JUDAS PRIEST's RICHIE FAULKNER To Discuss ELEGANT WEAPONS On TalkShopLive This Week

JUDAS PRIEST guitarist Richie Faulkner is heading to TalkShopLive on November 4 at 8:30 p.m. Eastern Time for a special appearance celebrating "Evolution", the sophomore album from his powerhouse metal band ELEGANT WEAPONS.

Fans will have the opportunity to purchase a special red vinyl edition of "Evolution", featuring a cover personally signed by Faulkner, available exclusively through TalkShopLive during the November 4 appearance.

Featuring an all-star lineup of Faulkner, Ronnie Romero (RAINBOW),Dave Rimmer (URIAH HEEP, JUDAS PRIEST) and Christopher Williams (ACCEPT),ELEGANT WEAPONS delivers a powerful blend of world-class hard rock musicianship and modern metal production. Released in April 2026 via Exciter Records, "Evolution" represents the band's most dynamic work yet, showcasing the incredible talent and musical chemistry behind this hard-hitting release.

"I'm really looking forward to joining TalkShopLive and connecting with everyone. We've put a lot into 'Evolution', and I'm incredibly proud of what we've created with ELEGANT WEAPONS. It's always great to have the opportunity to talk about the music, share some stories behind the album, and give fans something special with this exclusive signed edition. Hope to see you all there!"

Don't miss this opportunity to connect with Faulkner, hear the stories behind "Evolution", and get your hands on an exclusive signed collectible.

Limited special-edition red vinyl with a personally signed cover by Faulkner will be made available exclusively through TalkShopLive during the November 4 appearance, while supplies last.

In a March 2026 interview with Charlie Kendall's Metalshop, Faulkner addressed the fact that he previously described ELEGANT WEAPONS as "a mix of Jimi Hendrix, PRIEST, [BLACK] SABBATH, solo Ozzy [Osbourne] and BLACK LABEL SOCIETY". Richie said: "I'm not alone in saying that I've been influenced by Hendrix and SABBATH in a big way. But there's a lot of people out there that aren't guitar players that are influenced by Hendrix, and a lot of guitar players that are, obviously. I'm one of them. And I think ELEGANT WEAPONS' music is a little bit more tuned into Hendrix's style than PRIEST is. It's got a few more obvious Hendrix links to it. So I'm fortunate that I can explore those avenues outside of PRIEST in ELEGANT WEAPONS. I get a free rein to go and do some other stuff and explore that part of my DNA as well."

Asked if the term "supergroup", which has been used to describe ELEGANT WEAPONS' lineup, is "a burden or an asset", Richie said: "I think it's lucky, really, that anyone's referring to us with any kind of name. We're fortunate that we're playing music and people are listening and calling it anything. I'll take supergroup. I'll take whatever people wanna call it. If people are listening and giving us the time of day, and if people wanna call it a supergroup, then so be it."

Faulkner went on to say that ELEGANT WEAPONS is a real band and not a short-lived project.

"The first record, I put the album together and got the band together, and it was never intended to be a one-off," he explained. "It was meant to be the start of a journey, so to speak. There was meant to be more albums, some tours, live playing. I wanted to start a band like PRIEST that starts from nothing and grows into something and hopefully continues into the future. We are on the second record now, so it's not a one-and-done deal. We're on our way now, and this one is an evolution in many senses of the word of the band and of the music that we create.

"Obviously, PRIEST is the mothership — that's the behemoth that we've gotta work around," he continued. "And the other guys are in their respective bands as well. Dave's in URIAH HEEP, Christopher's in ACCEPT, and Ronnie's doing a lot of things as well. So we've gotta plan it around other bands, and that's just the nature of the beast. We've got a window of opportunity now to release the record. I'm always looking for opportunities to write stuff and record stuff, and that's just the nature of it. We've done another record, and we're lucky enough to put it out. And then we've got a PRIEST tour later on in the year. That's just the way it is, man. And we are lucky to be that busy at the moment."

Faulkner also talked about working with Romero, who is originally from Chile but is now settled in Romania after living in Madrid, Spain for a number of years.

"He's amazing," Richie said. "I say this a lot: Ronnie's a great singer. There's great singers in the world, but Ronnie's not just a great singer. He's a performer. He's a frontman. He's great in the studio. He's professional, and he's a joy to work with. We produced him a bit more on this record. The first record he sung, we had the vocals there already and he just sang them, and it was a quick process. On this one, our producer, Andy Sneap, wanted to produce him a lot more. We had the vocal ideas and we started from the ground up. We were on a three-way Zoom like this, and Ronnie was in the studio in Europe, and we produced him from start to finish — different mics, different techniques, different words, change this, different melodies, different backing vocals. Let's make this more Ronnie Romero and technically better produced, better recorded and better performances for the best result that we could get. And I think it was a really good thing we did that. It is more Ronnie Romero than the first record. He's amazing. I can't say enough about him."

"Evolution" was co-produced by Faulkner alongside Andy Sneap (JUDAS PRIEST's touring guitarist, who also produced PRIEST's "Invincible Shield" and "Firepower" albums),with the recording spanning Nashville, Europe, and France — a truly global effort reflecting the band's international pedigree.

In 2023, Richie told Jorge Botas of Portugal's Metal Global that he planned 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 [a decade and a half] 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 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 played additional shows in Europe through July 2023. The trek included performances with PANTERA, festival appearances and headlining shows.