TIM 'RIPPER' OWENS Is 'Really Excited' About His New Band With K.K. DOWNING

Tim "Ripper" Owens says that he is "looking forward to finishing" the "killer" debut album from KK'S PRIEST, his new collaboration with founding JUDAS PRIEST guitarist K.K. Downing and ex-PRIEST drummer Les Binks. The band, which will pay homage to Downing's past, is rounded out by guitarist A.J. Mills (HOSTILE) and bassist Tony Newton (VOODOO SIX).

When the formation of KK'S PRIEST was first announced on Tueday (February 18),Owens took to his Facebook to write: "I'm really excited about this, and the demand for it was simply amazing! It sure will be nice to make the real fans of hard rock and heavy metal music and the real JUDAS PRIEST fans happy! This is gonna rock."

As for the upcoming LP, Owens said: "I'm looking forward to finishing this killer new CD."

KK'S PRIEST's debut album will be released via Explorer1 Music Group. The group will also play select shows later this year to mark the 50th anniversary of PRIEST and Downing's career as a founding member. KK'S PRIEST's setlist will consist of PRIEST classics and new songs.

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.

Downing left PRIEST in 2011 amid claims of band conflict, shoddy management and declining quality of performance. He was replaced by Richie Faulkner, nearly three decades his junior.

Downing, Binks and Owens performed a full-length set of PRIEST classics with MEGADETH bassist David Ellefson in November in Wolverhampton, United Kingdom. Joining them on second guitar was Mills of HOSTILE, the British metal band whose two albums, "Eve Of Destruction" and "The New World Disorder", were both produced by Downing.

Binks played drums on PRIEST's "Stained Class", "Hell Bent For Leather" (released as "Killing Machine" in the United Kingdom) and "Unleashed In The East" albums.

Downing stated about his new group: "Forging ahead with KK'S PRIEST was not only inevitable but essential for me to perform and deliver everything that is expected from me and KK'S PRIEST," Downing said in a statement. "Due to the massive demand and overwhelming support from fans around the world, I feel this is where I belong, and a set combining the true, classic songs and sound of PRIEST, together with great, newly forged metal tracks, is what fans can expect when KK'S PRIEST is taking to stages."