Special Report By Mitch Lafon

Does one really need to write an introductory paragraph when talking about The Metal God, ROB HALFORD? I didn’t think so. All there is to say is that this chat took place on June 4th in Montreal – during the singer’s recent promo stomp talking about his new Metal God Entertainment company and his latest CD, Metal God Essentials Volume 1 (a Best Of compilation featuring tracks from his HALFORD solo days, his band project FIGHT and a few of new tracks).

Mitch Lafon: Let’s talk Metal God Entertainment. Why did you decide to set up your own label? Also, I noticed it’s ‘Entertainment’ and not Metal Gods Records. Do you plan on releasing more than just CDs and music?

Rob Halford: “I’m glad you picked up on that ‘cause a lot of people missed it. This is a long term project for as many years as I’ve got left in Metal. As a singer, I don’t put a time limit on that. I’ll be doing my live work for as long as the voice holds out and it’s remarkable to think that 36 years later I’m still doing it. But this is just another way of me showing how passionate I am about what I do and the long term goal with Metal God Entertainment is to have a really broad based platform where I’ll bring in other talent and we want to do radio, video, film and TV production and obviously you need a business enterprise to make that real. I’ve been thinking about this for years and years, and with the solo work that started to appear in the early ‘90s and that’s still solid for me – this makes sense and with my being able to get back all of my songs (which is a wonderful thing for any musician to own your own songs and do what you want with them). This is just the launch you know. We put together the first physical CD product with Metal God Essentials and I’m balancing both worlds because I want to be in the forefront of the Internet and technology.”

ML: I noticed that at first it was just an iTunes release.

RH: “Yeah, we went with Apple ITunes. We had an exclusive opening window with those guys while I was setting up Halfordmusic.com – which is the site that is connected to Robhalford.com. So, I’m in both worlds you know and with the Metal community – I’m just trying to give everybody what they need whether it be a download of one track, two tracks or the whole shebang, but there’s still a very strong demand for holding the CD and the booklet and the pictures and the artwork...”

ML: I’m one of those.

RH: “And I am too. I’ve been through it all – vinyl, cassettes, 8-tracks, CDs and now we’re into Blu Ray and all these other incredible things that have come along. Depending on where you’re at – you have to decide to stay with one format or be broad based, but in today’s world you have to be very aggressive and very open-minded and willing to take on all the technologies that comes. I love the Internet. I think it’s a fantastic invention that’s as important as the telephone or television or whatever.”

ML: Absolutely. Now, you mentioned television and radio production. Is it going to be Metal related or are we talking any kind of TV or radio show?

RH: “I would think primarily it would be Metal or Hard Rock because that’s my world and I’m not familiar with these other areas.”

ML: So, there’s no game shows coming....

RH: (laughs) “Why not? How about a Heavy Metal quiz show? Anything is possible as long as it’s related to Metal in some respect. I don’t put any limits. I think once you start closing your vision you miss out on opportunities that might come along.”

ML: Will you be releasing new solo material soon?

RH: “Relatively soon. That’s what we’ve done with these two new tracks – ‘Forgotten Generation’ and ‘Drop Out’. They were the first two new Halford tracks in quite a number of years and I just wanted to send a strong message out there that my solo ventures are still important to me and that I still enjoy that relationship I have with other musicians/ players and I don’t particularly exclude anybody else. I get calls all the time from bands wanting me to produce or step in and make guest appearances which is something that is difficult to do because of time constraints and so forth. So, yeah – there will be a new Halford record at some point – we’ve got an enormous amount of material in the archives already. If that’s the right word... archives. I’m just stock-piling it and waiting for the time to let that go. I have to balance that with what I do with Priest and Priest is obviously the first love of my life. That’s the direction I’ve maintained my career in for over 30 years and that band is absolutely vital to me, but when the calendar is more open and we have an agreement amongst us in Priest – particularly with Glenn and K.K. who have their own solo works as well – that we can step out and do things outside of Priest.”

ML: When you write a song – how do you decide if it goes in the Priest pile or the Halford pile?

RH: “There’s a separation. Sure it’s metal, but there’s a dividing line. If there wasn’t something specifically different – there wouldn’t really be much point, and having said that - a lot of people have said that the Resurrection record was very much in the Priest world. I take people’s opinions and observations for what they are. There’s no doubt that that Resurrection record was like a bridge back for me to Priest although that was never a calculated intention. I was just comfortable in a place with musicians that happen to be in that world that I love, but I think if you put a Halford record on and a Priest record on the only real noticeable thing there is the voice. My messages are different and my messages have to be different in what I‘m trying to say and express myself. As long as there is a division then that’s my inspiration.”

ML: Why is it important to have that voice outside of Priest? Why is it important to have your own Halford music? Why not just say ‘I’m in Priest and that’s all I do’?

RH: “I just have to do it. I can’t explain why. Look at Picasso or Van Gogh that started off with one style of their art and then moved into something else – that’s probably not a very good equation because you’re talking about a single person’s ideas, but to some extent that’s how it works for me. When I’m working with Priest it’s exclusively with Glenn and K.K.. We write as a trio. We create as a trio and everything grows from that, but with the Halford band – the bulk of the work/ the bulk of the creation comes from the guys in the band and they’ll present me with almost finished material and then I just step in a make adjustments that I feel are important musically and then I just go into my lyrical and vocal interpretation. So, I just have to do that, you know? I have a yearning for it and as long as I have that – it’ll continue. I don’t know how much more of that I’m going to do quite frankly. It might be one more Halford. It might be two. I don’t know. I don’t know, but the Metal God Entertainment is more important to me than just what I’m doing as a solo performer.”

ML: Do K.K. or Glenn ever say ‘that song was great – why didn’t you bring it to us’?

RH: “That’s a good question and I don’t know if it’s the British reserve or what, but we never really comment about what the each of us are doing. I thought Glenn’s two releases Baptizm Of Fire and Edge Of The World are really good stuff and K.K. has been collaborating with YNGWIE MALMSTEEN, but when we’re in each other’s company in Priest – that’s it - it’s 1000% Priest. We don’t really venture off into anything else. It’s a gentlemen’s agreement really that you just talk about what you feel is important.”

ML: Is Halford simply going to be a studio band or will you be touring?

RH: “We did that, of course, when we launched Resurrection and went out with (IRON) MAIDEN. There was a instant feedback and solid fan core base all over the world.”

ML: But at that point you weren’t in Priest. Now, that you’re back in Priest are you still going to...

RH: “Yeah! Had we not hit the mark... Had we not had established some kind of reaction – things might have been different, but we did and there’s a lot of Halford fans all over the planet that like what we do and they want more. So at some point, there will be another Halford full CD and some shows to support it.”

Watch for more from Mitch Lafon's interview with Rob Halford at BraveWords.com soon!