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AL ATKINS: I Wanted To, But Couldn't, Get Away From The Name JUDAS PRIEST

July 3, 2009

Express & Star recently conducted an interview with original JUDAS PRIEST singer Allan Atkins. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow.

On his 1973 split with JUDAS PRIEST:

"I was the only one in the group married and with a child, but money was a struggle. We had signed a recording contract and were playing with groups such as BLACK SABBATH, STATUS QUO, SUPERTRAMP and THIN LIZZY. We were getting bigger, but so were our overheads and we were not making any money — some of the band members were not eating much as they couldn't afford the food. In 1972 JUDAS PRIEST did 150 gigs around the country, but we didn’t take any money home. Also travelling all over the country meant I hardly got to see my family and any spare time we did have was taken up with doing photos and rehearsing. I was replaced on vocals by Rob Halford, who is now called the Metal God, and I got a job at Sutton Coldfield Cost Office garage."

"At that time JUDAS PRIEST were working really hard, going into Europe and it was fantastic to see that something I had started was doing so well. They had become one of these bands that we had dreamed of being. Then their album 'British Steel' came out and they were on 'Top of the Pops' and before I knew it they were a household name."

On his new band called HOLY RAGE who will be playing at JB's in Dudley on July 25 and at the Robin 2 in Bilston on August 12:

"I had wanted to get away from the name JUDAS PRIEST and the music but somehow I couldn't as the name and its history was always at the back of my mind. To this day I will continue to buy their albums, but as a fan and not for any sort of yearning to remember the past."

Read more from Express & Star.

JUDAS PRIEST bassist Ian Hill has penned the foreword to Al Atkins's autobiography, titled "Dawn of the Metal Gods: My Life in Judas Priest and Heavy Metal". The book, which was was written with Neil Daniels — a freelance rock writer and heavy metal fan who befriended Atkins during the writing of Neil's book "The Story of Judas Priest: Defenders of the Faith" (Omnibus Press) — is available via Iron Pages.

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