Former Judas Priest guitarist K.K. Downing's new autobiography, Heavy Duty: Days And Nights In Judas Priest, is due for release on September 18th via Da Capo Press.

Jimmy Kay from Canada's The Metal Voice spoke to K.K. about the book, his relationship with Glenn Tipton, Ian Hill's claims on coming back to the band, Iron Maiden opening for Priest, the Tim "Ripper" Owens era, and more. Listen below.

Asked how his relationship with Glenn Tipton changed over the years, K.K. responds: "There always was a great amount  mutual respect for each other, and still is. We would spend more time together than any girlfriends or wives. We were very productive, very prolific and I think we were the driving force because we had to create the songs to be sung. It was an an awful amount of work and time spent together. Was there some competitive rivalry?, not really on my behalf. I always felt like I was easy going because the most important thing to me was the band, the name Judas Priest. Myself and Glenn went through decades through thick and thin and it was a great relationship but idiosyncrasies started creeping in. I was a bit too easy going, my inspirations were to make the band big not myself big.

"We divided the solos at the end of a recording I would have 10 and Glenn would have 10, but my 10 would be 15 second solos but Glenn's were a lot longer, it went on a bit like that really  and I kind of let that slip a little bit. But the albums, the songs were great and the solos were great. Inevitable without even knowing it some kind of pecking order starts to formulate that is why so many great bands didn't last too long cause things get in the way."

Heavy Duty: Days And Nights In Judas Priest is available for pre-order here.

A book synopsis states: Judas Priest formed in the industrial city of Birmingham, England, in 1968. With its distinctive twin-guitar sound, studs-and-leather image, and international sales of over 50 million records, Judas Priest became the archetypal heavy metal band in the 1980s. Iconic tracks like “Breaking The Law”, “Living After Midnight”, and “You’ve Got Another Thing Coming” helped the band achieve extraordinary success, but no one from the band has stepped out to tell their or the band’s story until now.

As the band approaches its golden anniversary, fans will at last be able to delve backstage into the decades of shocking, hilarious, and haunting stories that surround the heavy metal institution. In Heavy Duty guitarist K.K. Downing discusses frontman Rob Halford’s hidden sexuality, the personality conflicts, the business screw-ups, the acrimonious relationship with fellow heavy metal band Iron Maiden, and how Judas Priest was at ground zero for the parental outrage targeting heavy metal in the ’80s. Lastly, he reveals the life-changing moment when he looked at his bandmates on stage during a 2010 concert and thought, “This is the last show.” Whatever the topic, whoever’s involved, K.K. doesn’t hold back.

With the band at the beginning through his retirement in 2010 (and even still as a member of the band’s board of directors), Downing has seen it all and is now finally at a place in his life where he can also let it all go. Even if you’re a lifelong fan, if you think you know the full story of Judas Priest, well, you’ve got another thing coming.