying to write. If the guys called me right now and said 'Tim it's time to go on the road' I would pack my bags and go. I love touring.

METALLIAN: Let us change subjects. What would you consider as your favorite Priest record from the period before you were in the band?
RIPPER: I loved Sad Wings of Destiny, I loved Screaming For Vengeance, the classic songs on there… Painkiller was a fine shot in the butt for the band. It was a great record. It had so much balls and substance to it.

METALLIAN: What about the comparisons made between the albums you have sung on and the older ones? For example, Painkiller versus Jugulator or Demolition?
RIPPER: I just think, to tell the truth, the band with me is undergoing the natural progression of a band with a new singer. There is a little bit more low end, a little bit more of a versatile voice and maybe a little bit of a wider range now. I sing a lot more in character. The thing people have to realize is that Judas Priest musically do what they did anyway. They are not going to change, but there was seven years without a Judas Priest record so you really didn't see that transition into Jugulator. Obviously Painkiller was a pretty fast and heavy record so there was seven years before another album cam out and it was a natural progression for the band then. I think that what Judas Priest does now is exactly what I would want them to do. I think Demolition is a lot like when they released Sad Wings Of Destiny which was a very versatile record with pianos and odd harmonies and really about songs. It was a different thing that was going on with that album and Demolition did the same thing and threw people for a loop. The more you listen to Demolition the better it is. It has a lot of melodies and that is just why it reminds me of Sad Wings Of Destiny. There are a couple of slow songs, there are songs about characters and I think it's a classical Judas Priest record.

METALLIAN: Keeping in mind that you mentioned how you can't know what the other guys are writing, would you say that people should expect the same kind of progression you just mentioned to be heard on the next album?
RIPPER: You know I haven't a clue! The stuff I am writing now isn't as intricate and is probably more straightforward (than the stuff on Demolition). I am a big verse, chorus, verse, chorus, solo, verse, chorus type of a guy. I like an album like a British Steel type of a record, but those guys are the masters at writing music. Glen and Ken are just masters at it. They have done it for years and you don't ever know what to expect. I mean when you look at it, the only two records that were even similar were Screaming For Vengeance and Defenders Of The Faith. Every other one was different from its predecessor. Even when we start working on the next album together we start going and going and going and who knows what comes out of it!

METALLIAN: You are referring to how the band went from releasing Defenders to Turbo then to Ram It Down which are three different records completely…
RIPPER: They were, I think you listen to the music from the '80s compared to music from the '70s and they were different. When people say that our music is different now, it was almost the year 2000 when we released another record and things change. You don't use the same recording equipment that you used to. You have to progress or you might as well just crawl under a rock and die, but you know you still have to be true to your metal roots and your metal form. I think that's what Judas Priest does. We still stay true. My favourite bands are metal. I am a big fan of Dio, Anthrax, Iron Maiden and Savatage, but I am also a fan of Godsmack and other stuff. Still I am a true blue hard rock /heavy metal fan. That shows in our material I believe.

METALLIAN: Please talk about the several-year time gap between Jugulator and Demolition.
RIPPER: The thing about Jugulator was that we released Jugulator and then toured all the world. We released a live record and supported that a little bit and we underwent some changes and then we got done at the end of '98. Then we changed record labels and had personal stuff happen in the band. Glen's dad passed away, et cetra. So when you go from 1997 to 1998 then you are hoping 1999 is gonna be it. Well then 1999 passes and 2000 comes around and so it's really hard because you have to spend a long time looking for a record label and making sure things are right, making sure that your health's right, your family is fine and this time we are trying to work a little bit quicker. I mean we just finished touring in early September so we had to take rest of the year off. We are going to try to start to get the ball rolling now.

METALLIAN: I recall that a couple of years there was another story about Judas Priest having to send a demo to the label and there had to be some sort of approval process for it.
RIPPER: That was silly. You just don't do that. You finish your record and you give it to the label and they put it out. Judas Priest aren't kids. That was a silly rumour.

