JUDAS PRIEST's ROB HALFORD: It's Very Difficult For New Bands To Break Through The Clutter

More video footage of JUDAS PRIEST's June 19 press conference at Hellfest in Clisson, France can be seen below (courtesy of Rock Meeting).

Speaking about whether JUDAS PRIEST takes any influence from younger bands, guitarist Glenn Tipton said: "I think that there's still some great young bands around. We've got a lot of respect for the younger bands. We listen to them, we learn… You can still learn from younger bands, because they'e creating new parts of heavy metal every year, every decade. It changes, but the backbone is still heavy metal."

He continued: "We've always been proud to proclaim ourselves a heavy metal band. Some others believed it was out of fashion and they shied away from the title. But we've always been proud to play JUDAS PRIEST heavy metal, and if, along the way, we've inspired some young bands, that's great, and it makes us real proud. And, in the same sense, we're not stupid; we listen to the young bands as well, and we learn from them… We don't plagiarize and we don't copy them, but we get inspired. We've got a lot of time for younger bands."

Singer Rob Halford also talked about how different it is for younger bands to break through in the age of social media. He said: "In essence, there are no shortcuts. If you are a new band, no matter what kind of music you play, you have to pay your dues. You've gotta play every kind of conceivable venue…"

He continued: "I saw a picture the other day of us playing some place in England in 1974, and the stage was about as big as this table. And that's what you've gotta do. You've really gotta work hard; it doesn't come easy. And so this thing about the Internet, it's great to get your music across quickly, it's very simple to get your music to the world, but it's very difficult to break through the clutter, break through all of the noise. So it really comes down to hard work, being on the road, playing as many shows that you can. Festivals are great, if you get an opportunity. It doesn't matter what stage you're on, because then, you take the advances that are [available] to you, with the social networks and people watching you, and Instagramming and saying, 'You've gotta check this band out.' The story is different, but the basic way for any band to be successful hasn't changed: you've gotta work, you've gotta play, you've gotta get on the road, you've gotta build your fan base."

JUDAS PRIEST's latest album, "Redeemer Of Souls", was released in July 2014. The follow-up to 2008's double-disc concept album "Nostradamus" was billed as a return to JUDAS PRIEST's heavy-metal roots.

"Redeemer Of Souls" sold around 32,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release to land at position No. 6 on The Billboard 200 chart.