Judas Priest bassist Ian Hill spoke with Anne Erickson from Audio Ink about the band’s current tour, the importance of the live show to Judas Priest, the prospect of new music and much more. Read the interview here, and listen via the YouTube player below. An excerpt from the chat follows:

Q: A few of your metal colleagues are doing farewell tours - Ozzy, KISS, Slayer. What do you think of all these major acts calling it quits?

A: "It will come – eventually there will come a time when maybe you aren’t able to perform to your optimum or high standards anyway, and you have to admit to yourself that you’ve got to do other things. There will come a time, but for us, it’s not yet. I can see the reasons why they’re doing it, but we’re enjoying it too much at the moment to consider quitting!"

Q: Are there any artists or bands out there that you think Judas Priest would like to collaborate with one day in the studio or maybe tour with?

A: "That’s a good question. There’s always the big question of Judas Priest and Iron Maiden. That would be really interesting if we could get that together before some of us die. It’d be great! (laughs) There are a lot of other bands we’ve played with. We’ve got Uriah Heep, specials guests on this tour. I was a fan of Uriah Heep way back in the day. They go back at least as long as we do, if not a bit further. You run into these people over the years. We’ve played with quite a few of them, but we’ve got to get together with Iron Maiden."

Judas Priest's current tour itinerary, with special guests Uriah Heep opening, can be seen below.

May
25 - Chicago, IL - Rosemount
28 - Austin, TX - Moody Theater
29 - Austin, TX - Moody Theater
31 - Dallas, TX - Bomb Factory

June
1 - Little Rock, AR - Riverfest Ampitheatre
3 - St. Louis, MO - Stifel Theatre
4 - Kansas City, MO - Knuckleheads *
5 - Colorado Springs, CO - Broadmoor World Arena
8 - Saskatoon, SK - Sasktel Centre
10 - Lethbridge, AB - Enmax Centre
11 - Edmonton, AB - Rogers Place
13 - Dawson Creek, BC - Encana Events Centre
14 - Prince George, BC - CN Centre
16 - Kelowna, BC - Propera Place
17 - Abbotsford, BC - Abbotsford Centre
19 - Spokane, WA - Northern Quest Casino
21 - Seattle, WA - Showare Center
22 - Portland, OR - Moda Center
24 - San Francisco, CA - Warfield
25 - San Francisco, CA - Warfield
27 - Los Angeles, CA - Microsoft Theater
28 - Ontario, CA - Citizens Business Bank Arena
29 - Las Vegas, NV - The Joint

* Uriah Heep only