TIM 'RIPPER' OWENS: It Would Be 'Fantastic' If ROCK HALL Induction Led To K.K. DOWNING Rejoining JUDAS PRIEST

Ex-JUDAS PRIEST singer Tim "Ripper" Owens says that it would be "fantastic" if K.K. Downing's reunion with his former bandmates at the upcoming Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame induction led to the founding PRIEST guitarist's official return to the legendary heavy metal act.

PRIEST will be inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame this fall. PRIEST will receive the Musical Excellence Award at the event, which will honor Eminem, Dolly Parton, DURAN DURAN, Lionel Richie, Pat Benatar, EURYTHMICS and Carly Simon in the Performers category.

According to the Hall Of Fame, the JUDAS PRIEST members that will get inducted include current members Rob Halford (vocals),Ian Hill (bass),Glenn Tipton (guitar) and Scott Travis (drums),along with former members Downing, Les Binks (drums) and late drummer Dave Holland.

Owens, who currently plays in a new band with Downing called KK'S PRIEST, addressed K.K.'s upcoming induction into the Rock Hall while filming a video message on Cameo, the online platform that allows fans to buy personalized video messages from celebrities. Speaking to a fan named Tom who was celebrating his birthday, Tim said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I know you're a PRIEST fan. Hopefully you'll see K.K. and myself out there doing it. I mean, who knows? Maybe the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame thing will get K.K. back in JUDAS PRIEST. Who really knows what's going on? Which would be fantastic, wouldn't it? But I'd like to see KK'S PRIEST out there touring.

"The thing is we'll do it," Tim continued. "We're just behind on touring because of COVID… What people don't realize is a tour of KK'S PRIEST's size, those kind of tours were booked years ago — years and years ago — before COVID. And then COVID stopped it all. So all the tours like this past year and coming up, pretty much all of these tours were in the works. [It's] hard for a new band to be able to do that. I can get out and do some solo touring because I'm playing clubs in small venues like that — thousand seaters and under; thousand seaters to fifty. [Laughs] But I could do that."

K.K. departed the iconic band 11 years ago but looked back on his time with the British metal titans in his autobiography "Heavy Duty: Days And Nights In Judas Priest", which came out in September 2018. The book, which was written with collaborator Mark Eglinton, covers all of the behind-the-scenes turbulence that led to Downing's exit from PRIEST, including his strained relationship with guitarist Glenn Tipton and his gripes with certain managerial decisions.

This past January, Owens defended Downing over the comments the ex-PRIEST guitarist made about his former bandmates in his autobiography, explaining that Downing is just telling the truth. During an appearance on "The Jasta Show", the podcast hosted by HATEBREED frontman Jamey Jasta, Owens said that Downing had every right to tell his story, including insider details on band collaborations and machinations. "Listen, he just told truths in the book," Owens said. "He told truths, and you get crap for it. Unfortunately, that's what happens. Should he have said all the things? He was hurt. Things happened. It didn't go right. He talked about it in his book. If he didn't tell those things and he made a book that was just about other stuff, people would have said, 'Why didn't he talk about the other stuff?' And then you do the interviews, and people said, 'K.K. needs to stop bringing these points up.' And I'm, like, 'Well, no. He's being asked about these points. And then he's answering the questions.' And then it's on the front of Blabbermouth that whatever…"

According to Owens, tensions between Downing and Tipton had been brewing for quite some time before K.K.'s exit from the group.

"I saw it during [the] 'Demolition' [album cycle]," he said. "We weren't even together hardly at [the time we made] 'Demolition'; it was never Glenn and Ken together ever. I would go to Ken's house on the weekends and we would hang out and have a pint, play some snooker. And it was brewing then. And, obviously, money helps out, so you get Rob back and you get your millions back and you're not playing [smaller venues] anymore."

Tim, who recently launched a new band with K.K. called KK'S PRIEST, went on to say that Downing doesn't ever bring up any grievances with his former bandmates during their interactions. "He still doesn't say bad things about those guys when we're together; he never talks bad about 'em — ever," he said. "You know why? Because I don't ask any questions about it. I'm not the guy interviewing him going, 'So, what did….?' I don't really wanna know — I don't wanna know about it. I read the book. I know what's going on. All that stuff that he talked about, I knew half of it, that went on. But people ask him, so it sounds like he's whining. He doesn't walk into an interview going, 'All right. Let me tell you about the dirty laundry. Let's talk about this.'"

The 2022 Rock Hall induction ceremony will be held on November 5 at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. It will air at a later date on HBO and stream on HBO Max. There will also be a radio simulcast on SiriusXM's Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame Radio channel 310.

Earlier this week, Halford told Rolling Stone that he was open to performing with Downing and Binks at the Rock Hall ceremony. "Absolutely," he said. "As I said before, you've got to push aside anything that gets in the way. You've got to remove the emotional clutter and just reference this great celebration. Otherwise, if you don't do that, and you leave the building, a couple of years later you'll go, 'What the hell? Why didn't we do that?' It's a few hours, but those few hours last forever.

"We've seen it time and time again with the Rock Hall. 'She's coming, he's not coming, why isn't he coming? He said this, and he said that,'" he continued. "All this drama. The music matters. It's all about the music. It's all about the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame induction."

In 2019, Downing said that he reached out to JUDAS PRIEST about taking part in the band's 50th-anniversary tour but that their response was that they were not interested in including him in the celebrations.

In 2018, Downing revealed that he sent two resignation letters to his bandmates when he decided to quit JUDAS PRIEST. The first was described as "a graceful exit note, implying a smooth retirement from music," while the second was "angrier, laying out all of his frustrations with specific parties."

Downing later said that he believed the second letter was "a key reason" he wasn't invited to rejoin PRIEST after Tipton's decision to retire from touring.

PRIEST recruited Owens in 1996 and released two studio albums, 1997's "Jugulator" and 2001's "Demolition", before reuniting with Halford in 2003.