THE Judas Priest thread - v. new album and tour in 2024

[ozzy554]

A friend who saw Priest a bunch in the 80's saw them last year and swore Halford sounded close to as good as he did back in the day. I am skeptical, to say the least.

I haven't seen Priest for a few years but Halford miraculously had a bit of a renaissance with his singing. Seriously sounded better than he had in a while. Not late 70s good but for a guy nearing 70, pretty damn good!

They've been taking full advantage of that fact playing things like Saints in Hell which sounds far better that it had any right to at this point

[El Barto]

A friend who saw Priest a bunch in the 80's saw them last year and swore Halford sounded close to as good as he did back in the day. I am skeptical, to say the least.

I haven't seen Priest for a few years but Halford miraculously had a bit of a renaissance with his singing. Seriously sounded better than he had in a while. Not late 70s good but for a guy nearing 70, pretty damn good!

They've been taking full advantage of that fact playing things like Saints in Hell which sounds far better that it had any right to at this point

I watched the [ur=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAYboPgqbfsl]first version that popped up[/url]. He sounds passable, but it's tuned down and he's not trying to sing in the same register for a lot of it. The screams sound good, but the rest of it falls flat. I'm not knocking the guy, he's doing well for is age, but it's just not the same. As for his performances in general, he paces himself. He scales some songs way back vocal wise, and goes all out for others. He always makes sure he's still got gas in the tank for Painkiller. He takes it easy on Diamonds.

On the bright side, he looks great. Glad to see he's able to move around more. Ten years ago he was using a cane here and there. Now he looks fairly spry.

[Stadler]

Right, hasn't Al Atkins also crawled out from under a rock in the last year or so?

I believe so, but couldn't tell you in what capacity because I don't give a fucking shit.

Pretty sure it was on a search for money, which in all honesty, I'm not sure this isn't. I'll go into it with an open mind though.

Yeah, despite the band name, I'm all for this and quite looking forward to it.  Love KK and love Ripper.

Anyway, speaking of not giving a fucking shit, I'm off to work, late as fuck ahahahaha.

Screw that. If there's no Ian Hill, then there's no Judas Priest, if you're asking me. 

[Stadler]

A friend who saw Priest a bunch in the 80's saw them last year and swore Halford sounded close to as good as he did back in the day. I am skeptical, to say the least.

I haven't seen Priest for a few years but Halford miraculously had a bit of a renaissance with his singing. Seriously sounded better than he had in a while. Not late 70s good but for a guy nearing 70, pretty damn good!

They've been taking full advantage of that fact playing things like Saints in Hell which sounds far better that it had any right to at this point

I watched the [ur=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAYboPgqbfsl]first version that popped up[/url]. He sounds passable, but it's tuned down and he's not trying to sing in the same register for a lot of it. The screams sound good, but the rest of it falls flat. I'm not knocking the guy, he's doing well for is age, but it's just not the same. As for his performances in general, he paces himself. He scales some songs way back vocal wise, and goes all out for others. He always makes sure he's still got gas in the tank for Painkiller. He takes it easy on Diamonds.

On the bright side, he looks great. Glad to see he's able to move around more. Ten years ago he was using a cane here and there. Now he looks fairly spry.

He never really was a Bruce or Paul Stanley, running back and forth.   I watched the '83 US Festival show not long ago and other than a strut back and forth, he didn't move much.

I'm a fan of Halford, and I give him the benefit of the doubt, but I think you've got it spot on: he's just managing his performance better at this point.    Which is fine.   I'm not sure I'm going to see them at this point, unless the venue/event is something special.  I'm not a huge Ripper fan, but I'd go to see Les Binks. 

I do know I saw a recent version of "Diamonds" and LOVED it.  I think Rob doesn't have to scream like a banshee to sing well (even if a lot of the songs call for that).  I love his normal voice too.

[MirrorMask]

Rob Halford oozes so much charisma that he can just stand there and look badass. Not everyone can get away with standing perfectly still (see Electric Eye whenever he used to be perched above the drums) or walking around like a robot (Metal Gods) and making it look completely cool instead of ridiculous.

