JUDAS PRIEST's RICHIE FAULKNER Says Second ELEGANT WEAPONS Album Is 'Halfway Done'

In a recent interview with Clint Switzer of On The Road To Rock, JUDAS PRIEST guitarist Richie Faulkner spoke about the status of his ELEGANT WEAPONS project, also featuring singer Ronnie Romero (RAINBOW, MSG),including a possible second album. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET):  "Ronnie's fantastic. Again, he's one of those guys, he's not only a singer, he's a frontman. He fronts the band. There's a lot of people I know, they've got great voices, but it takes a frontman or frontwoman, front person to do that job. So Ronnie's definitely got that.

"We did some dates last year in Europe, which was fantastic," he continued. "We did some dates with PANTERA, which was nuts. You can imagine opening up for them. We've got a second record which is halfway done — bass, guitars and drums are done. When we get some downtime from the PRIEST tour, we're gonna get Ronnie in and see if we can put him down on the songs. And then, really, it's waiting for the PRIEST cycle to finish up, really, wherever this tour takes us. When that winds down and we find a window of opportunity to release the second record, we will.

"That's what it was about, really," Faulkner added. "It wasn't about the one record recorded during COVID; it was about a band that goes on. We've all got our different things, obviously — PRIEST, ACCEPT, Ronnie's got his stuff — but we wanted it to be a proper band with multiple records doing live dates, which we've done. But it's just, obviously, when PRIEST are out, ACCEPT are out, URIAH HEEP are out at the moment as well, when we find a window in between for that, then we'll look at releasing the second record. So, that's an exciting thing to think about, too."

Last year, Richie told Jorge Botas of Portugal's Metal Global that he plans on focusing on ELEGANT WEAPONS full-time once PRIEST has officially called it a day.

"PRIEST music is gonna be around a lot longer than we are," he said. "It's legendary music. They're genre-defining musicians and it's a genre-defining band. It will be around for a long time. But none of us gets out of this alive. That's just the reality of it. So if one day that call comes in and that's the last tour or the last album, whatever it is… I mean, I joined the band on what was the farewell tour. Luckily it wasn't, and we're still here 12 years later. [It's] fantastic. But at the time, I think I would have been silly not to consider what I was gonna do after the band, because of the circumstances of the tour. It was a farewell tour — it was [supposed to be] the last tour — so what am I gonna do after? So it's always been in the back of my mind. And this is a band that seems natural to me to continue with if that call ever came in."

ELEGANT WEAPONS made its first two festival appearances in June 2023 at Hellfest in Clisson, France and on June 18 at Graspop Metal Meeting in Dessel, Belgium.

ELEGANT WEAPONS' debut album, "Horns For A Halo", was released in May 2023 via Nuclear Blast. The LP was recorded with bassist Rex Brown (PANTERA, DOWN) and drummer Scott Travis (JUDAS PRIEST) and was helmed by acclaimed British producer Andy Sneap, who has previously worked with JUDAS PRIEST, ACCEPT, EXODUS and MEGADETH, among many others.

ELEGANT WEAPONS, which is rounded out by Dave Rimmer (URIAH HEEP) on bass and Christopher Williams (ACCEPT) on drums, played additional shows in Erope through July 2023. The trek included additional performances with PANTERA, festival appearances and headlining shows.