Judas Priest frontman Rob Halford is featured in a new interview with Jeb Wright at Classic Rock Revisited. An excerpt from their discussion about the new Redeemer Of Souls album is available below:

 Jeb: Everyone was afraid Richie would not fit in after replacing KK Downing.  He proved himself on that tour.  You didn't know how the fans would react as KK was much loved.

Rob: "You never know.  It's like you can change a player on your team, like the Dallas Cowboys, or the Red Wings, or whoever and the fans go, 'What the fuck is going to happen?'  That's natural.  We were very eager and excited to put Richie out onstage.  He qualified himself instantly.  Once 'Rapid Fire' started and he took off and was on the edge of the stage going crazy the fans embraced him.

Richie has been a lifesaver to this group and I don't say that lightly.  Things were very, very rocky before we kicked off the Epitaph tour, when KK retired.  We really didn't know if there was going to be any Judas Priest left.  That thought is quite profound, but then, this lead guitar player comes rolling in on his Harley, or whatever he was driving that day, and he starts wailing away.  We liked him right away.  He breathed in new life, and he re-energized our focus in a lot of ways."

Jeb: It does not hurt that he has blonde hair and wears black leather and plays that white V.  He fits the bill.  However, that's just on stage.  You went in the studio with Richie as a writer.  That takes balls on Richie's part as well as you having to trust him.

Rob: "We were together in each others company on tour and we were hanging out for almost two years on the Epitaph tour before we ever thought about writing.  During that tour, Richie was in his dressing room with his little studio rig just jamming and riffing all the time.  He can't stop playing the guitar.  We would listen to him. I would come stumbling in like ten minutes before the show and I would be like, 'What is that I am hearing?'  They would tell me, 'It's Richie putting a riff down.'  I was like, 'What is that riff?  Keep that riff.'  One of them turned into 'March Of The Damned'.  Another riff turned into 'Dragonaut'.  All of this stuff was happening even before we really sat down to focus and to concentrate.

He had plenty of time to really get into the world of Priest.  The story goes that when he was a teenager he would be doing air guitar in front of the mirror and he would be jamming out to Screaming for Vengeance.  That is where his heart grew from, as he was a Priest Metal-head from day one.  It was as though it was fate, or destiny, that this guy had all of the qualifications we needed.  We were very, very lucky that we found a man of Richie's caliber and talent."

Go to this location for the complete interview.

It all started out forty headbanging and glorious years in Birmingham, England as the mighty metal gods came roaring out of that legendary steel town set to take heavy metal to unlimited and unprecedented heights that would forever transform the genre for four decades. The Priest machine, highly well oiled and back with its strong 17th studio album in Redeemer Of Souls, is set to explode on the masses again with a mammoth US arena tour this fall.

WVOX Metal Mayhem host and Bravewords correspondent Matthew O'Shaughnessy again rolled out the red carpet for iconic Judas Priest singer Rob Halford, who was the very special featured guest on his worldwide radio show, where Halford spoke in detail about the British group's latest album and several tracks from the album individually. "Raising the bar is consistent for us and Redeemer Of Souls hits the ground running!" says Judas Priest. During the on air chat, The Metal God also talks about Priest's upcoming US fall tour, and never-ending devout loyal support of their fans.

Check out the entire chat below:

Prey To The Metal God