JUDAS PRIEST: New Audio Interview With IAN HILL

David Garlow of the Syracuse Local Music Examiner recently conducted an interview with bassist Ian Hill of British heavy metal legends JUDAS PRIEST. You can now listen to the chat in the YouTube clip below.

As previously reported, JUDAS PRIEST singer Rob Halford, other PRIEST members, and the band's management team are being sued for breach of contract by Rob's longtime manager John Baxter to the tune of around $50 million. Rolling Stone reported that Baxter's suit which can be found as a PDF document at this location alleges "fraud, breach of contract, and intentional interference with contractual relations." Shortly after Halford fired Baxter in August, Baxter claims that he realized that the PRIEST frontman owes him millions due to "contract breaches, including failure to pay commissions, salary and expenses dating back to 1992." He says that Halford misled him by saying that he was unable to pay Baxter the monies owed him but promised to do so when he had the money at hand.

Baxter was fired on August 9 by a letter from a U.K. law firm stating, in part, "It has become clear over recent weeks that the relationships between our parties has run its course and that you are not acting in our clients' best interests. . . (Your actions have) placed an intolerable strain upon our clients' ability to maintain constructive and professional relations with the remaining members of JUDAS PRIEST and their representatives at this crucial time."

Baxter's lawyer Barry K. Rothman told Rolling Stone: "It was wrongful termination because there's no basis to have terminated. They have their own agenda. Baxter has been managing (Halford) for decades. JUDAS PRIEST was coming to an end and the JUDAS PRIEST people wanted to engage Halford in his solo endeavor and to continue to have a relationship with him which was not possible with Baxter in the middle. There's a whole reason why this all of the sudden abruptly came to an end."

Rob Halford told The Pulse Of Radio a while back that PRIEST wouldn't have sustained such a lengthy career without the support of their fans. "It's an ongoing metal love affair that's been solid and kept us going and motivated, quite frankly," he said. "Bands don't exist without the people that support them, and so it is with PRIEST, you know? Without our fans we're nothing, so we love our fans dearly, and we do as much as we can to keep that bond strong and solid."