TIM 'RIPPER' OWENS Admits He Has Been Having 'Some Vocal Issues' As Of Late: 'As A Singer, That Happens'

In a new interview with Chile's iRock.cl, former JUDAS PRIEST and current KK'S PRIEST singer Tim "Ripper" Owens spoke about the importance of having good physical stamina to handle the rigors of the road, especially since he spends so much time away from home. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Health-wise, I'm probably in the… Well, I haven't been to the gym in a while 'cause I've been on the road. But I go to the gym every day, and I lost weight and work out, and I'm probably healthier. But I just got some vocal issues. And as a singer, that happens. I mean, you can do any kind of remedy you want, but when you have vocal issues, you have vocal issues. So I've been trying to figure out how to sing with vocal issues, which is maybe not a bad thing."

Owens continued: "Because I don't cheat when I sing, I sing everything how I'm supposed to sing it. I don't change the versions. I don't dodge high notes. But now that I've had some vocal issues, I'm trying to learn how to not do that. I don't do it that often because I just… Sometimes I go for that note and something might not come out, but God, gosh darn it, I'm trying to hit that note. But I'm learning how to maybe tame it back a little bit. Maybe I can find ways to save myself 'cause [I'm] not getting any younger."

Asked if he still feels "the same excitement before stepping on stage" now as he used to earlier in his career, Tim said: "Well, I still do. I still get a little nervous. Not nervous to step on stage, but nervous 'cause I wanna sing good. I get quiet and I pace. I never used to warm up — ever in my life, I never warmed up — but I have to warm up since my voice has been doing this. And I get nervous thinking I'm not gonna sing good. I've always been like that. But I still look forward to the show and I love to walk out on the stage. I love to see the facial reactions of the people. That's why I can't stop singing the high notes. I don't even love singing high notes and high stuff, but I love to watch the people's reaction [and see them] smile. I watch guys and girls smile during the show when I sing, when I hit notes and I sing, and they just smile, and that's what makes you excited about going out there."

Owens continued: "I'm a pretty quiet guy off the stage, but when I walk on stage… People used to call me 'Clark Kent' because I would be off the stage and be quiet, and I used to wear a suit at work, and I'd be normal, and then they watched me go on stage, and, like, 'What the heck is this? What is this guy?' But you feed off the fans. When the fans aren't very good, and they're sitting down on their butts, and they're eating food, it's hard to get into the show. But when they're just [going crazy], it's great."

Back in October 2023, Owens reiterated his commitment to singing all songs like they were originally recorded, whether it's material from his former band JUDAS PRIEST or his new project KK'S PRIEST. Speaking to DJ Ramo (a.k.a. Omar Rodriguez) of The Metal Mixtape specifically about KK'S PRIEST's sophomore album, "The Sinner Rides Again", Owens said: "Everything you hear on this record I can sing live. I'm so sick of watching singers, and I don't care — I'm [in my late 50s], [and] I've seen singers in their 50s that still couldn't do it. I'm so sick of watching singers — I know they can do it, but they change their songs; they lower it, they make new melodies and they hit a high note for a second. And it's, like, 'Dude, sing what you wrote. Sing what you wrote.' I understand it gets tougher. But I can sing 'Sermons Of The Sinner'. And these songs, the KK'S PRIEST songs are harder to sing than the classic PRIEST songs, except maybe 'Metal Meltdown'."

He continued: "I pride myself on whatever I did in the studio, I can do live. I mean, listen, we open out of the gate with 'Hellfire Thunderbolt', and if anybody's heard it from these concerts, it goes 'Hellfire Thunderbolt' into 'One More Shot At Glory', and they sound like the record — I mean, close to the record. And that's the other thing about doing these vocals — one minute I want it to be aggressive, one minute I want it to be high and clean, I want it to be soft and beautiful, but I can do all that live.

"These songs are great to do live, man," he added. "I love doing these ones [on 'The Sinner Rides Again'] even better than the first record [2021's 'Sermons Of The Sinner']. 'One More Shot At Glory', 'Reap The Whirlwind', 'Strike Of The Viper' — I mean, man, they sound great live, man. They are unbelievable."

Regarding what he does so that he can perform the songs faithfully, Owens said: "Listen, I don't warm up. It really starts with, are you a good live singer or not anyways? … There's songs I've just heard recently that it sounds so manufactured. Not that it's a bad song, and it sounds great, but it doesn't even — I could just hear where it's pieced [together] and hear where it's Auto-Tuned. And it's, like, you're not gonna sing it live.

"There are some singers out there, they're like the best singers in the world, but they're just not great live singers," he explained. "They're not great live singers at singing what they record in the studio. They're still great live singers; it's just they've changed the version. They've made up their own version to make them be able to sing — which is fine, because there's gonna be times where I'll have to do that to a song or I might lower a word, but I try to stick to it. I mean, you would see singers like Ronnie Dio. He wasn't going off… If he changed the version, he probably made it harder. He would sing it live.

"I record everything at the top of my ability, and I always struggle with my material," Tim explained. "Like when I tour solo, it's pretty easy. It's pretty easy tours. It's okay tours for me, because I'm doing my own stuff. But when my rest comes [is] when I get to sing the classic PRIEST songs, and I imagine it's the same even with Rob [Halford], when he gets to sing 'Breaking The Law' and 'Metal Gods'. I mean, those things are, like — anybody could sing them, it's so easy and it's a break. But this tour, you open up with 'Hellfire Thunderbolt', 'One More Shot Of Glory', 'The Ripper'… I'm doing 'Night Crawler' — 'Night Crawler''s easy. 'Burn In Hell', easy. 'Sermons Of The Sinner' — I was scared of 'Sermons Of The Sinner', to be honest, cause I was, like, 'Holy crap, man. This is gonna be tough.' And it's actually fun to sing.

"I think all singers should be recording to the top of their ability. So my songs are always harder, and that's why, but some singers just can't reproduce it. This record, I had a better feeling I would reproduce easier even than the first, because I sat here [at home] and did it myself. I wasn't told what to do. I was told what the melody is, but I'd use my own voice to do it. But some singers, they don't sing exactly what they do live. I mean, that's just how they are."

After BLABBERMOUTH.NET published Tim's original comments to The Metal Mixtape in October 2023 with the headline "TIM 'RIPPER' OWENS Is 'Sick' Of Watching Singers Who Change Their Songs To Accommodate Their Aging Voices", Owens took to X to clarify: "Actually it was all singers who can’t sing what they record! That's what I don't like. Any age any singer. Not sure why people are upset I said that".

Owens joined PRIEST in 1996 and recorded two studio albums with the band — 1997's "Jugulator" and 2001's "Demolition" — before PRIEST reunited with Rob Halford in 2003.