JUDAS PRIEST Singer: 'Everybody Is Very Passionate About Everything That We've Ever Done'

An audio interview with JUDAS PRIEST singer Rob Halford conducted by Mark Carras of RockMyMonkey.com on Saturday, January 26 is available for download at this location. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow:

Rock My Monkey: How is the work on the new "Nostradamus" metal opera going, and are you finished yet?

Rob Halford: We're in the mixing stage now. We're in those final moments. But it's still very, very important, because a mix can quite easily make or break a situation. So we're in that mad world of mixing and getting all the levels right, and all the engineering aspects of all of the enormous amounts of information that we've got stored, making sense of it all and making it sound wonderful. We're on a good time plan for release sometime this year. We don't have an exact release date just yet. We're working along with our label, Sony BMG, to coordinate the best launch. For any band, for any major, global band, you need an enormous amount of setup, a huge team of people around the world, to give it the right kickoff, so to speak. So when we do get the official release date, we'll more than likely post that on the PRIEST website. But yeah, we're in those final moments, and we can't wait to release it to the PRIEST fans around the world, and get back out on the road again touring, which is something that we've been looking forward to since we even came off. We love to get on the road and play our metal and get in front of our fans around the world.

Rock My Monkey: Now one of my favorite JUDAS PRIEST tracks of all time is the title cut from the "Painkiller" CD. I was kind of bummed that there wasn't any full on assault track like that on "Angel Of Retribution". Will there be any of that on "Nostradamus", or will it stick to the more classic JUDAS PRIEST style that you had on "Angel Of Retribution"?

Rob Halford: Well, I think, you know, I think it's always important to remember that the PRIEST in all of the years that we've been together, we've been very determined to give each record its own definition, and identity. As you know, we're into double digits now since "Rocka Rolla" all the way through to "Angel Of Retribution", all the hundreds and hundreds of songs that we've released, you know. I guess the other thing is in terms of what we try to stand for is that we really avoid repetition. And that's an easy thing to fall into when you have a commercially successful record in terms of record sales and recognition, as "Painkiller" was for us. But, I mean, you listen to "Angel Of Retribution", and I think it's a very powerful, strong record, with a lot of the great elements that we all love about JUDAS PRIEST. So, you know, I think your feelings are one that would be expressed by millions of PRIEST fans around the world, you know. Everybody is very passionate about everything that we've ever done. There's always an eagerness to maybe refocus on some of your favorite moments. But we just leave that there. It's in the great breadth of things that we've achieved in that three decades plus of making heavy metal. We're just excited now to be focused on the present endeavor of "Nostradamus".

Rock My Monkey: When will we get a full HALFORD or FIGHT tour, or even a full CD of new material?

Rob Halford: Well, again, I have to take care of the main situation, which is the band that I love more than anything in the world, JUDAS PRIEST. As you know, I was away from that band for a very long time. It was just an absolute joy for me to be back in the band, back with my band mates who have been a part of my life. We've been a part of each other's lives for over thirty years. And so, yeah, "Nostradamus" needs to be released, and a tour to support that moment has to take place first. I'm hoping at some point after that that we might be able to get out some fresh HALFORD material. We did put a couple of tracks on "Metal God Essentials, Volume 1". "Forgotten Generation" and "Drop Out" were a couple of relatively new HALFORD tunes. That was just to send a signal that the HALFORD band, even though we're all busy in our endeavors, in our own separate ways. Roy Z is always incredibly busy with different projects, as is Mike D, our bass player. Metal Mike and Bobby, our drummer, are together with the PAINMUSEUM project, and they've always done work with Sebastian Bach and some other people. So you know, at the end of the day we're all working, we're all making metal, and that's the best thing for everybody.

Rock My Monkey: Now, on the DVD I hear that you chose not to have the song, "Vicious", because of pressure from Wal-Mart. Is this true, and is there an uncensored version fans can buy from your website?

Rob Halford: Well, this is an interesting situation to talk about, because, of course, firstly, I have to say that I've always been a strong believer in this First Amendment thing in The States, you know, freedom of speech. And I'm against all forms of censorship. I think that guidelines are important, you know, with some kind of rating system for movies or video games, whatever. I think that's just common sense. But equally you look at each position as it presents itself. The recording industry has been turned upside down, as you're well aware, and I'm sure all of the listeners are aware in the recent years with the colossal way that the internet has really dramatically changed the recording industry in every aspect, from music videos, etcetera. And it's increasingly difficult to find outlets for your music in the physical CD/DVD sense. So you're limited more and more these days, and you have to look at some of the conditions that are set by what we call the "big box" stores, whether it's Best Buy, Wal-Mart, Target, whatever. And they have their own policies, and one of them is in reference to this particular track. So it would have been stupid for me to have turned my back on the opportunities for the fans to get this material from some of these places just over the situation of one song. So we made the necessary adjustments and of course, if you do want to pick up that particular track you can quite easily do that by going to HalfordMusic.com, which is a sub-site of RobHalford.com. So yeah, you know, it's all about compromise. You don't get anywhere in life without sitting down and discussing things through and coming to some kind of resolve. And I think I, I think what I did, and the people that work for me did a great job.

Rock My Monkey: Do you have any thoughts concerning how Tim Owens got dismissed by ICED EARTH to bring back the original vocalist in essentially the same way that JUDAS PRIEST let Tim go to allow you to return?

Rob Halford: Well, Tim, first and foremost, was and still is a huge PRIEST fan. And he's a fantastic guy. He was as excited as the millions of PRIEST fans were around the world when the rumblings of a reunion were taking place, and he was the first to say "Rob needs to come back, Rob's the singer for PRIEST. I've had a wonderful time living my dream with PRIEST after coming from a PRIEST tribute band to actually be in that band and front that band on a couple of records and world tours." He's a very cool guy, very humble guy. He welcomed that moment to become real. Yeah, I mean, it is unfortunate that he's just gone into the same cycle again. I think he's resilient enough and realistic enough and determined enough not to let this interfere with his great career. He's got his band BEYOND FEAR, and there you go, you know. I think when the opportunity came for him to do what he did for ICED EARTH, he just ran to it because, again, he's attached to that band and that style of music and performance. He's a wonderful singer. I wish him all the best for the metal future.

Read the entire interview at www.rockmymonkey.com.

Rob Halford talking to Metal Hammer TV: