JUDAS PRIEST Guitarist: 'Our Next Album Will Be Just As Important As Our First Album'

FLmetal.com recently conducted an interview with guitarist Glenn Tipton of British heavy metal legends JUDAS PRIEST. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

FLmetal.com: Let me ask you about your guitar setup. I know you have the Hamer guitars, and you have one favorite guitar that you play a lot. Are there any other "toys" that you have discovered lately that other guitarists should know about?

Glenn: It's funny, because I'm just updating my web page and there is quite a bit of information really on all the guitars that I have of interest and how I use them. So you will be able to go on there in the next few weeks to answer a lot of questions. Guitars are a tool for me, both on and off stage and in the studio. You know, whatever it takes to achieve the right sound. I've got some favorite guitars — I've got an old '61 Strat an ivory colored 335, all of which I have actually used on albums. I've designed a guitar myself which is a John Dickens guitar which is called "X-guitar" and were going to perhaps do some commemorative models and signature models to get out there. That will be next year, but that's really interesting, you know, I'm looking forward to that. Other than that, I have a series of guitars I use at home and in the studio, telecasters, strats, some old 12-string guitars as well that sort of write the songs for you. I've got all sorts of guitars around, but they are all there for one reason, to achieve different songs in and out of the studio.

FLmetal.com: When you are in the studio, how much emphasis do you put on your guitar sound, I imagine quite a bit. Usually how long does it take, and how many configurations do you use before you actually find the sound that you are looking for?

Glenn: Well, you can't say how long it takes, that would be an impossible question to answer because sometimes you get the guitar sound and it just works, or you go into the studio and it just works, and other times it just doesn't work. There's times where it sounds great in the studio and total crap in the control room. Other times it sound crap in the studio and great in the control room. Sometimes we spend days trying to achieve guitar sounds. I'm like a mad professor with them in the studio, with clusters of mics around the cab, ambient mics, taking the backs of of cabs. I still experiment and try all different ways to try and get the guitar sound from the studio into the control room to sound right. So I'll try anything, but time-wise it can be an immediately successful sound to a couple of days of horrific experimentation before you get close to the sound you want.

FLmetal.com: After a nearly 40-year career, you've accomplished quite a bit. Is there anything left that you are still looking to achieve? For instance, you guys should be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Glenn: That's up to the guys to vote us in, I'm never quite sure who that is. I think PRIEST deserve a place in there, so there you go. It either will be or it won't be, it's not the end of the world. There's always something to achieve. Our next album will be just as important as our first album; we base a lot of importance on our albums and compositions. You always look to the future, and there's always things to achieve. We're not quite there yet, there's always things to [do] achievement-wise, there's always something else to tuck under the belt.

The entire interview is available in text and audio format at FLmetal.com.