[El Barto]

A friend who saw Priest a bunch in the 80's saw them last year and swore Halford sounded close to as good as he did back in the day. I am skeptical, to say the least.

I haven't seen Priest for a few years but Halford miraculously had a bit of a renaissance with his singing. Seriously sounded better than he had in a while. Not late 70s good but for a guy nearing 70, pretty damn good!

They've been taking full advantage of that fact playing things like Saints in Hell which sounds far better that it had any right to at this point

I watched the [ur=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAYboPgqbfsl]first version that popped up[/url]. He sounds passable, but it's tuned down and he's not trying to sing in the same register for a lot of it. The screams sound good, but the rest of it falls flat. I'm not knocking the guy, he's doing well for is age, but it's just not the same. As for his performances in general, he paces himself. He scales some songs way back vocal wise, and goes all out for others. He always makes sure he's still got gas in the tank for Painkiller. He takes it easy on Diamonds.

On the bright side, he looks great. Glad to see he's able to move around more. Ten years ago he was using a cane here and there. Now he looks fairly spry.

He never really was a Bruce or Paul Stanley, running back and forth.   I watched the '83 US Festival show not long ago and other than a strut back and forth, he didn't move much.

You're correct, of course, but I've seen him when he couldn't do much other than lean on a cane. He looked healthier and happier in the vids I've seen from the last tour.

[pg1067]

A friend who saw Priest a bunch in the 80's saw them last year and swore Halford sounded close to as good as he did back in the day. I am skeptical, to say the least.

I saw Priest on every tour from Defenders to Painkiller and also saw them in September 2018.  It was a REALLY enjoyable show (Firepower is an excellent album), and Rob was good (esp. for someone who was 67 years old at the time), but he did NOT, by any means, sound close to his heyday.

Downing should have called his band KK's Lawbreakers.  Or he could have given Halford the middle finger and called it KK's Metal Gods.

 

Screw that. If there's no Ian Hill, then there's no Judas Priest, if you're asking me. 

Well...he has been the only constant....

It's funny, my best friend and I always had a thing where we'd go all out to cheer for Ian whenever he'd show up on the screen or anything.  When I went to the show a couple years ago, I went with a guy who isn't a huge Priest fan, but he was doing the same thing with Ian.  It was kinda funny.  I always wonder about the guy.  He's a completely ordinary bassist with not a single standout moment in the catalog and only a single writing credit.  I assume he's John Myung's idol as far as stage performance.

[Stadler]

From what I understand, Ian is actually an integral part of the behind the scenes machinery.   I don't know what that means.

[pg1067]

From what I understand, Ian is actually an integral part of the behind the scenes machinery.   I don't know what that means.

Maybe so.  What I wonder about is the fact that he gets zero songwriting royalties (other than a couple pennies for being one of the three co-writers of one of the nine songs on Stained Class), so all of his income is from album sales, touring and merch (as opposed to Rob and Glenn who have songwriting royalties and Rob who has his "Metal God" brand).  I wonder how that compares to Scott Travis, who is a paid employee/independent contractor as opposed to a "full member" of the band.

[El Barto]

From what I understand, Ian is actually an integral part of the behind the scenes machinery.   I don't know what that means.

Maybe so.  What I wonder about is the fact that he gets zero songwriting royalties (other than a couple pennies for being one of the three co-writers of one of the nine songs on Stained Class), so all of his income is from album sales, touring and merch (as opposed to Rob and Glenn who have songwriting royalties and Rob who has his "Metal God" brand).  I wonder how that compares to Scott Travis, who is a paid employee/independent contractor as opposed to a "full member" of the band.

Really? After all this time you'd think they'd have given him a cut. I wonder if that applied to the previous drummers, as well.

[pg1067]

From what I understand, Ian is actually an integral part of the behind the scenes machinery.   I don't know what that means.

Maybe so.  What I wonder about is the fact that he gets zero songwriting royalties (other than a couple pennies for being one of the three co-writers of one of the nine songs on Stained Class), so all of his income is from album sales, touring and merch (as opposed to Rob and Glenn who have songwriting royalties and Rob who has his "Metal God" brand).  I wonder how that compares to Scott Travis, who is a paid employee/independent contractor as opposed to a "full member" of the band.

