JUDAS PRIEST's IAN HILL On Possibility Of Playing With K.K. DOWNING Again: 'I Think He's Gone A Bit Too Far For That Now'

In a new interview with Greg Prato of AllMusic, JUDAS PRIEST bassist Ian Hill was asked if he is still in touch with former PRIEST guitarist Kenneth "K.K." Downing and whether he would ever consider working with K.K. again. Ian responded: "I think he's gone a bit too far for that now. I gave him a couple of chances to basically say hello, and he blanked me. So, he ain't going to get another chance. It's a pity the way it's turned out. But things are what they are."

Downing performed with PRIEST at the 2022 Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame induction ceremony in Los Angeles.

PRIEST received the Musical Excellence Award at the November 2022 event, which honored Eminem, Dolly Parton, DURAN DURAN, Lionel Richie, Pat Benatar, EURYTHMICS and Carly Simon in the Performers category.

The JUDAS PRIEST members that got inducted include current members Hill, Rob Halford (vocals),Glenn Tipton (guitar) and Scott Travis (drums),along with former members Downing, drummer Les Binks and late drummer Dave Holland.

Halford, Hill, Tipton and Travis were joined by Binks, Downing and current guitarist Richie Faulkner for a three-song medley consisting of "You've Got Another Thing Comin'", "Breaking The Law" and "Living After Midnight".

Three weeks after the aforementioned Rock Hall induction, Hill was asked by Alamo True Metal what it was like to reunite with Downing and Binks at the ceremony. Ian responded: "The whole thing was magical. It was way different to what I thought it was gonna be. I didn't know it was gonna be such a large event, for start. It was loads of people — your paying public, if you know what I mean, not just the stars and the celebrities down at the tables in the front there. So that was a real big surprise — the actual scale of it all.

"It was a joy to do at the end of the day," he continued. "It was great to see Ken again. I hope he feels the same. [Laughs] It was very, very quick. We saw him for an hour or so on rehearsal day [two days before the induction] and then another hour or so on the show day. And then everybody went their separate ways. But it was nice to see Ken. Les, I hadn't seen Les — wow — since 1980, probably; 1979, 1980. But it was good to see him again and good to shake everybody's hand."

Speaking about the first time he saw K.K. and Les just prior to the Rock Hall rehearsals, Ian said: "I went over and said hello to Ken, said hello to Les. That's about as far as it went, really. So did Rob. Glenn, he was rather frail on the day, so he just sort of sat on the sidelines until he had to do his thing. And, of course, Richie [Faulkner, PRIEST guitarist] — Richie's gregarious; he was on the same side of the stage anyway, so he was talking to Ken a lot. But yeah, it was all very professional. It was all well done. At the end of the day, we put on a great performance, and we all got the gong, which was great news. [Laughs] "

Last September, Downing told "Rock Of Nations With Dave Kinchen And Shane McEachern" that he was particularly disappointed that fellow founding PRIEST member Hill had seemingly decided against having K.K. rejoin the group. "Honestly, the worst thing about the whole thing is that Ian has denied me the opportunity to step back into the band," he said. "I mean, we went to kindergarten together; we were like brothers. And we spent many years at the back of the bus complaining about everybody else. [Laughs] I always thought it was me and him for many years. But I just don't know how that can happen, like I say. And Rob left the band for 14 years. And when I was instrumental in inviting him back into the band. How can he deny me the opportunity to go on stage and play my songs? They're saying, 'We're gonna do it, but you can't.' Because Ian and Rob never wrote any of the music for this band."

Asked if he thinks Ian has been pressured by the PRIEST management or by Rob and guitarist Glenn Tipton to keep Downing from returning to the band, K.K. said: "Something's wrong somewhere. It doesn't make sense. How can Ian, the bass player that's never written any songs, deny me the opportunity of being in the band? All of those years, and I've written all of those songs and riffs, but how can he stand over there and play bass and not allow me to play the guitar to those songs? It doesn't make any sense. And it doesn't make any sense not to have the original guy back from the trademark lineup. It doesn't make any sense. Am I that bad? [Laughs] But anyway, so I've gone ahead and made two albums [with KK'S PRIEST] in two years, and those guys have done two albums in 14 years. I just don't get it. I don't get it."

