Birmingham Music Heritage‘s heritage film called “Untold Stories” looks at the Birmingham, England music scene between 1965 and 1985, the heyday of Brummie pop and rock.

Lots of interviews and clips make this film a unique story told by the people who were there and made the music.

In part 3 of “Untold Stories”, which can be seen below, original JUDAS PRIEST vocalist Al Atkins, the band’s former manager Dave Corke and others discuss PRIEST‘s early days.

Atkins is the co-writer of several PRIEST songs which are included on the band’s first two albums, “Rocka Rolla” and “Sad Wings of Destiny”, both of which eventually went gold. Atkins co-penned the heavy metal classic “Victim of Changes”, which was a combination of Rob Halford‘s song “Red Light Lady” and Atkins‘ own “Whiskey Woman”. He also co-wrote “Winter”, “Never Satisfied”, “Dreamer Deceiver” and “Caviar and Meths”.

In 1989 Atkins released his debut solo album, “Judgement Day”, to great acclaim. But it was “Heavy Thoughts” and “Victim of Changes” (the latter being his collaborative album with ex-JUDAS PRIEST drummer Dave Holland) that brought him strong sales and critical acclaim around the world.

JUDAS PRIEST bassist Ian Hill penned the foreword to Al Atkins‘s autobiography, titled “Dawn of the Metal Gods: My Life in Judas Priest and Heavy Metal”. The book, which was written with Neil Daniels — a freelance rock writer and heavy metal fan who befriended Atkins during the writing of Neil‘s book “The Story Of Judas Priest: Defenders Of The Faith” (Omnibus Press) — was released in 2009 via Iron Pages.

Commenting on PRIEST‘s decision to embark on one final “farewell” world tour, Atkins said, “It was forty years ago when I first formed [JUDAS PRIEST] alongside [then-]18-year-old K.K. Downing [guitar] and Ian Hill [bass] — doesn’t time fly past you when you’re not looking? — and after four years fronting them, I left, to be replaced by Rob [Halford]. I have watched them grow into the metal gods that they are and can honestly say they deserve everything they have achieved over this time and they will leave us a legacy of great memories and brilliant metal anthems. I wish them all the luck with their ‘Epitaph’ farewell tour.”

Source: Blabbermouth.net