Various Topics on Judas Priest

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ROB HALFORD Says He Will Sing RIPPER-Era JUDAS PRIEST Material - Aug.
18, 2003

JUDAS PRIEST frontman Rob Halford, who recently rejoined the group
after more than 12 years apart, revealed during an online chat Saturday
(August 16) that the songwriting process for PRIEST's next studio album has
already begun. "We are writing now, slowly bit by bit putting the pieces
together," he said. "All I can see is the bar is higher and we will sail
over it! It's all ready to go - my work room is awash in paper! All I can
say is that all the things you have come to expect from PRIEST will be in
the new songs... It's been cool getting the same feelings for songs like I
did before. I thought that might be over - it's not."

When asked if he would be willing to sing, on PRIEST's upcoming
tour, any of the songs written and recorded during the years when the band
were fronted by Halford's replacement, Tim "Ripper" Owens, Rob said, "I will
sing any song by PRIEST [including those from the Ripper era], period."

In a separate chat with Halford manager John Baxter, also
conducted on Saturday, Baxter once again discussed the reasons for the
relatively poor commercial performance of HALFORD's last studio offering,
"Crucible", and the lack of touring in support of it.

"Sanctuary [Records, HALFORD's label] were not there for the
band," John said. "They were more focused on breaking the band up and trying
to reunite JUDAS PRIEST. [HALFORD's 2000 album] 'Resurrection' and the tour
went very well. I worked to make sure of it. When I took over last fall, the
label decided it would dump the band at the curb. That was the difference.
They frustrated every move they could. That's why I stepped in when Rob
threatened to retire in the summer of 2002. 'Crucible' had everything we
needed promotion-wise, but again, folks were more into breaking the band up
in the summer of 2002.

" 'Crucible' is a masterpiece," Baxter continued. "All the
HALFORD records are masterpieces. The band members, Pat [Lachman] and Ray
[Riendeau] included, will always be proud of the work we did that last four
years... 'Crucible' tested very high at radio, etc. We knew we had a great
release. The label [Metal-Is, a division of Sanctuary] didn't know what they
had. They'd only been in business for two to three years. Fact is, the band
needed money and love from a label for it to really have a chance."

With regards to Rob's reunion with JUDAS PRIEST, Baxter said,
"It's all Rob wanted. It was tough to park the HALFORD band, but in this biz
you always do what your artist seriously wants. Rob wanted to be back in
JUDAS PRIEST. We could have produced another great HALFORD recording this or
next year, but Rob wanted to return to PRIEST - JUDAS PRIEST was more
important to Rob. [Repairing the relationships in the band was] what took
them the most time to sort through. It's between four brothers and no one
else. He loves his solo band, but at this point in his life he wanted to be
a part of JUDAS PRIEST. I don't live in his body or mind, but that is what
he desperately wanted."

During the same chat, Baxter revealed plans for HALFORD to
release two DVDs in 2004, with both the "Resurrection" and "Crucible" eras
of the groups extensively represented.

"The first DVD will encomp*** the making of 'Resurrection',
'Live Insurrection' and the 2000/2001 tour, with 'Rock in Rio III' being the
main performance footage," he said. "The second video will encomp*** the
making of 'Crucible', interviews, live performances from Europe, Japan and
the Anaheim June 2003 performance."

With regards to the possibility of releasing a DVD containing
videos from Halford's FIGHT and TWO years, Baxter said, "Rob and I have been
talking that through. There is no reason to mix the HALFORD and FIGHT
material/footage. We'll create a separate package for the FIGHT years. I
feel the FIGHT material warrants some attention. There isn't much TWO
material. That was a very experimental move by Rob."

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On Mon, 18 Aug 2003 19:24:15 -0700, Godless Fur Trapper
<vivalight@yahoo.comwrote:
That is a good question. I didn't think they'd bother with it. Of
course, if you have the Rock in Rio thing by Iron Maiden, Bruce sings
some of the Blaze stuff. (the fans seemed to like the songs, maybe
that album did ok there. It didn't here. Last I heard, something like
98,000, and 55,000 sold in the US.
Of the songs on those albums? I just can't see it. Not if they want
to do a lot of the old cl***ics, and at least 3 or 4 from a new album.
Not unless Rob and the boys can do a 2 hour show these days.
I think what he really says in the text is that he'll sing any era
songs by Judas Priest. That covers a lot of albums and songs. He
doesn't come right out and say they'll do something like Burn in Hell
or anything.

Tom

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That is a good question. I didn't think they'd bother with it. Of IMHO, he does a better job than Blaze does. Blaze is good, no question, but it
just sounds better with Bruce at the helm.

Blaze's current material warrants listening though. If you have the time,
check out Silicon Messiah. I recently dug out my old copy of Wolfsbane's first
album--good stuff. Check it out.
Bring on the Dissident Aggressor already!

I think they should take website submissions from fans about what songs they
want to hear. Compile a killer setlist that might actually change up night
after night...

Chris

The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench. A long plastic hallway
where thieves and pimps run free and good men die like dogs. There's also a
negative side... - Hunter S. Thompson

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On 19 Aug 2003 03:14:29 GMT, radioactivetoy71@aol.comptonthug
(CPardua) wrote:
Yeah, I think he does a better job with it as well, but for me, I'd
rather heard about three songs from the 1982-86 era albums. Maybe four
songs, considering how long Sign of the Cross is.
You should see my to buy list.
That would be nice.
I don't know if they or any band usually changes up the set-list a
lot during the tour. You want songs they can play well, and songs you
want to hear.
There's also a negative side. Killer quote, and so true. I can't
count how many bands have been chewed up and spit out by the record
company.

Tom

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"Godless Fur Trapper" <vivalight@yahoo.comwrote in message
news:tg23kvohamh1f1l79iucn2dhhnqs9actfb@4ax.com... Aug. Look what Bruce did for the Blaze songs in Maiden. Blaze and those songs
were unlistenable and Bruce made at least one of them pretty good. Blaze is
much better on his own since Maiden don't seem to have a clue anymore. Brave
New World was just plain bad and so far, the one song I've heard off of
Dance Of Death is pretty bad as well. Personally I liked the Tim stuff but
Rob can only make it better....possibly by actually singing on them, unlike
Tim's talk through the song with an 'I'm so tough' vocal .

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On 21 Aug 2003 01:39:26 GMT, jgbintb***@aol.comnojunk (Jgbintb***)
wrote:
I don't know what they plan on doing, but they'll probably play at
least 3 or 4 songs from the new album. Then a good 15 of the cl***ics,
and you're talking about a 1 1/2 set list easy. Adding some of the
remaster bonus songs, and doing a song like Heart of a Lion, would
perhaps push that to 2 hours. Can they do a 2 hour show and keep the
energy going? I guess we will have to wait and see.

Tom