Guitarhoo! recently conducted an interview with former JUDAS PRIEST guitarist Kenneth “K.K.” Downing. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.
Guitarhoo!: What led to the formation of JUDAS PRIEST?
Downing: As I have said many times, JUDAS PRIEST were a very fine blues band led mainly by Al Atkins, but after tragically losing their guitarist, they disbanded. I auditioned for the job, but I wasn’t a blues player. Later, Al was at the rehearsal rooms and saw what me, Ian Hill and drummer John Ellis were doing. Al consented to joining so, JUDAS PRIEST #2 was born. Al was excellent as he never tried to push us in the blues direction but instead got right on board with us, going forward to the new direction we were pursuing.
Guitarhoo!: Was JUDAS PRIEST referred to as a heavy metal band since the beginning, if not what genre title was the band associated with?
Downing: To start with I think we were known as progressive blues, then progressive, then rock, then hard rock, then heavy rock, then heavy metal. All in a space of about five years.
Guitarhoo!: On the last JUDAS PRIEST album, “Nostradamus”, it’s nothing like anything the band has put out before. The lush textures, epic symphonic arrangements interwoven with the metal groovin’ guitars, and a concept theme about 16th-century writer Nostradamus. Who in the band initiated the concept and direction of this album?
Downing: After we discussed things, we all felt that it was an opportunity to get a lot more out of our system. I think we were also quite excited to be able to show we were musically more proficient than some people thought.
Guitarhoo!: How long did you work on the album from beginning to end?
Downing: I think it came together quite quickly considering the size of the project. Not sure how long it took exactly.
Guitarhoo!: Do you have a home studio? Can you give us a rundown of some of the gear you prefer to record with?
Downing: Yes, I do most of my work at home. I think I’m like a lot players who change gear every year as we are all trying to get things better and better. I can’t remember being ecstatic about any of my sounds when recording. Yet, when the album is finished I am often delighted on how good it is.
Guitarhoo!: After being one of the founding members of PRIEST and having a long successful career with the band, you retired in 2011. What brought about your decision?
Downing: There had been an ongoing breakdown in working relationships between myself, elements of the band and management for some time.
Guitarhoo!: Looking back at your career so far, what are some of your fondest memories?
Downing: I can’t really list the highs or lows as there have been too many to mention. Except for getting to where I am, and it is all thanks to the loyal fans.
Video footage of an extended five-minute jam from guitarist Richie Faulkner of British heavy metal legends JUDAS PRIEST in which he demonstrates the new 57 and 66 pickups from EMG can be seen below. Also available is a previously released clip of Faulkner introducing the new EMG pickups.
In a 2011 interview with Ultimate-Guitar.com, Faulkner stated about the task of replacing original PRIEST guitarist Kenneth “K.K.” Downing, “First of all, it was a huge honor just to be even considered. I’ve been a fan of the band for years, and so it was a bit of a double-edged sword, really; it was a great opportunity for me as a guitar player and as a fan, but at the same time he was one of my heroes and didn’t want to do it anymore. It was a double-edged sword, really, but I’ve always said to people, as a fan myself, I know what fans expect. JUDAS PRIEST wanted to carry on and they were asking me to join to be able to carry on, so it was a no-brainer in my mind. One of the guys who was my idol had left, and you have to respect the guys’ decision. The band wanted to carry on, and again it was a great honor to do it and it was a great honor to be put forward. I’m not there to replace a forty-year career; Ken‘s career was influential, and before those two guys came out and did that style of guitar, there weren’t many people doing it. He was a guitar hero idol of mine, and I’m not there to replace any of that. I know as a fan what the fans expect, and I’m just there to do the best I can for the band and the fans.”
When asked about the fan reaction to his addition to JUDAS PRIEST, Faulkner said, “Initially I think people were sceptical, which is natural, really. I think I would’ve been sceptical because right up until Ken‘s departure, it was like that for forty years, and if something changes, people’s first reactions tend to be an unsure one. When people are unsure, they’re fearful of the outcome. We’re through the worst, and as I said, people are skeptical, but we knew that as soon as we got out and did the first couple of shows and went from there that the fans would see with their own eyes and their own ears that the band is fine and that it’s a good fit. Hats off to the fans, really, for giving it that chance; they still got their tickets and gave the band a chance, and hopefully they weren’t and won’t be disappointed. They’ve been fantastic, and with every show that we do, the more of an amazing welcome reaction I get. A big thank you to them really for giving me the chance and the band a chance.”
