TIM 'RIPPER' OWENS Feels 'Great' About His Voice Now, But Admits He 'Struggled For About Six Or Seven Years'

In a new interview with the Rock Legacy webzine, former JUDAS PRIEST and ICED EARTH singer Tim "Ripper" Owens was asked how he feels about his voice nowadays. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I feel great about my voice these days. I struggled for about six or seven years. It just wasn't the same, and I had to worry about my voice, and I had to be very careful. I was probably at 60 percent, maybe. But last year, before I did that Latin American tour… I remember I did, like, 16 shows in 18 days or something, and it was fantastic, man, and my voice was just — every night was on fire."

As for how he takes care of his voice, Owens said: "You know what? I just don't talk a lot. I don't go out and hang out with people. I'm not gonna go out there and be mingling with the fans, because I just can't talk. I have to rest it. So I just rest it a lot. I got some Retune singer spray that I have here that'll be my own brand pretty soon; my name will be on it… Don't buy it yet, though. I'll give you a link eventually, and you can buy it so I get money from it. But that stuff loosens it up in the studio. But I drink a lot of water and I take care of myself."

Owens recently released a solo EP, "Return To Death Row". The effort was produced by Jamey Jasta (HATEBREED) and Nick Bellmore (JASTA, DEE SNIDER). Players on the EP, which contain Owens's "heaviest songs yet," include Nick Bellmore, Charlie Bellmore (DEE SNIDER, ex-TOXIC HOLOCAUST) on guitar, and Chris Beaudette (JASTA, ENTEIRRO) on bass.

Owens is currently the frontman of KK'S PRIEST, featuring fellow former JUDAS PRIEST member K.K. Downing.

Owens joined PRIEST after being discovered when the band's drummer, Scott Travis, was given a videotape of him performing with the PRIEST cover act BRITISH STEEL. JUDAS PRIEST at the time was seeking a replacement for Rob Halford.

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

"Demolition" and "Jugulator" are included on "50 Heavy Metal Years Of Music", JUDAS PRIEST's 2021 limited-edition box set which contains every official live and studio album to date plus 13 unreleased discs.

Tim told The Metal Voice in 2016 that he "wouldn't have quit JUDAS PRIEST." He clarified: "I wanted to leave JUDAS PRIEST, 'cause I had already recorded the ICED EARTH record ['The Glorious Burden']. So I wanted out of JUDAS PRIEST, 'cause I wanted to do other stuff, but I never would have quit. 'Cause I was great friends with them, and I was the singer of JUDAS PRIEST. But to make more money and to do more things, I had to branch out and do other things."

In a separate interview, Owens defended himself against accusations by some JUDAS PRIEST fans of changing the band's sound to a more brutal, modern direction on "Jugulator". He explained: "Every record JUDAS PRIEST puts out is different. I mean, 'Nostradamus' sounds nothing like JUDAS PRIEST ever wrote, ever. 'Turbo' sounded nothing like JUDAS PRIEST. You know, JUDAS PRIEST changes. They wrote 'Painkiller', and 'Jugulator' was a transition; it was kind of following what was going on."

He continued: "You've gotta remember, JUDAS PRIEST always went with the times a little bit. Glenn [Tipton, guitar] started playing arpeggios. PANTERA was really big [at the time]. [On the] 'Painkiller' [tour], they toured with PANTERA; PANTERA opened for JUDAS PRIEST. 'Painkiller' was a heavy record, and this was a natural progression. The difference is I probably had a few more different layers to my voice that they could tap into — some deeper, death metal kind of undertones to do backups and some different types of voices that they might be able to try. But it was JUDAS PRIEST."