Really? After all this time you'd think they'd have given him a cut. I wonder if that applied to the previous drummers, as well.

By way of background regarding the highlighted comment:  In late 2011, Rob Halford was sued by a guy who was his former manager in connection with non-Judas Priest related activities.  In addition to suing Halford and three of his companies, the plaintiffs also sued several JP-related individuals and entities, including Ian Hill, Glenn Tipton, Jayne Andrews and Judas Priest Music Limited.  I/my former firm represented all of the defendants in that case, and one of things we did was file motions to get most of the JP-related individuals and entities dismissed for lack of personal jurisdiction.  In declarations filed with the court in the spring and summer of 2012, Scott Travis (who was not named as a defendant) was described as an "independent contractor" who had no ownership in either Judas Priest Music Limited or JP Touring, LLP.  It's certainly possible that things have changed in the past 7 1/2 years, and I wouldn't know if they had.

[El Barto]

Wasn't questioning the veracity of your post. I was just surprised by it. After 30 years you'd think they would have dealt him in. He seems as much a member as any of the rest of them at this point. Though I suppose it's possible he prefers it this way. I've heard of hired guns coming out ahead in these sorts of deals, and I suspect Travis has some pretty solid leverage at this point for negotiating purposes.

[pg1067]

Wasn't questioning the veracity of your post. I was just surprised by it. After 30 years you'd think they would have dealt him in. He seems as much a member as any of the rest of them at this point. Though I suppose it's possible he prefers it this way. I've heard of hired guns coming out ahead in these sorts of deals, and I suspect Travis has some pretty solid leverage at this point for negotiating purposes.

Understood.  I just wanted to be clear that my info is eight years old, so it's possible things have changed.  However, my experience is that, when someone comes into a band as a "hired gun," that status doesn't typically change for purposes of the business side.

[Stadler]

From what I understand, Ian is actually an integral part of the behind the scenes machinery.   I don't know what that means.

Maybe so.  What I wonder about is the fact that he gets zero songwriting royalties (other than a couple pennies for being one of the three co-writers of one of the nine songs on Stained Class), so all of his income is from album sales, touring and merch (as opposed to Rob and Glenn who have songwriting royalties and Rob who has his "Metal God" brand).  I wonder how that compares to Scott Travis, who is a paid employee/independent contractor as opposed to a "full member" of the band.

Really? After all this time you'd think they'd have given him a cut. I wonder if that applied to the previous drummers, as well.

By way of background regarding the highlighted comment:  In late 2011, Rob Halford was sued by a guy who was his former manager in connection with non-Judas Priest related activities.  In addition to suing Halford and three of his companies, the plaintiffs also sued several JP-related individuals and entities, including Ian Hill, Glenn Tipton, Jayne Andrews and Judas Priest Music Limited.  I/my former firm represented all of the defendants in that case, and one of things we did was file motions to get most of the JP-related individuals and entities dismissed for lack of personal jurisdiction.  In declarations filed with the court in the spring and summer of 2012, Scott Travis (who was not named as a defendant) was described as an "independent contractor" who had no ownership in either Judas Priest Music Limited or JP Touring, LLP.  It's certainly possible that things have changed in the past 7 1/2 years, and I wouldn't know if they had.

How metal!

(I say that to be funny and playful; I've got no beef whatsoever with these guys protecting their interest and being business smart.  Just the opposite, it's nice to see.)

[pg1067]

From what I understand, Ian is actually an integral part of the behind the scenes machinery.   I don't know what that means.

Maybe so.  What I wonder about is the fact that he gets zero songwriting royalties (other than a couple pennies for being one of the three co-writers of one of the nine songs on Stained Class), so all of his income is from album sales, touring and merch (as opposed to Rob and Glenn who have songwriting royalties and Rob who has his "Metal God" brand).  I wonder how that compares to Scott Travis, who is a paid employee/independent contractor as opposed to a "full member" of the band.

Really? After all this time you'd think they'd have given him a cut. I wonder if that applied to the previous drummers, as well.