ANNIHILATOR has posted footage online of the band covering JUDAS PRIEST‘s ‘Hell Bent For Leather’ in Tokyo, when the band toured Japan in 1993.
Bassist Wayne Darley could not make it into Japan (and this ended his tenure in the band) so rhythm guitarist Dave Davis had to literally learn the bass parts in a day in a hotel room. Jeff Waters had to figure out how to play two-guitar songs with one guitar. Sloppy performance, but it is live and understandable considering the loss of the bass player.
This was a very successful short tour for the band and led to Annihilator’s biggest selling tour and CD in 1995, King Of The Kill.
Note that Waters gets crushed at the end. He quickly admitted after the show “that was one of the stupidest things I’ve ever done; 3000 kids pushing towards me!”
Going back in time some more, the following video showcases Annihilator live in Japan in 1995. The band, consisting of Jeff Waters on guitar/vocals, Dave Davis on guitar, Cam Dixon on bass and Randy Black on the drums, perform ‘Set The World On Fire’, ‘Knight Jumps Queen’, and ‘Bad Child’.
The blast from the past continues with this rare footage from the King Of The Kill tour in Japan in 1995; Annihilator play ‘Snake In The Grass’, ‘Only Be Lonely’, and ‘Second To None’.
Valley Of Shadows is the second album from the ATKINS MAY PROJECT, featuring original JUDAS PRIEST singer Al Atkins and Christian guitarist Paul May (TEMPLE DOGS), which will be released in November.
About the Atkins/May Project, Atkins told BraveWords.com recently:
“”It’s completely different. Because I am not that much involved with the writing side. A lot of credit of this album goes to Paul May. It’s been an absolute revelation for me lately because in the last year I’ve been a bit idle I must admit and the phone has been ringing, ‘Can you guest on my album?’ And I needed a kick up my ass to get me writing again myself. But it’s been absolutely brilliant because of Paul May; I met up with him when I split up with Holy Rage just over a year ago. He said, ‘Can you help me do some vocals on the album?’ And I said, ‘Yeah sure, Paul.’ He’s been a great friend of mine for over twenty years. I went in singing a couple of tracks and I ended up doing the whole album. It was absolutley fantastic. There’s a lot people who really don’t make it big time who should have and Paul is one of those guys. He should have made it along time ago. I must give a lot of credit to Paul on the album.”
Indian horror metal band ALBATROSS have recorded the classic JUDAS PRIEST song ‘Night Crawler’. The song is from the legendary British metal band’s Painkiller album, released in 1990. The track has been released for free streaming at http://soundcloud.com/albatrosshorror/albatross-night-crawler.
The track has been recorded, mixed and mastered by Sahil ‘Demonstealer’ Makhija at Demonic Studios, Mumbai. The two release old band is part of the country’s young and budding old school metal scene.
Bassist Dr. Hex says, ‘We’ve kept the basic essence of the song as it is, as one does not meddle with the mighty Priest. While we’ve downtuned the guitars, and added one solo (or two) here and there, the structure of the song remains the same. I had the opportunity to catch Judas Priest on their farewell tour in Singapore and it remains the best show I’ve ever attended. In a way, this is almost like our farewell present to them. Us in the heavy metal community and in particular Albatross, owe so much to Priest- from the high pitched vocals, to the twin guitar leads, to thundering drums, to borderline horror themes. We also bought some new guitars recently, so this was the perfect outlet to try them out.‘
ALBATROSS hail from Mumbai and earlier this year unleashed their EP The Kissing Flies, which features Nik Stalvind from Swedish metal band WOLF on the song ‘Uncle Sunny At The Tavern.’ The EP was released as a split with US based doomsters VESTAL CLARET on Roadcrew Records. They followed it up with a multi city tour across India, culminating in Bangalore Open Air, an event supported by Wacken Open Air.
Check out the new version of ‘Night Crawler’ below:
Albatross
For more information check out ALBATROSS on their Facebook page.
JUDAS PRIEST‘s “Screaming For Vengeance – Special 30th Anniversary Edition” sold 3,800 copies in the United States in its first week of release to land at position No. 98 on The Billboard 200 chart.
