RICHIE FAULKNER Says STEVE HARRIS Was One Of The First People He Told When He Got JUDAS PRIEST Gig

In a new interview with The Adventures Of Pipeman, JUDAS PRIEST guitarist Richie Faulkner spoke about a pairing of PRIEST and IRON MAIDEN on a festival bill, such as at last year's Power Trip and this year's Aftershock. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I was talking to Rob [Halford, PRIEST singer] about it the other day. And the last time they played together like that [before this year's Aftershock] — we played with them last year at the [Power Trip] festival, but that was not on the same day. But I asked Rob, 'When was the last time you guys played with MAIDEN on the same day?' And he thinks it's back on 'Point Of Entry' when they played together, like back in the early '80s. So it would be great to — as a fan as well, I'd love to see PRIEST and MAIDEN on a bill."

When Pipeman noted that MAIDEN bassist Steve Harris once told Faulkner in Richie's pre-PRIEST days that if MAIDEN ever needed a guitarist, Faulkner would have been Harris's first phone call, Richie said: "Well, yeah, he said, yeah, if anything happened to any of his guys, I would have been the next phone call, which is — I don't know what you call it; like a validation and then some. If Harris would have you in his band, that's amazing. But Steve was one of the first people I told when I got the gig in PRIEST. I was obviously in Lauren, his daughter's band, and I told [Lauren and her] band first, and then I told Steve. And he couldn't have been happier. He thought it was a great opportunity. He loves PRIEST, and he was more than happy to see me do something like that."

He added: "Obviously, I knew Steve before before PRIEST, and, yeah, it's great to be in those two camps. They're both favorite bands of mine, obviously, so it's good to now know both MAIDEN and PRIEST personally. It's crazy, really."

Faulkner, nearly three decades K.K. Downing's junior, joined PRIEST in 2011 after K.K. left amid claims of band conflict, shoddy management and declining quality of performance.

JUDAS PRIEST recently kicked off leg two of its "Invincible Shield" tour with special guest SABATON. Produced by Live Nation, the 23-date tour launched on September 13 at Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec and is making stops in Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Omaha, Nebraska; Spokane, Washington; Portland, Oregon; Los Angeles, California; Phoenix, Arizona and more before wrapping up with three shows in Texas on October 22, 24 and 26.

JUDAS PRIEST's latest album, "Invincible Shield", entered the U.K. chart at No. 2, just behind Ariana Grande's "Eternal Sunshine".

Prior to "Invincible Shield"'s arrival, PRIEST's highest U.K. chart achievement was with 1980's "British Steel", which reached No. 4.

PRIEST's 2018 album "Firepower" entered the chart at No. 5.

"Invincible Shield" was JUDAS PRIEST's fifth Top 10 album, after the aforementioned "British Steel" and "Firepower", as well as 2014's "Redeemer Of Souls" (No. 6) and the 1979 live album "Unleashed In The East" (No. 10).

"Invincible Shield" landed at No. 1 in Germany, Finland, Sweden and Switzerland, as well as No. 5 in France, No. 8 in Italy and No. 16 in Australia.