ROB HALFORD: 'I Think We've All Got A Bit Of Metal God Inside Of Us'

October 2, 2009

Renata Espinosa of Fashion Wire Daily recently conducted an interview with JUDAS PRIEST singer Rob Halford. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

On Metal God, Halford's signature brand of t-shirts that have all the soft-worn appeal of a vintage concert t-shirt but with all-new original graphics that he's betting will appeal to die-hard metal fans and aspiring rockers alike:

"The imagery is simply an extension of what I do with my music.

"If you see something like this thing I'm wearing, with this fantasy mythical creature with a guitar, it says something strong and powerful. That's just been a natural progression over the years in rock and roll, to try and find a way of saying something about yourself with the item of clothing you're wearing."

On the association between fantasy and heavy metal:

"You can see I'm covered in tattoos of dragons and all this other mythical imagery, and that's again a part of my background as a lyricist. I've got a very vivid imagination and a lot of characters I create are made up in a fantasy kind of way. They always carry realistic virtues and attributes. So if I'm writing a song like 'Painkiller', it may be, like, about, this really evil, menacing guy, which is the persona of the creature that you create, but he's doing good. I always have a lot of fun with that."

On why the collection right now only features t-shirts, for both men and women:

"I think that you have to have a little bit of a leash on what you do, otherwise it's chaos. But we always see the light at the end of the tunnel. I don't think we can suddenly stop, Don't make records, don't make clothes, don't make movies. I think we have a responsibility to try and keep that creative optimism going, no matter what we do."

On how his particular take on things will distinguish his brand of rock-related apparel:

"I think that my connection is a little bit more personal than some of the other great things that are going on around me. This is a direct connection to me. It's called a 'Metal God' t-shirt. I think we've all got a bit of Metal God inside of us."

"I was talking to someone earlier and they were saying, it's like everybody wants to be a metalhead, but people are like, 'Can I really be one? I don't really know what this is about, but I see it, and I look at what they where and the shows they go to, and I see it on VH1 Classic 'Metal Mania', and I'm like, 'wow, it looks so cool.' But if you're into that rock and roll, edgy, exciting type of passionate world, then I think that these t-shirts and this initial launch have a way of connecting to you as a person."

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).