Frank De Blase of the Rochester City News reports:
Legendary heavy metal band Judas Priest will be celebrating the 30th anniversary of its album "British Steel" by playing it live in its entirety as part of the band's current tour. Hits off the album like "Living After Midnight" and "Breaking The Law" put Priest on the metal map, and heavy metal into pop culture.
At the forefront of the band's guitar onslaught is its singer Rob Halford, who at 57 still posses a staggering , almost four-octave vocal range. He could have shouted the answers to this interview across the Atlantic, but opted to call instead. An edited transcript follows:
CITY: How have you maintained your voice and vocal range for 30 years?
Rob Halford: I always say there are no lotions, potions, or incantations. Besides that, I think it's a gift. I'm blessed. The longer I live the more I want to stay metal, and that means taking care of yourself. I'm a 57-year-old metal head. I don't do anything. I don't smoke, I don't drink. I've never... well, I used to do a few spliffs here and there in the past, but who hasn't? But physically, the voice is part of your body, so you just try and do what you need to do. Besides that, you have no idea how it's going to work out. You grab the mic and you open your mouth and you pray to the lord that the right things are going to happen.
CITY: How do you explain Judas Priest's longevity?
Rob Halford: It's the music, isn't it really? It's all about the songs at the end of the day. I think it's a combination first and foremost of the songs, and then the incredible support that we have with our ongoing fanbase. If the fans weren't there what would be the point going on? The fans drive us. They're the constant inspiration for Priest. And here we are in our 30-somethingth year of making metal, and we're still this global act that has to go out on these treks that take almost two years to complete.
CITY: When did you first become aware of your legendary status and impact?
Rob Halford: When people started saying that... I guess it's just part of our British reserve, but you never think about yourself in that manner until somebody goes "living legends Judas Priest will be blah, blah, blah." And you go, "What did they call us?" I think it's just a real nice way of recognizing the input and the effort that we've made over the years. We love what we do. We don't really complicate it that much, we just put our heart and soul into it, give our best, and then it's in the lap of the gods.
CITY: Before it was tagged metal, what was it? Where did it come from?
Rob Halford: In terms of Priest, I would say that we were taking the first steps musically into what became known as metal. The progression into the real metal-defining sound and experience came out of the electric progressive blues rock stuff that was going on with bands like Yes and Rush, you know, the heavier stuff. But then again, you had what was happening with Zeppelin. I think [Tony] Iommi nailed it when he made that first Black Sabbath album. And Priest was already in that territory. Although I think our metal has always been a little bit more diverse and a bit more widespread. It's definitely fair to say Priest was there pretty much from day one in what we now know as the heavy metal world.
CITY: Did the hoopla created by the Parents Music Resource Center actually help spread the metal word?
Rob Halford: Well I suppose it did, didn't it? Whenever there's controversy about any issue it becomes under the spotlight. So I would imagine that was one of the spin-offs from that very silly, politically motivated attack. Although I've always been a proponent of free speech, First Amendment rights, I love America, I've spent most of my life in the States, I understood the need for information in terms of what ended up being the stickers on CDs, no different than going to the movies, R-rated, PG, or whatever. But the rhetoric about it was mad. It was essentially contesting First Amendment rights. It was all about the language, it wasn't about the music.
CITY: It was all being misinterpreted by squares.
Rob Halford: When Dee [Snider from Twisted Sister] walked into that Senate hearing they thought he was from Mars -- or from Hell. They didn't have a clue what the scene was about, and Dee was very articulate. It was silly, but I agree, it introduced metal to a lot of people. So some good came out of it.
CITY: Was Priest's Ripper Owens period still Priest, or a band in neutral waiting for your return?
Rob Halford: You could say the same thing when Bruce [Dickerson] was away from Iron Maiden, or Vince [Neil] was away from Motley Crue; it was still the band, it just didn't have all the wheels on the vehicle. That's not insulting, that's just... I would never want this misconstrued as a bitch-slap, because Tim [Owens] is a great friend of mine, and he did wonderful things for Priest. Priest was still Priest. Priest was still going ahead. Thankfully it's all roaring on eight cylinders now.
CITY: Why a concept album now?
Rob Halford: It's a long story. Just mentioning those couple bands, Yes and Rush ...we'd always been fans of those kinds of bands, and they were making similar types of things in terms of conceptual recordings. So we said if ever there was an opportunity to do something like that -- the right platform, the right idea --- then we would venture into it. And that's what happened. We found "Nostradamus," or we say "Nostradamus" found us. It's a very unusual record, a little bit controversial for some people. I think it's one of those recordings that'll stand the test of time and suddenly people will go "Oh, now I get it." When "Painkiller" first came out, that ruffled a few feathers, bizarrely enough. And now it's one of the most loved recordings Priest has ever made. So I think "Nostradamus" has a long way to go and when we get around to performing it --- which is our full intent next year --- that's when it'll be made even more connected with our fans.
CITY: Is it harder to record a concept record or piece together 12 separate tunes? Or are they all concept records in one way or another?
Rob Halford: Yeah, they are, aren't they? We're coming up to see you guys, and we're playing all of "British Steel." That wasn't a concept record, but it's got that kind of continuity. You could say the same thing about "Led Zeppelin II," or the first Sabbath album, or The Beatles' "Sergeant Pepper," the way the songs collect and connect. It's got that vibe. But they're all difficult. First you try to do something you haven't done before, which is a challenge after you've written hundreds and hundreds of songs.
CITY: Without alienating the fans.
Rob Halford: Exactly. So a lot of these issues are playing in your head while you're trying to create. For my own role as a lyricist for the band, it was just a real kick to do, because I had his life already laid out in front of me. If we had done "Nostradamus" 20 years ago it would have sounded a hell of a lot different than it does now. You have to have a lot of experience under your belt to tackle something like this and do it well.
CITY: So what's the next concept brewing?
Rob Halford: There are loads of things you can throw a concept at as long as the idea is strong enough, as long as the foundation is strong enough. But I think as far as Priest's world is concerned, as we say in Britain ,"It's done and dusted." Now we need to do another one. I think the next Priest record will be another exciting moment for the band. I haven't a clue what it will sound like. My instinct tells me it'll be a real strong heavy metal record.
CITY: Are Priest fans willing to grow with you?
Rob Halford: That's the passion isn't it really? We're like your football team, really. Sometimes they change players, but it's still your team and you stick with them. They're still rooting for us. They still love us to death.