METALLIAN: The off times that you have between albums, do you ever pay attention to what people think of your latest album, that is if you see reviews or…
RIPPER: I definitely do you know. I can tell when I read reviews whether somebody has actually given the album a chance or they haven't. People might listen to it once or not at all. I mean there are people that reviewed the last record that said it had no melody and I am thinking the thing was absolutely chock block full of melody I mean there were two slow songs on there so some people just didn't listen to it, or some people might have listened to it once and didn't give it a chance. And that's definitely a record that you have listen to more than once. That's what good records do. I think, the more you listen to them the better it gets. My brother told me he now likes really heavy music and he loved Jugulator. He listens to Propain or whatever, this was a surprise, and he liked Demolition better! I was surprised because he likes heavy music and Jugulator was heavier, but Demolition has more to it. It has got so many layers and you can just take the layers off and there are slow songs, heavy songs and other stuff. I have read a few reviews where they definitely didn't give it a chance or perhaps they just don't like us. I say screw them! You just read the stuff. I read funny stuff on the computer everyday so it doesn't bother me.

METALLIAN: What do you think of heavy metal in general as it applies to Judas Priest as well? The '80s were the climax of its popularity, but now you like many bands have to depend on smaller or non-major labels to distribute and release albums.
RIPPER: I think music now is in a real crappy state. Not hard rock though, I think hard rock/heavy metal is still good. I myself don't mind bands like Disturbed and Godsmack because I think they still have a lot of roots from Priest and Pantera. I like Drowning Pool but other than that the newer hard rock bands' music is in a crappy state. These manufactured rock bands that they make, I am not a big fan of. A lot of this crappy stuff, you go see a band at Ozzfest, I saw a couple of years back and I saw Ozzy, Pantera and Godsmack before them and those three bands in a row I'd like yes, there were awesome sounding, it was cool and then you had somebody else go up there and they are just jumping up and down. It's a manufactured band. They don't have manufactured kids' bands anymore or manufactured pop/rock boy bands. It's manufactured hard rock bands…they are around for an album, they sell two million copies and then you never hear from them. But you can continue to go see Dio and Priest and Maiden and you still have Anthrax, Metallica, Ozzfest and then the true ones like Godsmack are getting ready to release their third record and the first two did damn well. If you like them or not at least they had guitar solos, at least they'd played heavy chords, at least the singer has some balls to his voice! I do like to still listen to my Savatage albums and I still put on The Who.

METALLIAN: What do you think of the past few years where many bands that were around in the 80s and were off for some 10-15 years and many of them are making sort of a comeback, touring and releasing albums?
RIPPER: I think its great you know, some of these bands like you mean Ratt, Dokken, Warrant?

METALLIAN: Yes.
RIPPER: It's great, its fun, it's a good time. It brings back some memories, I remember seeing Dokken open for Priest. Its great, its fun, you get LA Guns that were out there, Firehouse whoever. I didn't get to see some of them in the 80s but I got to see them now, I was checking out Saxon and Dio and stuff. I am a big Anthrax fan too.

METALLIAN: Do you see the renewed interest for these bands, what do you feel is the reason for all the comebacks, why now?
RIPPER: I have no clue, they sold a lot of records, a lot of those bands' first albums sold a lot records so obviously there was interest in them, might have been for a year could have been for ten years you know obviously Dokken were a huge band, Warrant was a huge band for the first record, or so two records I am not sure, but Dokken could always tour, not a question, you know night clubs or small theaters they were always gonna be able to do it. There is always gonna be some sort of interest, you always wanna go out and do something.

METALLIAN: Anything you'd like to end the interview with or say to Judas Priest fans?
RIPPER: I say that you go out, don't download my new stuff here don't be burning the crap, go buy it. Get demolition and listen to it and I say Hell is Home and Feed On Me there is just some killer, One On One is my favorite. Get the live DVD, funny stuff on there. I think I show my ass on there but its funny. It shows how much fun we have and get the live CD, it's 2 and a half hours of Heavy Metal, in your face Heavy Metal, we had a lot fun doing it and that's why we put it out.

METALLIAN: Before I let you go, you touched on the CD burning issue, what' s your opinion, where do you stand?
RIPPER: Don't like it. I like it if you can burn a song or two songs off of a CD to see if you like it, but nobody works for free do they? And that's how artists do make their money and if you have an artist that sells 10 million copies well burn 20, 30, 40, 50 thousand CDs ain't gonna kill them. If you have an artist that sell 100 or 200 thousand copies and you burn 50, 60, 70 thousand it kills you, man. People don't work for free so they gotta come up with a system where people can hear the stuff and not burn it or burn one or two songs and that's it. And if they do it I will come to their house and kill them and write a song about them.

Judas Priest's Live In London CD is now available worldwide.