Pressed about whether he thinks it's attorneys and management causing all the issues between the members of the classic PRIEST lineup, Downing said: "Well, somebody out there has decided that 'I am gonna change history and I'm gonna be the one that's gonna decide what the fans hear and what they don't and who they see and who they don't.' Somebody in that band is making those decisions. But they only have it on their conscience, really, because we all know what the fans… I mean, [former PRIEST vocalist Tim] Ripper [Owens] is a great singer and he made two great albums with us. We did so many tours and he's a lovely guy and he's great, but the fan demand to have Rob back in the band was just too overwhelming, really, because Rob, I guess, their assertion is Rob is the voice of the band, just like Freddie Mercury with QUEEN or Bruce [Dickinson] with [IRON] MAIDEN, and the list goes on and on and on. So that's undeniable. And I think that Tim would be the first to acknowledge that and get that. Even if he sang the songs better, as we spoke, Rob is the voice of JUDAS PRIEST. But now gladly Ripper is the voice of KK'S PRIEST, because that guy is singing so much better than even I've ever heard him before. It's fantastic. So I'm so fortunate to have him back in the saddle with us."

Asked if he would consider rejoining JUDAS PRIEST if the band was going to make one final album and he was approached about playing on it, Downing said: "One thing's for sure: that will never happen ever… I know Glenn's retired from touring. But whether he can write and record, I don't know. I haven't had an update on Glenn's health, sadly. I really don't know. But it's only because I'm so close and in the industry, I heard an awful lot of things from a long time ago, but, like I say, unconfirmed.

"I would have to say, at this point. I spent a lot of time and effort trying to work things out in a way," he explained. "It's pretty complicated stuff. Like I say, I wasn't happy with a lot of things. The 50th-anniversary book and everything that's done, I don't get anything, any money from any of that whatsoever. So it gets tough to see all the merchandise with all these images that I paid for and was a part of creating, a lot of these images. It gets very commercial, the whole thing, and maybe that's what it's all about anyway. The first three, four years of JUDAS PRIEST, the 50 years, Glenn and Rob weren't there, so how does it become a 50th-anniversary book if you don't include the first years? And it wasn't right to do that. And they asked the fans to pay five hundred dollars for a book that's not accurate. But there's so many things, grievances, it gets to be a quagmire.

"In 2010, we all, as friends, as directors of the company, as businessmen, as bandmates, all of that, we all decided to end the band. We all decided to retire in 2010," he continued. "The management — and I've got the e-mails — said, 'We need you to think of a tour title that means the definitive end of the band.' So the tour title was the 'Epitaph' tour. So, because of certain circumstances, I was being asked to write an EP to support the tour. So I'm saying, 'So you want me to end my career on an EP? I'm not gonna do it.' So, there was a lot of disgruntlement then, and I eventually went, 'Right. If nobody's gonna listen to me, you can do the farewell tour on your own. I'm not doing it.' And so I opted out to do the farewell tour. 15 years later, it's easy to say now, but if the idea was then to carry on, I should have known about it, I should have been told about it. Or at least if the option was that they were gonna carry on, I should have had the option to… They should have said, 'We're carrying on. Will you step back in?'"

Downing added: "But then they quickly announced, and maybe they were surprised that Richie [Faulkner, Downing's replacement in PRIEST] would bring a newfound energy to the band, because that's what they said in statements to the press. And they also said, 'Well, none of the fans are missing K.K.' so maybe they felt — I don't know — reborn without me. Which is a bit odd, because I actually felt at the time, in 2010, that I was the energy in the band, that everybody else seemed to just go through the motions. I didn't know about Glenn's illness at the time. But something didn't seem right. I do know that Rob released two studio albums in 2010 and did a world tour, including the Ozzfest, singing JUDAS PRIEST songs, and everybody was in fear that he was gonna take off again. So we thought that all of these reasons were why we needed to fold the tent, really, on JUDAS PRIEST. And that's what we planned. Someone moved the goalpost on me, I'm afraid."

When the interviewers told Downing that they, and other PRIEST fans, miss seeing him up on stage with the band, K.K. said: "Thank you so much, guys. And I can understand why. I was there so long. [Laughs] I was like an old shoe or a wart on your neck or something. I was a part of life. The last tour that they just did, I saw the setlist and they were playing one song off the last two albums. All the rest were my songs."

He continued: "I can only surmise that there's commercial aspects [that are standing in the way of me returning to PRIEST] and just… I don't know. I don't know. Maybe Glenn didn't really ever want me to be there and him not to be there. I don't know. Maybe he saw that as an end of an era, and I think he's right, as far as I'm concerned."

Faulkner, nearly three decades Downing's junior, joined PRIEST after K.K. left in 2011 amid claims of band conflict, shoddy management and declining quality of performance.

In 2018, Downing revealed that he sent two resignation letters to his bandmates when he decided to quit JUDAS PRIEST. The first was described as "a graceful exit note, implying a smooth retirement from music," while the second was "angrier, laying out all of his frustrations with specific parties."

Downing later said that he believed the second letter was "a key reason" he wasn't invited to rejoin PRIEST after Tipton's decision to retire from touring.