JUDAS PRIEST's RICHIE FAULKNER: 'You Can Never Replace Someone Like K.K. DOWNING'

In a new interview with Andrés Durán of El Expreso Del Rock, JUDAS PRIEST guitarist Richie Faulkner spoke about what it was like for him to join the band in 2011 as the replacement for original guitarist Kenneth "K.K." Downing. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I think you can never replace someone like K.K. Downing. He was in the band for 40 years. He started the band with them. He helped create what they created together. So you're never gonna replace that. I don't think that's ever been my mindset. But when you get the opportunity for that position, you have to respect what went before but I think you also have to try and create your own sound moving forward with the band."

Richie continued: "I'm the same with bands like UFO. I love [former UFO guitarist] Michael Schenker or [former DEEP PURPLE guitarist] Ritchie Blackmore. DEEP PURPLE have had different guitar players as well. I love Ritchie Blackmore. Some people love K.K., some people love us all, some people love it all, and it's great. But there's always gonna be people that have their favorite guitar players. I'm just happy to be there helping and give what I can and paying respect, hopefully, to what he laid out before."

Asked by Durán how he feels about the fact that PRIEST singer Rob Halford previously credited Faulkner with "saving" the band nearly a decade and a half ago, Richie said: "I would say, after 50 years the band is putting out new music and we're still touring in Colombia, around the world. We got nominated for a Grammy in the metal category for new music. I think that it's a strong message that heavy metal is still relevant and JUDAS PRIEST is one of the bands that's still making it relevant. Whether you think the Grammys are — whether they mean anything, the fact is the world watches that and they see hip-hop and they see country and they see pop, but they see heavy metal there as well. And it's GOJIRA, METALLICA, PRIEST, SPIRITBOX — we're still up there. PRIEST is still up there as a contender after more than 50 years. And I think that feels, to me, like we're doing something right and we're still flying the flag for heavy metal, and we're all proud to do it. And that's all I can say, really. What it was before, I don't know, so coming into the band, I don't know what it was like before."

Faulkner continued: "I think it's a really nice thing of Rob to say, but I think we're a team — we work as a team — not just the band, but management and the label and our crew; the crew's fantastic. So we're all part of the machine. And what's gone before was the same and what will come after was the same. It'll be the same. We're part of a team, we're part of the JUDAS PRIEST family — K.K., Ripper Owens, Les Binks, Dave Holland, John Hinch, so many — we're all part of that legacy, and the best thing we can do is just give a thousand percent and hopefully still fly the flag for heavy metal 60 years later or 70 years later. I think that's that's what the goal is. Whether you achieve that, I think that's what your focus has to be."

Back in December 2022, Faulkner spoke to Great Day Houston about what it was like for him to join the band in 2011 as the replacement for Downing. He said: "I played in a cover band in London and around the U.K. And JUDAS PRIEST songs were the staple diet of a gig in rock guitar playing. You had to know JUDAS PRIEST and DEEP PURPLE and IRON MAIDEN and all those songs if you wanted to play regularly. So I was intimately familiar with the band's material — never met the band before. I knew one of their ex-drummers, Les Binks. And I got the call from the management one day. I was a bit of… You know the 'Goldilocks And The Three Bears' where the porridge is just right; I wasn't a completely new guy where I was gonna get stage fright, but I hadn't been around the block for the last 10 years where I was gonna have a list of demands. I was right in the middle."

Regarding how his addition to PRIEST proved to be such a seamless transition, Faulkner said: "I think half of it was the size of it. You just kind of get swept along with the wave of it. You realize how much this means to so many people around the world. I think I was ready for the challenge. I know the duty that comes with being the guitar player in such a meaningful band."

Faulkner, nearly three decades Downing's junior, joined PRIEST after K.K. left 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.

Back in 2019, Faulkner dismissed the criticism he received for supposedly trying to look too much like Downing. "Obviously, you get the [haters] — the 'clone' comments," Richie told the "Let There Be Talk" podcast. "I've got long blond hair, playing a flying V [guitar]… [Michael] Schenker, Zakk [Wylde], K.K., Randy Rhoads — all those guys. To say I was a Ken clone was fairly narrow-minded. There's tons of guys who have flying Vs and long hair.

"The thing is if I had dyed my hair black to be different, I would have been shot down," he continued. "You've gotta be real; you've gotta be who you are. And I grew up on Ken, I grew up on Glenn [Tipton, JUDAS PRIEST guitarist] and the guys that I mentioned. So you've just gotta be who you are. And I grew up with those guys, and I'm not ashamed. I wear it on my sleeve — they're all my influences, and I'm not afraid of that… There's no point in trying to hide it. But it's gotta be natural as well. And I think somehow it worked out organically. I didn't try to copy him. And as it goes on, you always try to do your own thing and make your own statement."

Seven years ago, Downing said that he felt like he was "being cloned" when he first found out he was being replaced by Faulkner.

Downing, who announced his retirement from PRIEST in April 2011 after nearly 42 years in the job, admitted to the "Appetite For Distortion" podcast that he was taken aback when he first saw his replacement.

"Richie, as far as I know, is a nice guy and obviously an excellent player," Downing said. "I was a bit disappointed when, basically… I think the idea was to replace me [with a lookalike], so I did feel as though I was kind of being cloned. But I'm not sure that was exactly fair to Richie. I mean, I could be off the mark here, but I think Richie had the right to bring himself to the stage with his own… portray his own image and ability to play the instrument the way that he does. But it is what it is."

He continued: "When Glenn retired from touring [in early 2018], the same didn't happen — obviously, [Tipton's replacement] Andy [Sneap] doesn't look anything like Glenn; he doesn't wear the same clothes, the red pants, guitars or anything like that. So I don't really know what's going on. But it is what it is."

In a 2011 interview with the Finnish newspaper Ilta-Sanomat, Halford stated about Faulkner's physical resemblance to a younger Downing: "People are saying, 'It's a clone. You've got some of K.K.'s DNA.' It's just the way it turned out. We made, like, a secret search. When we knew K.K. was not gonna be making the tour, we did a lot of secret, kind of, searching for another player. And Richie just happened to be the guy. And he just happens to look a little bit of the K.K. image, you know?! I think it would be silly to say, 'We looked for a guitar player that looks like Ken.' What we want is a very good metal guitar player, and that's what Richie Faulkner is."