By way of background regarding the highlighted comment:  In late 2011, Rob Halford was sued by a guy who was his former manager in connection with non-Judas Priest related activities.  In addition to suing Halford and three of his companies, the plaintiffs also sued several JP-related individuals and entities, including Ian Hill, Glenn Tipton, Jayne Andrews and Judas Priest Music Limited.  I/my former firm represented all of the defendants in that case, and one of things we did was file motions to get most of the JP-related individuals and entities dismissed for lack of personal jurisdiction.  In declarations filed with the court in the spring and summer of 2012, Scott Travis (who was not named as a defendant) was described as an "independent contractor" who had no ownership in either Judas Priest Music Limited or JP Touring, LLP.  It's certainly possible that things have changed in the past 7 1/2 years, and I wouldn't know if they had.

How metal!

(I say that to be funny and playful; I've got no beef whatsoever with these guys protecting their interest and being business smart.  Just the opposite, it's nice to see.)

One of the things that I found fascinating from that time in my life was how these musicians had structured their business affairs.  One of the companies was called Betaglow Limited, and I don't remember the specific purpose of each of the three entity defendants in the case I handled, but I did see that the defendants in the James Vance/Raymond Belknap lawsuit were, in addition to the members of Priest, entities called Betaglen Limited, Betaglow Limited, Betagrange Limited, and Betagreen Limited, so I assume those are the entities to which Tipton, Halford, Hill and Downing had assigned their publishing rights for royalty administration purposes.

[Zydar]

I am bumping. Bumping for vengeance

Apparently Rob Halford has an autobiography out on September 29, called 'Confess'. You can pre-order it on Amazon.

https://smarturl.it/RobHalfordConfess

[MirrorMask]

The excerpt that has been used on social media - at least some italian webzines I've seen - is that he tried to hit on Paul Di'Anno once.

All of a sudden "Won't you come into my room, I wanna show you all my wares" takes a different meaning 

[Mladen]

Oh God, imagine the stories that guy has. He must have gone through hell. I should give it a read, but then again, I haven't even kept up with Bruce's autobiography neither.   

[Zydar]

Bruce's autobiography was very hit and miss for me. There's only so much you can read about the technical specifics on aviation and plane engines before I start skipping some pages.

I think this one can be a bit more interesting. I don't know much about his years away from Priest and such.

[jjrock88]

It would be interesting to hear his side of the story on how and why he left the band in the early 90s. I think I heard one story where they played a show in Toronto and he hit his head coming out on a motorcycle during Hell Bent for Leather. After the show he just parted ways with everyone and sent them a fax months later quitting.  Not sure how much of that is true but would be cool to find out.

[MirrorMask]

That incident did happen, but it's not that he quit because of that.... if I remember correctly from interviews, laying there semi conscious gave him a moment of reflection and lucidity where he realized he wasn't into it anymore, or something like that.

He did announce his departure via fax however, it's just that it happened some time after the end of the tour.

[TAC]

Bruce's autobiography was very hit and miss for me. There's only so much you can read about the technical specifics on aviation and plane engines before I start skipping some pages.

I couldn’t finish it. It’s not the planes. Bruce just comes off as so proud of himself, it was quite a bit much.

[wolfking]

That would be a great read.

[Stadler]

I'll read it; it will be interesting.   I just hope it's not all "mettle" this and "mettle" that.  I hope he can let the persona down for a minute and share.  THAT would be interesting.   

I thought Bruce's was okay...  I know he consciously said he wasn't going to do that, but I would have LIKED some insight into the relationships.   There was very little in that book on the various RELATIONSHIPS in his life, and for a guy we can clearly see is a force of nature, that's the fascinating part for me.   

[MirrorMask]

Sarajevo and the cancer were by far the best chapters of the book. Also the childhood years were pretty interesting.

[Evermind]

Bruce's autobiography was very hit and miss for me. There's only so much you can read about the technical specifics on aviation and plane engines before I start skipping some pages.

Okay apparently I need to read this.

