is the best record we've made in years
and that they listened to it front to end.
And that's the whole point isn't it?
NOT IN THE BOX
PART 2
Continued from page 24
Record & CD
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matter what it was; one note, two notes,
anything. That kind of took any pressure
off Ritchie's back that he could speak of
with his guitar. As a writing trio, and if
I'm not wrong, I think we're probably
the only band in metal that has a trio as
a writing team. I can't think of anybody
else, especially with two guitarists and a
singer. We always felt that's what works
best for us. It's a really exciting environment to have; two lead guitar players in
the room at the same time while you're
writing.
IE: The new album contains 13 tracks,
with an additional five "bonus tracks."
They're all strong songs for sure, but
were you in the least bit concerned that
it would be too much material on a single disc in this "short attention-span
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46 illinoisentertainer.com september 2014
IE: Speaking of books, you're an avid
reader. What are you saying lyrically on
on the new album?
RH: Oh, I'm all over the place. My bookreading is pretty diverse as well. In the
eighties, the vast majority of hard rock
and metal was pretty linear. There wasn't that much sense of adventure in the
messages. But Priest has always tried to
keep you entertained, I suppose, and
tried to keep you interested. I'd like to
think that when people hear my words,
they are interesting. When you hear
"Halls Of Valhalla," you're in the middle
of the North Sea in a gale and you're just
rocking around on a boat trying to find
Valhalla. We take you there. Same with
"Secrets Of The Fire," suddenly you're
out in the middle of the Sahara in Africa.
We take you there. Or "Creatures," the
bonus track, you're in some deep dark
forest in the middle of the winter. We
Judas Priest Circa 1979
Glenn Tipton, Les Binks, Rob Halford, KK Downing & Ian Hill
digital age?"
RH: Yeah, I was being quite stubborn, as
I can be sometimes. I just wanted to release 10 tracks. I think 10 tracks is more
than enough. And we kept going back
and forth, back and forth. But we compromised. You have to compromise in a
band. Everybody's generally aiming for
the goal post; everybody wants to get it
in the hoop. So we ended up with 13 before the bonus tracks and that just seems
to be the general way of things now. I remember when CDs were invented. The
record companies were just jumping up
and down having a party because now
they could get 70-80 minutes worth of
music from the band. That's an enormous amount of time to try and get people to concentrate and listen to the
whole record. It's like the difference between reading a book or reading Tolstoy's War and Peace. It's quite a
difference. It's like watching an Indie
movie that lasts an hour and ten minutes compared to watching Lord of the
Rings, which lasts three hours and
change. You have to think about how
you're going to hold people's attention,
as you pointed out. I'm seeing constant
feedback from the fans saying that this
take you there. That's my role as a lyricist, really. I love reading and I'm a big
fan of all types of literature. I can use
that, much like Glenn would listen to his
favorite lead guitar players. Richie, too.
Same with Scott (Travis) on drums; he's
inspired by different drummers. Or Ian
(Hill) on bass. We're all pulling from different resources to get the best moments
from our own endeavors.
IE: Obviously, you didn't really mean
that the Epitath tour would be your
final farewell tour, as you originally announced. I assume you have massive
touring plans to support the new album
to celebrate your 40th anniversary?
RH: Prior to KK's retirement, the general
feeling in the band at that time, was yes,
we were in our final mode. We were
sensing something of a finality at that
point. When KK retired right on the eve
of the Epitaph tour, it seemed like a done
deal. But we'd already committed. We
had tickets on sale and we had the
shows to do. So the frantic search started
and lo and behold we found this remarkably talented metal musician,
which was Faulkner. Then everything
changed. Call it a breath of fresh air, call