A vital part of rock history, British heavy metal legends JUDAS PRIEST have spent four decades writing classic songs and putting on spectacular live shows. During this period, the band has sold in excess of 30 million albums, and played to countless millions of fans across the globe. In 1982, they released their eighth studio album, “Screaming For Vengeance”, containing their hugely successful “You’ve Got Another Thing Comin'”, the single which proved that metal could get mainstream radio airplay in the U.S. — leading the way for a whole generation of new metal bands.
To celebrate the 30-year anniversary of this epic release, JUDAS PRIEST present you with “Screaming For Vengeance – Special 30th Anniversary Edition”, containing not only the remastered original album plus bonus tracks, but also a live DVD from the 1983 US Festival show, filmed in San Bernadino, California on May 29, 1983.
The US Festival was intended to be a celebration of evolving technologies; a marriage of music, computers, television and people — organized by Steve Wozniak, formerly of Apple.
The “Screaming For Vengeance – Special 30th Anniversary Edition” live DVD was filmed at the second, and what turned out to be last, US Festival in 1983. The Sunday was the Heavy Metal Day. “It was the day new wave died and rock ‘n’ roll took over.” It set the single-day concert attendance record for the U.S. with an estimated 375,000 people.
CD track listing:
01. The Hellion
02. Electric Eye
03. Riding On The Wind
04. Bloodstone
05. (Take These) Chains
06. Pain And Pleasure
07. Screaming For Vengeance
08. You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’
09. Fever
10. Devil’s Child
Bonus tracks:
11. Electric Eye (live) *
12. Riding On The Wind (live) *
13. You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’ (live) *
14. Screaming For Vengeance (live) *
15. Devil’s Child (live)
16. Prisoner Of Your Eyes
* Live from the San Antonio Civic Center – September 10, 1982
DVD track listing:
US Festival Show – San Bernadino, California – May 29, 1983
01. Electric Eye
02. Riding On The Wind
03. Heading Out To The Highway
04. Metal Gods
05. Breaking The Law
06. Diamonds And Rust
07. Victim Of Changes
08. Living After Midnight
09. The Green Manalishi (with the two-pronged crown)
10. Screaming For Vengeance
11. You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’
12. Hell Bent For Leather
* Plus booklet featuring photos from Mark Weiss and sleeve notes written by Eddie Trunk (long-standing and well-respected U.S. rock journo, author, radio and TV presenter)
“Screaming For Vengeance” track-by-track commentary from JUDAS PRIEST singer Rob Halford:
“The Hellion” (instrumental): “We’d never done that type of opening before. And obviously it came from Glenn [Tipton, guitarist] and Ken [K.K. Downing, then-guitarist] at the time. I can’t really remember how it came together in the studio, was it one person? Was it collective? I don’t know. But we were always experimenting, always trying to do something that we hadn’t done previously. We were inspired by what Brian May was doing with a lot of the QUEEN stuff. We’ve always been big fans of QUEEN. But Brian was doing those same types of multi-guitar track things. As you get a bit more experienced in a band, you understand the value of setting the scene — we quickly thought, ‘We can use this as an intro tape.’ And we did. In terms of setup, in terms of getting an audience’s attention, it just works magically, even now, when we did it at our last show at Hammersmith [in May 2012] — once you start it, the audience just grabs onto it right away.”
“Electric Eye”: “I love the rhythmic set up on that song. Emotionally again, it starts roaring right from the opening bars. We’re a metal band and if you’re that sort of band it’s important that you make sure you have that type of attitude and approach within your first two or three tracks. It reinforces who you are and what you’re trying to do. The way that ‘Electric Eye’ kicks off is very much a statement, an assertive statement… It’s a really good song and I think it’s just got the attitude and the in-your-face drama that PRIEST has always tried to put forward.”
“Riding On The Wind”: “I love the way ‘Electric Eye’ and ‘Riding On The Wind’ bash into each other. ‘Riding’ starts with that drum passage, that clattering, and then it just really roars off. It’s probably a stronger statement in terms of metal than ‘Electric Eye’ is musically. It just has a wonderful sense of being determined and having that type of strong and forceful attitude to it. It’s about shooting for the stars. It pertains a bit to being on a bike, riding on the wind, that sort of thing. Lyrically I was trying to take the atmosphere of a lightning storm, or a hurricane, and riding on it and grabbing hold of it. It’s a glorious statement in terms of metal.”
