Judas Priest frontman Rob Halford is currently doing press for his new autobiography, Confess, and he recently spoke with Jonathan Clarke at New York's Q104.3. Check out the interview below.

Halford: "I couldn't go to (gay) clubs or bars for fear of recognition and that hitting the press, just because the world was a different place then. Of course, the long-term discovery, when I did come out famously on MTV in the '90s, when I was in the 2WO band with John 5, was that it was the most perfect example of the way the metal community is so accepting and inclusive and welcoming people from all over. There are no labels on us in the metal community; we're just all together. I think that's kind of attached to the fact that metal, for the longest time, was... in rock and roll, everybody was kicking heavy metal music: 'Oh, man, what is that stuff? It's nothing. It's got no value.' But we knew, as metal maniacs, this was our music. This is how we expressed ourselves. We love to listen to this music, be with each other at home listening to it. Most importantly, going to shows together."

Confess: The Autobiography is available via Hachette Books. Check out the BraveWords review of the book here.

A description of the book follows...

Most priests take confessions. This one is giving his.

Rob Halford, front man of global iconic metal band Judas Priest, is a true 'Metal God'. Raised in Britain's hard-working heavy industrial heartland he and his music were forged in the Black Country. Confess, his full autobiography, is an unforgettable rock 'n' roll story - a journey from a Walsall council estate to musical fame via alcoholism, addiction, police cells, ill-starred sexual trysts and bleak personal tragedy, through to rehab, coming out, redemption... and finding love.

Now, he is telling his gospel truth.

Told with Halford's trademark self-deprecating, deadpan Black Country humour, Confess is the story of an extraordinary five decades in the music industry. It is also the tale of unlikely encounters with everybody from Superman to Andy Warhol, Madonna, Jack Nicholson and the Queen. More than anything else, it's a celebration of the fire and power of heavy metal.

Rob Halford has decided to Confess. Because it's good for the soul.