[Stadler]

It's always fascinating to read books like these.  The rock world - particularly the metal world - is so predicated on attitude and cool and swagger, and to see movies like "The Dirt", they popped out of the womb with a bottle of Jack, a boner, and some boss riffs.    But when you get past the personas, very few of the really big name guys really "lucked " into anything.   I remember reading about Bruce ("Bruce Bruce") back in the day, and to hear him tell it, he was nothing but a hellion pissing in the headmaster's soup and being expelled from school.   But he didn't drop onto a stage in full air-raid siren mode; he has training as a singer, and worked hard at his craft before ever hitting the big time with Maiden.   Very uncool from a "Kerrang!" standpoint, but it's interesting to read now that I'm not a teenager, and now that I've worked at a craft of my own for decades. 

[El Barto]

The excerpt that has been used on social media - at least some italian webzines I've seen - is that he tried to hit on Paul Di'Anno once.

All of a sudden "Won't you come into my room, I wanna show you all my wares" takes a different meaning 

And apparently it was "hit on" in a "grudge fuck" sort of way. There was some animosity there that took quite a while to shake loose, and I gathered that was part of his motivation.

[pg1067]

I'll read it; it will be interesting.   I just hope it's not all "mettle" this and "mettle" that.  I hope he can let the persona down for a minute and share.  THAT would be interesting.

I think I've mentioned on here that I once represented Rob and, as a result, I got to spend a bit of time with him.  As a "regular person," he is NOTHING like the METAL GOD persona he adopts on stage.  He's also pretty thoughtful and very intelligent.  I still have the email he sent at the end of the case, and it always makes me smile.  I'm not big into bios and don't do a ton of reading, but I may check this one out.

[Lowdz]

Rob Halford oozes so much charisma that he can just stand there and look badass. Not everyone can get away with standing perfectly still (see Electric Eye whenever he used to be perched above the drums) or walking around like a robot (Metal Gods) and making it look completely cool instead of ridiculous.

Until he speaks and that Birmingham accent comes out. Metal may been invented there but the accent isn’t very metal. His stage voice on the other hand, is 🤘🤘🤘

[Zydar]

The excerpt that has been used on social media - at least some italian webzines I've seen - is that he tried to hit on Paul Di'Anno once.

All of a sudden "Won't you come into my room, I wanna show you all my wares" takes a different meaning 

And apparently it was "hit on" in a "grudge fuck" sort of way. There was some animosity there that took quite a while to shake loose, and I gathered that was part of his motivation.

I just saw this article on Ultimate-Guitar:

https://www.ultimate-guitar.com/news/wtf/judas_priests_rob_halford_that_night_i_tried_to_drunkenly_seduce_iron_maidens_paul_dianno.html

[MirrorMask]

I'll read it; it will be interesting.   I just hope it's not all "mettle" this and "mettle" that.  I hope he can let the persona down for a minute and share.  THAT would be interesting.

I think I've mentioned on here that I once represented Rob and, as a result, I got to spend a bit of time with him.  As a "regular person," he is NOTHING like the METAL GOD persona he adopts on stage.  He's also pretty thoughtful and very intelligent.

This doesn't really surprise me... It was always a gut feeling I had, I can't really explain it - surely some interviews here and there, him talking in serious situations like Lemmy's funeral - but it's surely not a surprise to have confirmation that he's a smart and intelligent guy.  I mean, I would be way more surprised about reading "I talked with Halford at lenght personally, boy he's a douche" than this. I bet that deep inside he's a softie and maybe even shy, someone like Freddy Mercury, a sensitive and shy guy that completely became another person as soon as he walked out on stage.

[pg1067]

I bet that deep inside he's a softie and maybe even shy, . . ., a sensitive and shy guy that completely became another person as soon as he walked out on stage.

That's exactly consistent with what I observed.

[EPICVIEW]

Im sure it will be a great read

[kirksnosehair]

Bruce's autobiography was very hit and miss for me. There's only so much you can read about the technical specifics on aviation and plane engines before I start skipping some pages.

I couldn’t finish it. It’s not the planes. Bruce just comes off as so proud of himself, it was quite a bit much.

I had the same reaction to it.  I'd heard things about his alleged massive ego, but the book really put it into perspective.  Dude has a very, very high opinion of himself.  I usually keep books even books I don't necessarily like that much, because I like to collect stuff, but I actually used this book to start fires in our wood stove one winter.  It was great for lighting fires.