Metal Anarchy

During a recent appearance on “Rock Of Nations With Dave Kinchen And Shane McEachern,” former Judas Priest guitarist K.K. Downing further opened up about the lack of effort to get him back in the band. He also decided to take a shot at bassist Ian Hill, saying “how can Ian, the bass player that’s never written any songs, deny [him] the opportunity of being in the band?.’”

Downing said the following:

“Well, I asked them if they want me to step back into the role a couple of times in writing, and the answer came back, ‘No.’ So it is what it is. And then I went, ‘Okay, fine. Then I will start [a new] band,’ and that’s what I’ve done [with KK’S PRIEST]. And now I’m pretty happy, really, because I’ve rediscovered… I mean, I used to write all the material for the band back in the late ’60s, early ’70s and I forgot what it was like to be… It’s kind of nice to put material down and just say what goes and what doesn’t yourself, without having to collaborate and everything takes so long. It’s great just to get on with it.”

He continued:

“Honestly, the worst thing about the whole thing is that Ian has denied me the opportunity to step back into the band. I mean, we went to kindergarten together; we were like brothers. And we spent many years at the back of the bus complaining about everybody else. [Laughs] I always thought it was me and him for many years. But I just don’t know how that can happen, like I say. And Rob [Halford, vocals] left the band for 14 years. And when I was instrumental in inviting him back into the band. How can he deny me the opportunity to go on stage and play my songs? They’re saying, ‘We’re gonna do it, but you can’t.’ Because Ian and Rob never wrote any of the music for this band.”

He also added the following when asked if management had an influence on Hill:

“Something’s wrong somewhere. It doesn’t make sense. How can Ian, the bass player that’s never written any songs, deny me the opportunity of being in the band? All of those years, and I’ve written all of those songs and riffs, but how can he stand over there and play bass and not allow me to play the guitar to those songs? It doesn’t make any sense. And it doesn’t make any sense not to have the original guy back from the trademark lineup. It doesn’t make any sense. Am I that bad? [Laughs] But anyway, so I’ve gone ahead and made two albums [with KK’S PRIEST] in two years, and those guys have done two albums in 14 years. I just don’t get it. I don’t get it.”

“Well, somebody out there has decided that ‘I am gonna change history and I’m gonna be the one that’s gonna decide what the fans hear and what they don’t and who they see and who they don’t.’ Somebody in that band is making those decisions. But they only have it on their conscience, really, because we all know what the fans… I mean, [former PRIEST vocalist Tim] Ripper [Owens] is a great singer and he made two great albums with us. We did so many tours and he’s a lovely guy and he’s great, but the fan demand to have Rob back in the band was just too overwhelming, really, because Rob, I guess, their assertion is Rob is the voice of the band, just like Freddie Mercury with QUEEN or Bruce [Dickinson] with [IRON] MAIDEN, and the list goes on and on and on. So that’s undeniable. And I think that Tim would be the first to acknowledge that and get that. Even if he sang the songs better, as we spoke, Rob is the voice of JUDAS PRIEST. But now gladly Ripper is the voice of KK’S PRIEST, because that guy is singing so much better than even I’ve ever heard him before. It’s fantastic. So I’m so fortunate to have him back in the saddle with us.”

He also commented on the possibility of rejoining the band for a new album if given the opportunity:

“One thing’s for sure: that will never happen ever… I know Glenn’s retired from touring. But whether he can write and record, I don’t know. I haven’t had an update on Glenn’s health, sadly. I really don’t know. But it’s only because I’m so close and in the industry, I heard an awful lot of things from a long time ago, but, like I say, unconfirmed.

I would have to say, at this point. I spent a lot of time and effort trying to work things out in a way. It’s pretty complicated stuff. Like I say, I wasn’t happy with a lot of things. The 50th-anniversary book and everything that’s done, I don’t get anything, any money from any of that whatsoever. So it gets tough to see all the merchandise with all these images that I paid for and was a part of creating, a lot of these images. It gets very commercial, the whole thing, and maybe that’s what it’s all about anyway. The first three, four years of JUDAS PRIEST, the 50 years, Glenn and Rob weren’t there, so how does it become a 50th-anniversary book if you don’t include the first years? And it wasn’t right to do that. And they asked the fans to pay five hundred dollars for a book that’s not accurate. But there’s so many things, grievances, it gets to be a quagmire.

In 2010, we all, as friends, as directors of the company, as businessmen, as bandmates, all of that, we all decided to end the band. We all decided to retire in 2010. The management — and I’ve got the e-mails — said, ‘We need you to think of a tour title that means the definitive end of the band.’ So the tour title was the ‘Epitaph’ tour. So, because of certain circumstances, I was being asked to write an EP to support the tour. So I’m saying, ‘So you want me to end my career on an EP? I’m not gonna do it.’ So, there was a lot of disgruntlement then, and I eventually went, ‘Right. If nobody’s gonna listen to me, you can do the farewell tour on your own. I’m not doing it.’ And so I opted out to do the farewell tour. 15 years later, it’s easy to say now, but if the idea was then to carry on, I should have known about it, I should have been told about it. Or at least if the option was that they were gonna carry on, I should have had the option to… They should have said, ‘We’re carrying on. Will you step back in?’”

“But then they quickly announced, and maybe they were surprised that Richie [Faulkner, Downing’s replacement in PRIEST] would bring a newfound energy to the band, because that’s what they said in statements to the press. And they also said, ‘Well, none of the fans are missing K.K.’ so maybe they felt — I don’t know — reborn without me. Which is a bit odd, because I actually felt at the time, in 2010, that I was the energy in the band, that everybody else seemed to just go through the motions. I didn’t know about Glenn’s illness at the time. But something didn’t seem right. I do know that Rob released two studio albums in 2010 and did a world tour, including the Ozzfest, singing JUDAS PRIEST songs, and everybody was in fear that he was gonna take off again. So we thought that all of these reasons were why we needed to fold the tent, really, on JUDAS PRIEST. And that’s what we planned. Someone moved the goalpost on me, I’m afraid.”

When the interviewers mentioned that they missed Downing, he added:

“Thank you so much, guys. And I can understand why. I was there so long. [Laughs] I was like an old shoe or a wart on your neck or something. I was a part of life. The last tour that they just did, I saw the setlist and they were playing one song off the last two albums. All the rest were my songs.

I can only surmise that there’s commercial aspects [that are standing in the way of me returning to PRIEST] and just… I don’t know. I don’t know. Maybe Glenn didn’t really ever want me to be there and him not to be there. I don’t know. Maybe he saw that as an end of an era, and I think he’s right, as far as I’m concerned.”

[via Blabbermouth]