JUDAS PRIEST Guitarist Vows To Keep 'Pushing Metal Forward'

David "Gus" Griesinger of Backstage Axxess recently conducted an interview with guitarist K.K. Downing of British heavy metal legends JUDAS PRIEST. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

Backstage Axxess: You guys will be playing "British Steel" in its entirety [on the upcoming tour]. Why did the band decide to play an entire album rather than play select songs from your entire catalog?

Downing: It's always difficult to put a set list together. The one good thing is at least it's a main start of a good set to play a whole album from front to back. Also, it seems very popular, now that bands are doing this sort of thing. Bands like QUEENSRŸCHE, MÖTLEY CRÜE, MAIDEN and some other bands, as well, are doing it. Everybody is loving it so we are really pumped up about it!

Backstage Axxess: JUDAS PRIEST will be releasing "A Touch of Evil" on July 14. Can you tell us about how the song selection process went for the new CD?

Downing: Yes, it was quite simply songs that were never released live before, either on DVD or CD. It runs under an hour long, I think. It seems like we are just touring the world, since Rob [Halford] has come back to the band, for the last 4 or 5 years. It's something we wanted to commemorate; some fantastic shows we had all over the world. It just seemed like a really cool thing to do. For a band that has such long career we only have done two live records, so this is the third one.

Backstage Axxess: You and guitarist Glenn Tipton have had a long lasting relationship for well over 35 years. During the creative process, who determines leads, solos, and rhythm parts of a song?

Downing: I don't know, really. I think early on, certain solos seem to suit me a little bit more and others suit Glenn. I don't know maybe intuition I guess. Sometimes we are not really sure and eventually we do a little bit of a divvy up. It's like maybe you do a solo on it then I do a solo on it, then we do a trade off solo on that. Nothing is etched in stone so we just go song by song really.

Backstage Axxess: Well that is an accomplishment to be proud of and did you ever think 40 years ago that you would still be doing it?

Downing: No, no. It's amazing. It's really a testimony to our fans. I think that's the big motivation. When we did the Metal Masters tour, we only did 18 or 19 shows in the U.S. and Canada. We were really frustrated that we didn't get to a lot of territories in the States. When you think of 50 states and we only did 18 shows and we knew that was a lot of uncovered ground. So we were determined to come back and play for the fans and not miss anyone out, if we can possibly help it. That's the main reason for putting this tour together, to be honest. We felt awkward playing to playing to the fans in the U.S. while missing people out. We said we would come back and that's why we are doing it.

Backstage Axxess: It's been a year since the release of the "Nostradamus" CD, which is a concept album. Looking back on it now, is there anything you would have done differently?

Downing: No, I can't say. It's just something we needed to get out of our system, I think. It is what it is. Putting people not in JUDAS PRIEST world but Nostradamus world about 500 years ago. That what is was all about, really. Just to portray the life and emotions and sentiments of Nostradamus. It's something that virtually everyone goes through in life. Like sadness and different things and what Americans call a roller coaster, right? (we both laugh) You hit highs and lows. You're either on way down or up but you're not at the top for very long so you enjoy those pinnacles in your life. That's my advice to everyone when they do experience them.

Backstage Axxess: What can fans expect from JUDAS PRIEST the rest of 2009 and beyond?

Downing: We have been on tour for a quite a long time so we enjoy getting out there and playing for the fans. We are really pumped out for the "British Steel" tour, because we are bringing out lots of other songs, not just the "British Steel" songs, It's gonna be rip-roaring. We have a few shows to do in Japan but then we have to see where we want to take JUDAS PRIEST from this point. One thing is for sure, we are not going to be repeating history, we are going to be pushing metal forward, as we always do.

Read the entire interview from Backstage Axxess.