JUDAS PRIEST Singer Says Internet 'Keeps Everything Alive And Vibrant And Energized'

Chad Bowar of HeavyMetal.About.com recently conducted an interview with JUDAS PRIEST frontman Rob Halford. A few excerpts from the chat follow:

HeavyMetal.About.com: What's the status of the next JUDAS PRIEST album "Nostradamus"?

Rob Halford: I'm in San Diego at the moment working on the lyrics. The guys are in the studio in England putting down all the tracks. The writing sessions have been completed and now it's time to actually record. We're on track with that and fingers crossed it will be out in the first part of 2007. We'll be doing some specialty dates to support Nostradamus, which will be performed completely from beginning to end. We've never done that before. It's our first concept album, if you want to call it that. It will be huge moment for PRIEST to play the whole album front to back. Accompanying that will be one of the biggest stage shows we've ever put together. It's going to be a tremendously exciting year for PRIEST in 2007.

HeavyMetal.About.com: Were you surprised by the overwhelming reaction of support you received when you rejoined PRIEST?

Rob Halford: We were just floored by the incredible loyalty and support that PRIEST maintains. We just flourish on that. I think it was that incredible reception and response that kept us going for 18 months of hard work all over the planet. We came off that tour exhausted and wondered what we were going to do next musically. Then Nostradamus reared his head and we thought, what a great way to follow up a very successful critically acclaimed reunion record, and rather than go and make another studio album, here's a chance for this band three decades later to show its metal in a whole new light. It's tremendously exciting for us and we can't wait to release it to the world in 2007.

HeavyMetal.About.com: A lot of your contemporaries have lost the power and range of their voice. How have you managed to maintain yours?

Rob Halford: I think metals singers are unique animals. We're still stepping up to the mic, whether it's me or Bruce Dickinson or Lemmy or Ozzy. I don't know why it is. Each of those guys that I've mentioned have special unique talents. You'd think we'd have all blown out our vocal cords by now when you consider what we've put them through. I think we're all in our golden years. If you've got a good voice, as long as you do the right things to take care of it, it keeps making the metal.

HeavyMetal.About.com: How has JUDAS PRIEST managed to be so successful for so long?

Rob Halford: We're a unique breed of musicians, those of us that came into the rock and metal world in the '70s. There was a standard of musicianship and a style of musicianship that's different than today's world. I think we always hoped that we would be in a musical environment and keep going and going. It's lasted over three decades now, and I think the proof of being able to sustain is all about the quality of work, and we're real taskmasters in PRIEST. It's to make sure what you create is as valuable in the future as it is now. For example, when you put "Sad Wings Of Destiny" on, it still rocks and roars, and it's from 1976, and that's always been important to us. We've counted our blessings that we came from that time in rock in roll that really helped us stay the course in what we do with our metal.

HeavyMetal.About.com: Unlike a lot of artists that had to be dragged kicking and screaming into the new millennium, you've always seemed to embrace new technology like the Internet and have been in the forefront of the digital age. Why do you think that is?

Rob Halford: It's remarkable. The Internet is barely a decade old. We've lived in the revolution just like people who were around when the radio or TV were invented. The Internet is just as important as those inventions were. All kinds of things were running through my mind when the Internet first surfaced, then exploded the first few years. I just knew that it would dramatically affect the entertainment world, which it has done. So you run to it and embrace it. If you don't you get left out in the parking lot. That's why we put Metal God Entertainment together and we have a very successful and active website where the fans live around the world. You really have to appreciate and understand the value of that. The first thing that I thought about is that it's amazing that a fan in Japan can speak to a fan in Nebraska about JUDAS PRIEST or HALFORD. You have to embrace it and utilize it and make it do good things. It's amazing and I love it. It keeps everything alive and vibrant and energized.

HeavyMetal.About.com: What have been some of the high points in your career?

Rob Halford: The day I became a professional musician was the most dramatic one for me, to know I could be in a profession I love. There's a phrase that if you find something to do in life that you love, you'll never work another day in your life. And I think that's the fortune that I've experienced the past three decades. It all started with that. I do count my blessings, because rock and roll is full of tragedy.

Read the entire interview at HeavyMetal.About.com.