RICHIE FAULKNER: 'It's An Honor To Be Part' Of The JUDAS PRIEST 'Machine'

In a recent interview with "Rock Talk With Jacqui Neal", JUDAS PRIEST guitarist Richie Faulkner reflected on his time with the band since he joined in 2011 as the replacement for original guitarist Kenneth "K.K." Downing. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "It's massive. It evolves over the years. I remember when it first started, the main focus was about the guitar parts; that was kind of what it was about. And the performance, and stuff like that. The more you become a part of the band, it becomes, 'What can we do? How can we do things differently? How can we write a better album? How can we give a better experience for the fans? How can we do this differently? How can we make things bigger, better?' Less about your performance but the performance of the machine that is JUDAS PRIEST. People are buying tickets. They're working, they're spending their money, they're choosing you as a night out.' It turns into that. You become part of a team rather than just focusing on, 'Am I playing the right notes tonight?' More of an all-encompassing thing. And obviously you're concentrating on playing the right notes every night still. But it becomes more of a bigger thing.

"[The band has been around] more than 50 years now," he continued. "It's the 50th-anniversary tour. I've been in the band over 10 years now. We're working on the third album that I've done with them. So as you go into the third record, it's more of that. So how do we make this one different — better quote-unquote. 'Better' is a subjective term, but it's gotta be better from our point of view. And how do we get maybe something that sounds better, or a different journey through the songs, or whatever it may be — better performances. Whatever it is. A concentration on how to make things better for the people that put them there for those 50 years. And you become part of that. So it's an honor to be part of that, really."

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."

Four 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."