JUDAS PRIEST Bassist: 'The Future's Pretty Rosy'

Mark Uricheck of NEPAtoday recently conducted an interview with JUDAS PRIEST bassist Ian Hill. A couple of excerpts from the conversation follow:

NEPAtoday: When the band was recording this new record, or any of your records for that matter, do you have the classic JUDAS PRIEST sound in the back of your minds?

Ian Hill: "It's something that pretty much comes naturally to us. I mean, obviously Ken [Downing] and Glenn [Tipton] spent a lot of time on their guitar sound, and I spent a lot of time on bass sound, same with drum sounds or whatever, you know. Generally speaking, the combined sound comes out JUDAS PRIEST. It's like a chemistry; you put the same chemicals together and you come out with the same result. So yeah, we'd probably be worried if it didn't sound like JUDAS PRIEST. There's no actual conscious effort that has to be put into it to make it sound that way."

NEPAtoday: I understand you filmed the show in Birmingham, England for a live DVD. How did that go?

Ian Hill: "The filming went great. I'm not sure what the ending result is going to look like! (laughs) But they took a hell of a lot of footage. That's in the works now though; they're still playing with that."

NEPAtoday: It seems now that there's a new generation of fans coming to your shows. How do you feel about the legacy of the band?

Ian Hill: "That just about sums it up — the legacy of the band, and a whole new generation of fans coming through; which is great news. It's not just with us, but with heavy metal in general. It looks like the future's pretty rosy, you know. I think the legacy of JUDAS PRIEST is that we continue to play the traditional metal, where up until very recently up and coming bands have sort of fragmented. They've been, you know, speed bands, gothic bands, death metal bands. They've fragmented in all these little directions, which is a shame because all the versatility went out of it for a while there. Heavy metal is all of those things and more. That's something we've tried to address on the new album; the facets of heavy metal JUDAS PRIEST have been involved with over the years. It covers a hell of a lot of ground — fast, slow, commercial. You name it, there's a little bit of everything on there. There's a little bit of everything in there for anybody."

NEPAtoday: Would it be fair to say that what's kept you audience over the years is that you've never been afraid to push the limits of your signature sound?

Ian Hill: "Yeah, you're widening your fan base. The more versatile you are, obviously you're going to please a lot more people with different tastes. And of course, the people that only like one facet of our music, maybe they'll get into the other stuff as well. So yeah, I think it's important to be versatile as well. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with those kinds of bands, but too much of a certain thing tends to make it a bit commonplace. I think variety now is something we should do, especially for the old fans who are turning up."

NEPAtoday: Would it be safe to say that not recording or touring with Rob [Halford] for so long, then starting up again has recharged the band?

Ian Hill: "That's very fair to say that. At the end of the 'Painkiller' tour (1991) we were very, very tired you know. We spent a long time, decades even, out on tour with very little time off. And I think everybody was pretty low anyway at the end of that tour. I think everybody was looking forward to a good couple of years off anyway. Then of course after all this time Rob comes back with the band, the sound and the freshness is all back again. It was probably lacking before, but it's all there now. It's like a rebirth of the band, it's a great time for us."

Read Ian Hill's entire interview with NEPAtoday at this location.