TIM 'RIPPER' OWENS Fires Back At Online Trolls: 'You Have People Who Just Tear You Down For No Reason'

In a new interview with The Metal Mixtape, former JUDAS PRIEST singer Tim "Ripper" Owens spoke about how he handles online criticism and whether he ever engages with Internet trolls. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "It's crazy. The time and effort you put into this, and then you have people who just tear you down for no reason. When you read comments of fans, and they… Listen, you don't have to like me or like my singing, but to say that I suck or I don't have stage presence or these other things, you're wrong. You're just fucking saying that. If you don't anything good to say, don't say it at all. I would never go on somebody's page and say, 'You're not a good singer' or 'Your album stinks.' But you've gotta deal with that stuff. I don't usually read it.

"As an example, I just lost some weight," he continued. "I've been working out. Since the summer I've lost 50 pounds. I worked hard at it, and I go to the gym every day. And I finally read some comments on [the story that] Blabbermouth [did on my weight loss]. And the first comments were, 'He looks like shit,' 'He's on heroin,' 'He's doing cocaine,' blah blah blah. 'What does this have to do with metal?' I don't know. [Maybe because] I'm a metal singer.

"I usually don't read comments," Owens added. "I think the problem is you get 90 percent great comments, but the main ones you see, and it gets in your mind, is the bad comments. People can say all night long, 'You sounded great. You sang great.' And then somebody comes up and says, 'Yeah, you're not that good.' [Laughs] But you've just gotta take that. It's part of it, and I try not to read all the comments. Most of the time I will go back to people with humor. And then they get mad at you. If you comment back to them in a negative way, people get mad that you actually comment back to them in a negative way. I'm, like, 'Wait a minute. You just came at me. Why are you mad at me?' 'Well, you shouldn't do that.' I'm, like, 'Ah…' I don't know. It is what it is."

Owens went on to say that part of the problem is that a lot of people don't read the articles and just react to sensational headlines.

"When they read articles and it's on there, and they read the headline, they don't even read [the stories]," he said. "The big example was that thing on Blabbermouth [about my weight loss], when they picked that up, which was a nice thing they picked up and it was a nice headline, so it wasn't like they were tricking people, people were, like, 'Now he's gotta lift weights and get muscle.' I'm, like, it says right in the thing, on Instagram, I'm going to the gym, and I have been forever, but I go to the gym every single morning and do cardio and lift [weights]. But they don't read the whole thing, so they just [say], 'This is what you've gotta do now.' Well, thank you, Einstein. I appreciate it."

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.