RICHIE FAULKNER On ELEGANT WEAPONS: 'If People Wanna Call It A Supergroup, Then So Be It'

In a new interview with Charlie Kendall's Metalshop, JUDAS PRIEST guitarist Richie Faulkner spoke about his ELEGANT WEAPONS side project, which will release its sophomore album "Evolution", on April 24, 2026 via Exciter Records. Regarding 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 (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "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."

ELEGANT WEAPONS features a formidable lineup: Richie,vocalist Ronnie Romero (RAINBOW, MSG),bassist Dave Rimmer (URIAH HEEP) and drummer Christopher Williams (ACCEPT). 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" will be released digitally and on CD on April 24, 2026, with a special edition vinyl pressing to follow later in the year. The album 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.

The lead single "Bridges Burn" is available now on all streaming platforms. Watch the official lyric video below.

Exciter Records and its publishing affiliate Reach Music, recently acquired JUDAS PRIEST's landmark early albums "Rocka Rolla" and "Sad Wings Of Destiny", making the partnership with Richie Faulkner and ELEGANT WEAPONS a natural continuation of that legacy into a new era.

"Evolution" track listing:

01. Evil Eyes
02. Generation Me
03. Bridges Burn
04. Holy Roller
05. Come Back To Me
06. The Devil Calls
07. Thrown To The Wolves
08. Shooting Shadows
09. Rupture
10. Mercy Of The Fallen
11. Keeper Of The Keys

Last October, Romero told Tim Caple of Rock 'N' Blues Experience about ELEGANT WEAPONS's sophomore album: "I think it's gonna be fantastic. Also, I feel like it's really a step forward from the first one, because when I recorded the first album, the album actually was already recorded by another singer. So what I did, it was just going to the studio and trying to fit my vocals on what it was already done. And it took me two or three days doing that recording. But this time we took the time, going to the studio, being all together with Richie Faulkner and Andy Sneap and just working on the songs: 'This kind of lyrics works.' 'This doesn't work.' 'We need to change the vocal line.' 'We need to change the key.' 'We need to change this.' 'We need to add some backing vocals here.' And we spent a lot of time together, so this is more ELEGANT WEAPONS than the first one."

Ronnie previously discussed the upcoming ELEGANT WEAPONS effort in May 2025 in an interview with J.J. Caithcart of Different Stages Radio. He said at the time: "When I joined the band, the [first] album was recorded already. They had a different singer, so the songs were there. I just needed to listen to the songs and the previous singer and then try to record on my own way, but [there was] still a lack of personality of my voice in that way. But this time we were working together with Andy Sneap and with Richie Faulkner, the three of us, working on the lyrics, working on the vocal lines, working on the harmonies, working all together. We spent a lot of time in the studio together doing all this work, the vocal production."

Regarding the musical direction of the new ELEGANT WEAPONS material, Ronnie said: "It is an evolution of the band. We have this stable lineup with Christopher Williams from ACCEPT and Dave Rimmer from URIAH HEEP. So, it is more ELEGANT WEAPONS than the first one, I would say. The songs are great. There is a few great songs that — I was talking with Richie yesterday and I said, 'Every day I like a different one.' It's, like, today I like this one very much, and then I listen to the album again and now I like this other one because it's a different thing. But, yeah, I think it's a great album. And it's gonna sound like an evolution of the band, for sure."

In October 2024, Faulkner told Clint Switzer of On The Road To Rock about ELEGANT WEAPONS:  "Ronnie's fantastic. Again, he's one of those guys, he's not only a singer, he's a frontman. He fronts the band. There's a lot of people I know, they've got great voices, but it takes a frontman or frontwoman, front person to do that job. So Ronnie's definitely got that.

"We did some dates [in 2023] in Europe, which was fantastic," he continued. "We did some dates with PANTERA, which was nuts. You can imagine opening up for them."

Richie went on to say that he never intended ELEGANT WEAPONS to just be a one-album project. "That's what it was about, really. It wasn't about the one record recorded during COVID; it was about a band that goes on," he explained. "We've all got our different things, obviously — PRIEST, ACCEPT, Ronnie's got his stuff — but we wanted it to be a proper band with multiple records doing live dates, which we've done. But it's just, obviously, when PRIEST are out, ACCEPT are out, URIAH HEEP are out at the moment as well, when we find a window in between for that, then we'll look at releasing the second record. So, that's an exciting thing to think about, too."

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 12 years 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.