K.K. DOWNING Says Nostalgia Makes JUDAS PRIEST Very Strong And Desirable

JUDAS PRIEST guitarist K.K. Downing recently spoke to The News-Times about the group's early years and their standing in today's heavy metal scene. Several excerpts from the interview follow:

On what's it like looking back on a career that started in 1970:

K.K. Downing: "It means I'm old — older than I'd like to be. But no, it's been great really. Now, obviously, we're kind of special guests on the Ozzfest. That's going absolutely fantastic. It seems very apparent really, I guess, that if you're still intact as a band like BLACK SABBATH and now again, of course, JUDAS PRIEST back to full strength, the nostalgia of being an older band is something that makes a band very strong and desirable really, if I must say.

"The younger bands, they've still got the good fight on their hands and they fight for supremacy and to get to the top. It's quite difficult, but all the years of hard work that JUDAS PRIEST has put down seems to be paying off bigger and better than ever."

On being accused of putting subliminal messages on their albums:

K.K. Downing: "There are a lot of people who aren't aware that if you play anything backwards you will eventually come over things that actually phonetically sound like they're played forwards. There's a track on a Diana Ross record that came to fruition through that [court] case, where the English language actually sounded as though it was spoken when it was played backwards. So that actually does happen. Some people think it's a bit freaky that that can happen, but it's just speech and phonetics. It's incredible what can come about with sound."

On the fact that Halford's replacement, Tim "Ripper" Owens, was never fully accepted by the fans:

K.K. Downing: "So many people probably felt a bit of a grudge really — and quite rightfully — that after being devoted to JUDAS PRIEST for so many years, buying the albums, going to the concerts, buying the T-shirts and then suddenly the band's not the same anymore. You can understand them sort of wanting the original trademarked lineup back.

"It is obvious because before we came to the Ozzfest we were doing headlining festivals all over Europe (with Halford back). And the turnout's been fantastic. Even doing interspersed shows in between the Ozzfest, we've been having great attendance."

Read the entire interview at this location.