ROB HALFORD Hopes Reunited JUDAS PRIEST Will Be Around 'A Long Time'

JUDAS PRIEST frontman Rob Halford recently spoke to Northeastern Pennsylvania's Times Leader about the group's latest album, "Angel of Retribution", and his return, after 12 years, to one of the pioneering bands in the heavy metal genre. Several excerpts from the interview follow:

On being "home" again:

"I feel like I left the house, went for a walk and came back, and you know how good it feels when you come back to your own house where you rightfully need to be."

On heavy metal being here to stay:

"The elements of metal in all its strengths and power and passion touches a raw nerve in each of us looking for that sort of human connection of music."

"You go to a show, blow off some steam, let the band be your catalyst (for head banging relief of frustration),and get away from the problems in the world for a couple of hours and have a great time."

On seeing a new generation offans and feeling new blood in the crowd:

"There's nothing more rewarding than seeing a vast cross-section of people from three generations. It's incredibly exciting."

"I never knew how I would feel or react to this. Now I'm seeing it and feeling it's the best possible part of being in a band, this longevity."

On the honest, gut energy of a JUDAS PRIEST performance:

"When we are out there doing what we do, it's 1,000 percent PRIEST. JUDAS PRIEST has always done that, even when I was away."

"I just feel when I go to work on stage, I'm back home in the right place, and all my needs are being covered as a singer, writer and performer. I don't think anyone can ask for more than that, quite frankly. All of us are thrilled to be back in each other's company."

On the new studio album, "Angel of Retribution", which Halford considers among the band's best work and which he believes will one day be looked back on as a classic:

"You let these things (a CD) out into the world and you have no control over what will happen. It's a critically acclaimed record pretty much worldwide, with a Top 10 chart position pretty much worldwide. The feedback was way more than we expected."

"You can't just throw something on a wall and hope it sticks. You have to put your nose to the grindstone and work hard."

On his time away from the band:

"For me that time away was definitely more than the music. Music is the driving force in my life, definitely. I was also going through a period of reflection, and it was the time of my life when most men, and I would imagine women, feel the need to kind of sit back and think and ponder and try to figure out: 'OK, I've been around 50 odd years of my life almost, and what have I achieved so far, and how do I feel about it and what is left to do?' I think I was going through that cycle of kind of an internal discovery, as everybody does."

On whether there are more dynamics working against a band, any band, staying together, then there are working in a group's favor:

"That's a fantastic question. Those first few years of being — working and recording and writing and performing — that's the touchstone. If it's not really connecting and flowing from the early days, there is a problem."

On how the negative feedback received from the work that has been created will impact a band:

"They will break up or be relentless and continue. If the feedback is looking healthy and strong and dynamic, it affects one's optimism and drive and energy. At the end of the day, no matter what you do in the creative world, if you are not having the kind of sustained reason for doing what you do, all the dynamics are affected. Next year, the band will have been together 35 years. If the dynamics are not right by now, they never will be (laughter)."

On being considered a pioneering band:

"We've been delighted to see metal grow from a little acorn to a massive tree. And the roots of metal are JUDAS PRIEST and BLACK SABBATH. We are holding it all up. We feel fantastic about that."

On having the responsibility to deliver every night:

"You can't stand with your shoulders back and your head up unless you can qualify it with a performance. That has been the lifeline of this band throughout its career."

"We can still make people say, 'That was great! That was amazing! I want to go on that ride again!' "

"We're not nostalgia. I hate that word. We are not a nostalgia act. We're an act that has been around a long time and hopefully will be around a long time."