TIM 'RIPPER' OWENS Says He Was 'Confident' When He Joined JUDAS PRIEST: 'I Knew That I Could Sing Really Good'

In a new interview with The Vinyl Guide podcast, former JUDAS PRIEST singer Tim "Ripper" Owens reflected on how he joined the band in 1996 after being discovered when PRIEST drummer Scott Travis was given a videotape of Tim performing with the PRIEST cover band BRITISH STEEL. JUDAS PRIEST at the time was seeking a replacement for Rob Halford, who has since rejoined the band. Asked what kind of advice or preparation he had for stepping into those shoes, Owens said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Well, listen, I was confident. They were confident with my voice. I knew some fans wouldn't like me, but I also knew that I could sing really good, and I could sing really good live. One advantage I felt I had as a singer was I could sing what I recorded in the studio; whatever I recorded, I'm gonna be able to sing that live. And I felt when fans came to the show, they would be happy that they have someone who's coming in the JUDAS PRIEST that could still keep the voice going. So if someone didn't like me, there's nothing I could do. K.K. [Downing, then-PRIEST guitarist] used to always say, ''The proof is in the pudding. Come to the show and see.' And I think a lot of people used to come to the shows and they just couldn't wait to hate me. They hated me showing up and wanted me to fail. And so many of 'em, I'd win 'em over when I started singing, because they could tell that I loved it; I loved what I was singing, and I wanted to do the songs justice. So I always felt confident."

Addressing the fact that the two albums PRIEST recorded with Owens — 1997's "Jugulator" and 2001's "Demolition" — sold poorly, and he was ultimately pushed out to clear the way for the return of Halford, Tim said: "It was a really bad time of heavy metal. So it wasn't like I joined them in the heyday. I mean, when Rob left JUDAS PRIEST, they were playing in front of a couple thousand people on the 'Painkiller' tour, a lot of shows So, it really wasn't a great time of heavy metal. So I understood that, and I understood people would want Rob back. But all I cared about was getting on stage and sound[ing good]. I just wanted the band to be happy and me to be happy with me doing it. That's all I worried about."

He added: "I know a lot of the the musicians at the time, especially the hair metal bands, because hair metal was gone at that time, they hated me in L.A., 'cause they were, like, 'Who's this guy? He comes from Akron, Ohio. What's he done? How's he here?' And I still am the same Ohio guy, [with the] same friends. I have the same attitude. And all of us are the same. I tell musicians this all the time: we're all the same. I mean, nothing different."

Asked if he had any sort of communication or relation with Halford at that time, Owens said: "No, just in the press. They always tried to get us to say mean things and bad things. And every now and then, one of us would say something. Now, this was pre-Internet. So, I couldn't imagine doing that nowadays, how screwed up it would be. But, no, because there was a respect. I don't think Rob liked me much, probably at the time, because someone's going to his band, his songs and singing this, but we always had this respect. And when we met each other, we always had great talks. And I think it made a lot of people mad that we liked each other. I think it made a lot of people mad, and I think it still does. But whenever I've seen him, I love talking to him, and he knows what's going on with me, and he's, like, 'Oh, I see that you're playing in Russia,' whatever."

Tim continued: "Back in those days, [journalists] would have the old tape recorder hidden. Now they could just turn their phone on, and no one would know it. But you would do an interview, and then they go, 'All right, the interview's over.' And then they'd turn the tape recorder off, but they'd have another one going in their pocket trying to get you to say stuff. And you know this, doing interviews, you get people to feel comfortable so you talk like you're friends. And then you just start saying stuff. And I put my foot in my mouth a few times. Oh, now I do all the time, because now — I always do."

When The Vinyl Guide host noted that his podcast is generally kept "gossip-free" and he doesn't try to elicit "clickbait" headlines out of his interview subjects, Owens said: "But you don't even have to do that because, even this conversation we can have, Blabbermouth will make drama out of something I said. It's just normal — [I could say] one line that isn't bad, but they could make it sound bad. 'Cause some people won't even go look at the interview; they'll just look at that line in the headline and go, 'Tim says that Rob didn't like him.' Not saying [anything else about] what we just talked about.'

Tim continued: "But anyways, it's good to have [a gossip-free show], because there's enough of that shit on the Internet now and on social media, why should we talk about the negative stuff or try to bring out that kind of stuff? I mean, listen, social media, everybody knows everything, all the fans know what I should look like and write like and give me career advice. I get career advice every day by someone who flips burgers, but they give me career advice every day. And it's, like, 'Why do you do this? You should do this.' I'm, like, 'What do you do?' So we could just talk about the good stuff."