“Bloodstone”: “I know I keep saying this, but I love the way that song starts. It’s got a really cool riff that Glenn came up with. Each of the tracks on the record start off with either an individual riff or something of a musical melodic passage that kind of sets the scene before the rest of the song kicks in. It’s got a great breakdown, this kind of rhythm where – I don’t know whether [then-drummer] Dave Holland came up with it — it’s got that ‘k-chonk k-chonk k-chonk’ thing between the vocal phrases after the second line. Then he kind of snaps with the rhythmic ‘k-chonk’ and it’s a very unusual arrangement. It’s a little bit paranoid, because it talks about waking up in the night and being afraid of the game going on around you — I have no idea what that really means looking back!”
“(Take These) Chains” :”This was written by [CEILI RAIN vocalist] Bob Halligan, Jr., a songwriter discovered by Columbia in America. We ended up doing a few of his songs over the years. The label knew we’d recorded other people’s songs before, and I think they must’ve had discussions saying, ‘Well, at least the guys can understand the importance and value of what a song that could work on rock radio could do for them.’ They just sent the demo over and we immediately warmed to it. Again, I think whatever we’ve done in terms of a cover, we’ve had to fully understand that it can be given the PRIEST signature musically. It’s a wonderful song in terms of composure and the riffage in it. For the first time, maybe after what we were doing with [1981 album] ‘Point Of Entry’, we were feeling a bit more comfortable with talking about songs that dealt with relationships — it’s not really seen as a metal thing is it? But even metalheads have boyfriends and girlfriends.”
“Pain And Pleasure”: “I think we were drunk the night we wrote this. Really fucked up. I was out of my fucking tree! When you get drunk, some people get violent, some people get giggly and some people get horny — and I just generally got very horny. That’s just how I was in those days. Suddenly it’s a complete change of tempo and emotion. It’s a very simple song rhythmically, but you’re kind of delving into a little bit of S&M with the ‘You give me pain but you bring me pleasure…’ line. That was the reason why we were attracted to the message in that song, we were fully ensconced in that leather image by that point. I love the slide guitar on that record, that’s very much in the blues world, there’s a portion of the blues that has that type of thing going for it.”
“Screaming For Vengeance”: “It’s very unusual. It starts instrumentally in a very unusual tempo and the riffs and everything… it’s not quite thrash, but it’s got that attitude about it. It’s really full-on and I get to use a voice that I don’t really use on the other tracks. Everything goes into top gear and I think it’s a wonderful complement to the way ‘Pain And Pleasure’ has been slugging along like an 18-wheeler. Then suddenly the thing lifts off again — it’s easily the fastest song on the record.”
“You’ve Got Another Thing Comin'”: “That song has had a second lease of life because it’s on one of the ‘Guitar Hero’ games. I met a guy recently whose 14-year-old son’s favorite song is ‘Another Thing Comin”, and he got to it via ‘Guitar Hero’. It’s is a song that’s transcended from place to place. It goes from a record onto radio, onto a cassette player, then onto a CD, and then to an MP3 and then to a video game. That’s a blessing for musicians, really, that your songs reach people through ways that ordinarily you wouldn’t imagine.”
“Fever”: “I love the floaty, ethereal opening sequence. It’s got a wonderful tone to it. It’s got all these big multi-vocal tracks and this very dreamy landscape musically to it. I know that at the time we wrote it, Glenn and Ken were always being offered these new types of pedal board switches that would change the sound of the guitar. Some of the gear that was sent over at the time made the guitars sound like I’d never heard them before. It’s, again, a lonesome, plaintive song. You get the image of this kind of… if you have an argument with somebody, sometimes you just like to slam out the house and just take a walk at night and I think that’s what that song is. It’s a contemplation song. It’s got this type of emotional relationship setup in it. It’s like lost love. It’s a plaintive call to fix something that’s broken.”
“Devil’s Child”: “Again, it’s a strong statement and I think whereas ‘Fever’ is a bit plaintive — maybe a little bit full of, not self-pity, but that kind of emotion — this is just the opposite. This is the real stuff, when you meet someone and your head blows off. It’s a very secure, aggressive statement about meeting somebody that has a twisted side. It’s got that wonderful rolling guitar riff on the chorus, that nice, flowing, almost picking groove to it. It’s a great way to end the album.”
THE ROCK ALCHEMIST – Italian Rock Band from Turin with a strong sonic identity that blends modern rock with progressive, hard, alternative, and pop elements!
Kimmo Kuusniemi’s SARCOFAGUS return with a Historic 2010 Concert Video Premiere on YouTube! Click image to watch the video
