JUDAS PRIEST's HALFORD Can't Wait To Put On Costumes And Makeup For 'Nostradamus' Tour

A 10-minute Japanese TV interview with JUDAS PRIEST members Rob Halford (vocals) and Glenn Tipton (guitar) can be viewed below. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow.

Halford on the new JUDAS PRIEST album "Nostradamus":

"That's what all of us love about 'Nostradamus' — it seems as that though everything that we've been doing in metal since we began from our first recording, 'Rocka Rolla', everything's been leading up to this moment, all of the experiences of writing, of performing on stage, of recording, everything has led us, given us all the ability to come to this point. We were also always thinking about the time when we will be able to go out on tour and play 'Nostradamus' in its entirety, play the whole record, so we're always thinking about that. Especially when I'm singing and when I'm writing lyrics, I can imagine the stage set, I can imagine the costume I'm gonna wear, I can imagine the lighting effect. That's just part of the theater of JUDAS PRIEST; it's very unique to the world of JUDAS PRIEST metal. I think we wanted to maybe, not exaggerate, but amplify that type of thing. That's what I like about the last track on 'Angel of Retribution' — 'Loch Ness' is almost like leading into 'Nostradamus'. The drama of 'Loch Ness', telling a story and… It's as though even before [JUDAS PRIEST manager] Bill Curbishley told us that this would be a good possibility, a 'Nostradamus' concept record, we'd already experienced a little bit of something with 'Loch Ness'. It's really strange, the connection."

"You go into character, because when he was in exile, you try to imagine, how would this feel? To have to leave your house, to have to go into the valleys and the fields, be totally alone. How would you feel? So you try to put that emotion into the performance. And the same for Messenger of Death — you assume the cloak, the character of what death represents; 'Conquest', it's joyous, it's uplifting, it should be sung with a lot of feeling of victory, feeling of success. I think I've always tried to do that in my lyrics, but I love it. I love being the painkiller, I love being the ripper, I love being the sentinel — for me, it's just part of a different way that I can use my voice to express myself. And I think that's just another extension of my love of movies, of theater. I mean, if I'm in Japan, I'm watching kabuki on TV and all these types of theatrical expressions. You just have to think about the feeling of where would your emotional level be at this point — the feeling of 'Pestilence and Plague', which is very sad; 'Lost Love' — very, very plaintive, sincere feelings; the final song, where he's about to pass over, even though he's becoming very old and very fragile and very frail and very weak, he still has strength to give his last explanation of, 'You'll remember me when I'm gone,' and 'Make what you will of my prophecies.' It's wonderful for me — I mean, I just love it. It's the perfect role for me as a singer, and I can't wait to get out on stage and put on the cosumes and the makeup and take on that role. I love doing that. That's just part of what makes me love my life in metal as the singer for JUDAS PRIEST. I can only do it in JUDAS PRIEST. [Laughs]"