Asked if there is a classic Halford-era PRIEST song that is extraordinarily hard for him to sing, Owens said: "I haven't sang them all. The ones I've done, 'Metal Meltdown''s a little harder, I guess. But I try to sing these songs exactly how they were recorded in the studio. Rob has an advantage. He can change 'em, 'cause they're his songs. So he doesn't actually sing 'em like they were sung in the studio, which most people should do that. I'm forcing myself to try to do it. But I think I probably have a harder time with a few of the ones I wrote — 'Blood Stained' or some of the other things. 'The Sentinel' can be tough to sing. But, again, I'm not doing all the stuff. I can 100% guarantee there's some tough ones. As you get older, I mean, now that I'm 57, but I'm singing right now as good as I've ever sang, so I'm kind of lucky. But I probably have a little more trouble with some KK'S PRIEST songs, 'cause I wrote 'em. Singers always write to the top of their ability — not always, but sometimes — and that's when you get yourself in trouble."

This past January, Owens was asked by The Metal Voice if he thinks the two albums that he has done with KK'S PRIEST so far would have been "a total game changer" if they were released under the JUDAS PRIEST name back in the 1990s and early 2000s instead of "Jugulator" and "Demolition". He responded: "I don't think it would have been. I think it was the time we were at. I think if we released 'Jugulator' and 'Demolition' right now, it would be totally different, in my opinion. Because metal was so bad [back in the 1990s]. Bands were playing in smaller places. At the end of JUDAS PRIEST, on the 'Painkiller' tour, they were playing in front of a thousand people in Europe and stuff; I mean, it was a totally different kind of an animal. In 2000 or so, when it started coming back, you started seeing it. Now you get [IRON] MAIDEN and PRIEST out there still selling out these big concerts — well, MAIDEN selling out their really big concerts. And I think those records… It's hard to replace somebody like [Rob Halford]. I don't care how great the records would have been. [The fans] still want Rob, just like people still yell that they want Ken [former JUDAS PRIEST and current KK'S PRIEST guitarist Kenneth 'K.K.' Downing] in PRIEST. I mean, that's a normal thing. But I think no matter what we would have released, I don't think it would have [been received much better]. It would have been about the same."

Owens was also asked if his lack of songwriting contributions to PRIEST was primarily the result of the fact that he was the "new guy" in the band, Owens said: "Oh, exactly. You're joining JUDAS PRIEST. At the end, I did wanna write. I came to the table with a few songs; 'Scream Machine' [which appeared on the 2006 album from his BEYOND FEAR project] was one of them, actually, which would have probably been one of the better JUDAS PRIEST songs on those records. But it's JUDAS PRIEST. It's K.K. You know what I mean? You just go with it, and I was fine with how everything went. I loved the records, and I learned a lot from working with Glenn [Tipton, PRIEST guitarist] and Ken, and working in the studio. I learned a lot."

In September 2023, Owens spoke to Cassius Morris about his relationship with Halford. He said: "I think it made people very angry that there never really was [a rivalry between us]. I mean, there was a little bit of things said back in the day, but we've always been friends and I've always respected him, obviously. And he's always talked well about me in the press. So I think it does make people mad that that they're that we don't hate each other and we say bad things. But we definitely consider each other friends and there's respect there."

Asked if he thinks there is a chance of PRIEST staging a one-off reunion concert featuring all current and former members of the band, including Owens and Downing, Tim said: "Should there be? Yes. Will there be? I don't think so. I don't think they would ever do it. They don't seem to make those kind of good decisions, so I don't think it would happen. I mean, this is a band that went to one guitar player [in 2022]" he added, referencing the fact that PRIEST announced it would tour with one guitarist before quickly reversing its decision and going back to the two-guitar format. "So I really don't think that that it would happen."

He continued: "I think it would be great if they got Ken back and they did a tour. I think the world would love to see that especially. Me? It definitely is not gonna happen, I wouldn't think. But I think fans would love it. I think it'd be great and it would be fun… but I don't think it'll ever happen."

