HALFORD: 'We Still Have All The Passion, Energy And Drive As We Did Three Decades Ago'

Arielle Castillo of the Miami New Times recently conducted an interview with JUDAS PRIEST frontman Rob Halford. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

Miami New Times: When you decided to [play "British Steel" in its entirety on the current tour], did you worry that playing one album in order would eliminate some element of surprise for the audience?

Halford: It's impossible to have a complete surprise now, isn't it? Unfortunately, that's the way of the world. Everybody's Twittering while they eat their lunch and while they're sitting in the movie theater, so it's a shame really. But I also wouldn't deny the excitement that this kind of instant connection can create. Because you know, no matter how you explain to a fan that you've seen the pre-show, or seen clips from YouTube or whatever, you can't really fully understand or experience the true moment until you're there in person. It's like watching a movie of the Grand Canyon. It's great, but you cannot understand what it means until you are standing at the rim staring at the vastness. I think that's true of this particular show. But I agree with you, you know. When the Internet was going mainstream, we discussed that. Because coming from that time of our life, there was the excitement of, "Oh, there's a new LP coming from PRIEST!" You'd put the vinyl on your turntable, and that was the only way you could experience it. You couldn't snag it off the Internet or get an illegal download or a video clip. So there was a mystery of how [a band] would do it onstage. And to a certain extent, that's gone now. But it's today's world, you have to accept it. It's all about living in the moment, and the only way you can live in the moment for a PRIEST show is to come and see us.

Miami New Times: Why did you choose to film your live DVD at the date here in South Florida? Was it just a scheduling thing?

Halford: It's a combination of a lot of things. We've been coming back and forth to Florida since the early '80s. We made two or three records in Miami at Bayshore Sound, which is no longer there. So we spent many years in the Miami area, especially in Coconut Grove and Key Biscayne, so we have many memories from South Florida. The fans are crazy down there -- the metal heads go insane.

Miami New Times: Really? You find that South Florida metal audiences in particular are really that crazy?

Halford: There's just a very special feeling from the Florida metal heads that we want to capture. So here's a chance for all the Florida metal heads to become famous, because the cameras will be pointing on them throughout the night, as well as on the band. We're very excited that we're going to be making this film, this full show in Hollywood.

Miami New Times: Between working on your last studio album, "Nostradamus", which seemed like such an epic project, and celebrating "British Steel", have you had a chance at all to think about writing new material for the future?

Halford: We don't really.... Here's the deal. At the end of this tour, which finishes when we come back from Japan in October, we'll have been touring the world for 18 months. We will have traveled hundreds of thousands of miles, and we'll have just gotten back to our respective homes, and we'll stop moving. And then we'll take a break through the holiday season. And then one of us will pick up the phone, probably the writers of the band, Glenn [Tipton] and Ken [K.K. Downing] and myself — to say, "Hey what's going on? Should we start making some more metal?" And that'll be the plan from next year. But I don't know when that's all going to take place. The thing is that we love what we do, and we still have all the passion and the energy and the drive as we did three decades ago. This is our life! We make these wonderful records, tour the world, and then take a little bit of a break. That's built into our system. Come January, we'll start to feel edgy and antsy. So [working on new material will] happen next year. We don't know what it's going to be, what it's going to sound like. Being in PRIEST is very real, it's not pre-programmed or anything. But it's wonderful to think that at some point there will be a new JUDAS PRIEST record.

Read the entire interview from Miami New Times.

Quality fan-filmed video footage of JUDAS PRIEST's August 10, 2009 performance at Sandia Casino in Albuquerque, New Mexico can be viewed below (courtesy of "rezbot").