ROB HALFORD Says JUDAS PRIEST 'Set The Tone' With Leather-And-Studs Image

JUDAS PRIEST singer Rob Halford spoke to Telegraph.co.uk before the group's performance at Gothenburg, Sweden's town-centre enormo-dome, Scandinavium. Several excerpts from the interview follow:

On their teenage days on the emerging progressive rock scene:

Rob Halford: "We'd all go to the Mothers club in Erdington. I saw PINK FLOYD, ZEPPELIN, DEEP PURPLE, and a ton of other bands there. That was really where you got your inspiration. The feeling was, why should it all just happen in London?"

On creating their "leather-and-studs" image:

Rob Halford: "You looked at yourself before you went on stage. To make all this noise and create all this energy. You'd be in the leather and studs and chains and whips and handcuffs and everything else — and that's metal! We definitely set the tone."
On being sued by the parents of two young fans who attempted suicide for allegedly including a a subliminal message in their song "Better by You, Better Than Me" encouraging their listeners to take their own lives:

Rob Halford: "We had to sit in this courtroom in Reno for six weeks. It was like Disneyworld. We had no idea what a subliminal message was — it was just a combination of some weird guitar sounds, and the way I exhaled between lyrics. I had to sing 'Better by You, Better Than Me' in court, a cappella. I think that was when the judge thought, 'What am I doing here? No band goes out of its way to kill its fans."

On going public with his homosexuality:

Rob Halford: "I was at MTV in New York one day, and I said to the interviewer, 'Blahblahblah, speaking as a gay man,' and the guy dropped his clipboard. It was an un-premeditated moment. Twenty-four hours later, it was like a firestorm — what's all this about?"