Three years ago, Owens told Pierre Gutiérrez of Rock Talks that it didn't "make sense" JUDAS PRIEST to not perform any songs from the two albums he recorded with the band — the aforementioned "Jugulator" and "Demolition" — during the group's then-ongoing 50th-anniversary tour. "I mean, it was JUDAS PRIEST," he said. "Listen, you're celebrating 50 years of JUDAS PRIEST, but you're leaving out 10 years of it. The thing is Rob would sound so awesome… Could you imagine Rob singing 'Burn In Hell'? Holy crap, it would sound fantastic. So, there's nothing wrong with sticking 'Burn In Hell' in a setlist. It was right in the middle there, so… I don't know.

"It's amazing JUDAS PRIEST has never done it," Owens continued. "They don't always have to do it, but it's amazing that they've never done it. I mean, Rob supposedly has never heard my era of JUDAS PRIEST, and it's kind of all right because I've never actually listened to his solo stuff except FIGHT, so we're kind of even on it. After FIGHT, I've not really listened to his stuff either, so it's kind of all right.

"When I was in JUDAS PRIEST, I didn't listen to a lot of stuff so I really didn't listen to the HALFORD stuff — unless somebody had it on somewhere," Tim explained.

"I love Rob — Rob is a friend and a mentor and an idol. Rob Halford and Ronnie James Dio are the two guys that really inspired me. So it's nothing against anything, really. It's not that I didn't want to [listen to his solo stuff]; I just never did. It was kind of, like, 'I'm in JUDAS PRIEST. There's no need.' But after I left, I listened to the JUDAS PRIEST records. Whether I liked them or not, I listened to 'em."

In September 2021, Rob was asked by Classic Rock magazine if he has listened to "Demolition" and "Jugulator". "No. I still haven't," he said. "This might sound selfish, but because it's not me singing, I'm not attracted to it. I sound like a twat, but I'm really just not interested. And that's no disrespect to Ripper, 'cause he's a friend of mine."

Halford went on to say that he first met Owens "when the band went through Ohio, [and Tim] came to the show. Was it awkward? Not in the least," he said. "We gave each other a hug. He's a massive PRIEST fan, and when the opportunity came for me to go back, he was, like, 'Thumbs up, it's great. I'm happy for the band, I'm happy for Rob.' I respect his chops; he's a great singer."

In a 2000 interview, Halford explained why he was reluctant to hear "Jugulator". "It's just too difficult for me to listen to the band when I'm not in it, and that's nothing to do with taking a shot at Ripper," he said. "I just can't listen to it. It's just psychological. I should just put it on and listen to the fucking thing, but then if I do, [interviewers] will say, 'Well have you heard it?', and I'll go, 'Yeah', and then you'll go, 'What do you think?', and I don't want to do that. I don't want to be put in that situation. I just love all the things that I've done with the band and I'm happy to be a part of that great legacy and that's all. You want to treat it with respect because that's what it deserves."

In October 2020, Halford told "The SDR Show" that he would "absolutely" be open to performing material from "Demolition" and "Jugulator" with PRIEST. "Those two albums are just as valid as everything else in the PRIEST catalog," he explained. "So who knows? That day may yet come."

In 2019, Owens told Ultimate Guitar that he believes his era of JUDAS PRIEST is largely overlooked. "Yeah, I think it definitely deserves more [attention]," he said. "I mean, they don't do anything. [Laughs] It's kind of amazing that they just totally erased it that they won't play... I mean, 'Burn In Hell' [off 'Jugulator'], the crowd would like to hear 'Burn In Hell'.

"They don't have to give me a tribute or anything, but it would be nice to play a song from... You know, that was a pretty big thing, I did two studio records, two live records, and a DVD, starting from '96 to 2004. So it's kind of crazy that it's just been erased and they won't even play a song from it live, because it is JUDAS PRIEST."

In October 2019, JUDAS PRIEST guitarist Richie Faulkner said that "Hell Is Home" is one of his favorite songs from the Owens era. The PRIEST guitarist, who joined the band in 2011 as the replacement for K.K. Downing, offered his opinion during a live video chat. He said: "I was listening to the Ripper albums the other day, and 'Hell Is Home' is such a great track. It's really heavy and the vocal melody is really great. I think Ripper sings it really well. It's probably one of my favorite PRIEST songs of the Ripper era. 'Hell Is Home' — I really like that."

"Demolition" and "Jugulator" are included on "50 Heavy Metal Years Of Music", JUDAS PRIEST's limited-edition box set which contains every official live and studio album to date plus 13 unreleased discs. Released in October 2021, it is the most extensive release of previously unreleased music the band has made from its vast archives.