In a new interview with the Los Angeles Daily News, Judas Priest frontman Rob Halford defended the decision not to ask former guitarist K.K Downing back to the band after current axman Glenn Tipton couldn’t tour due to battling Parkinson’s Disease.

“Equally (K.K. Downing) had made the decision to retire, I don’t know how many years ago that it was,” said Halford. “At the time he was emphatic about retiring and never coming back, and that’s what we were left with. There has been no communication since that time. There has been no inquiries about how the band is doing since that time, or how the guys are doing, or anything of that nature.”

Halford went on, “What upset me personally was the inference that Glenn didn’t play on this record. I took that quite strongly.

“How would you feel if those types of insinuations had been placed in a statement along with the not being asked to come back? Just extraordinary. The wording should have been different in my point of view.

“Like I said on a radio interview, we have never been a band to publicly bring these things to the surface.”

The Firepower tour, with support from Saxon and Black Star Riders, runs through May 1st before heading to Europe for the summer. Remaining North American dates are listed below.

April
19 - San Francisco - The Warfield
22 - Los Angeles, CA - Microsoft Theater
24 - Phoenix, AZ - Comerica Theatre
26 - Tulsa, OK - BOK Center
28 - Dallas, TX - The Bomb Factory
29 - Sugarland, TX - Smart Financial Centre

May
1 - San Antonio, TX - Freeman Coliseum

Judas Priest debuted at #5 on the Billboard 200 albums chart with Firepower, marking the group’s highest charting album ever.

The album surpasses the group’s previous chart high, logged when 2014’s Redeemer Of Souls debuted and peaked at #6. In the UK, Firepower landed at #5, marking the band's highest ranking since British Steel in 1980.