ROB HALFORD Looks Back On Firepower Album - "The Only Thing We Really Wanted To Do Was Re-Invent Some Of The Classic Moments Of JUDAS PRIEST"
February 18, 2019, 5 years ago
In a new interview with Australia's Heavy, Judas Priest frontman Rob Halford talks about Ozzy Osbourne's recent health scare and what effect it has on fellow musicians, the birth of Judas Priest, how it felt being part of the New Wave of British Metal movement, the band's early stage attire and finding their musical image and identity, Judas Priest's place in heavy metal history, the implementation of twin guitars into their music and how it affected the band, when he felt Judas Priest made their mark on the music scene, the British Steel album, and more.
The Firepower album reaffirmed Judas Priest's position atop the metal tree, with Halford admitting the band made a conscious effort to recreate periods from their glory days of music on the album.
Halford: "The only thing that I can recall thinking is when Glenn (Tipton), Richie (Faulkner) and myself sat down and said with all of these great albums and all of these great songs later the only thing that we really wanted to do was re-invent some of the classic moments of Priest, which we could trace to the length and breadth of our roots if you think about it with albums like Sad Wings of Destiny, Screaming For Vengeance, Painkiller, British Steel, Sin After Sin, Killing Machine... it just goes on and on (laughs), but internally we knew what that meant so that was the focus".
Judas Priest have been forced to cancel their first-ever concerts in South Africa, scheduled for March 20th in Cape Town and March 22nd in Johannesburg.
Says the band: "Due to circumstances totally beyond our control we are extremely sorry to have to announce that because of logistical and technical reasons the South African shows have been cancelled - we are very disappointed that this has happened as we were looking forward to performing in South Africa for our fans there for the first time - we have been touring the world for nearly 50 years and have always honored our commitments - we are all very upset about this situation."
