The Metal Masters Tour with JUDAS PRIEST, HEAVEN AND HELL, MOTÖRHEAD and TESTAMENT is in full swing across North America. BW&BK; spoke with Priest guitar legend K.K. Downing recently about the tour.

"It's interesting times out there and tricky times and it's very important to put something together that the fans really want," he explains. "This is by no means an Ozzfest, but the live performance is really becoming a big part of everybody's life, the fans and the bands. It's a healthy situation - put the right package together and people will come. It's very important we work with promoters and keep music alive. We all know about the free music downloading that's been pretty crippling to say the least. It is a big worry for new bands moreso than anything else. For new bands to get signed it's virtually impossible, because the record companies don't have the funding. We're better off than most because people still buy our records, but for new bands, younger bands, their material just gets downloaded. It's just really, really tough. So how do we turn it around? It's going to be difficult, but the main thing is we keep music alive. That's what is important and that's why bands are working together promoters to try and make it all work and it's looking pretty healthy. This time around in North America we just wanted to put together as good a package as we can for people. Just for once we wanted to put a good, classic line-up together and have a really good tour. Some times we've gone out with younger bands on the bill and it hasn't been the best marriage. It's great to give an introduction to new bands - all the festivals we are doing in Europe, there are tons and tons of new bands. We just wanted to have a really good metal tour."

Judas Priest currently grace the cover of BW&BK; #111 - click here for more info.

Check out a Metal Masters Tour gallery here.

(Photo by Mark Gromen)