Speaking with 1290 KOIL, Judas Priest frontman Rob Halford discusses, among other topics, touring without former Judas Priest guitarist K.K. Downing:

“K.K.’s legacy will always be strong in Judas Priest”, says Halford. “We play the songs that K.K. wrote with myself and with Glenn (Tipton). Hey, you know… things change, like I said with basketball, a player comes in, a player comes out, your team is still strong, you’re trying to make the moves, you’re trying to be good, you’re trying to advance. And that’s what Richie Faulkner has presented his abilities to in Judas Priest, he’s just a phenomenal guitar player”.

Listen to the full interview below:

Speaking of K.K. Downing, he recently posted the following message in the "blog" section of his Steel Mill website recalling 1984’s Defenders Of The Faith:

"In 1984, Priest’s Defenders Of The Faith tour sold out Madison Square Garden! Now that was what you call a memorable gig, exuberant fans decided to fill the stage with foam cushions from their seats. It was crazy, but full-on metal. In the end of the night, [the stage] was completely two to three cushions deep, making it impossible for us to walk on as it became like one big trampoline. However, it was great fun. I remember how we laughed so much, it was difficult to continue to play, but, of course, we did!

"The result of this amazingly unusual gig was a ban for life from the venue, but we did not care, as it was truly a night to remember.

"I think that you may all agree that the Defenders stage set was possibly the most metal of all Priest sets and also the most synonymous with both Priest and with metal!

"It was a tough task to follow the success of Screaming For Vengeance, but I think it is testimony to Priest that there was no conscious effort to write single-orientated songs for Defenders. In fact, we never did that. If a song became popular for radio, it was just what happened. As the title and song says, 'we are defenders of the (metal) faith' and very proud of it.

 

 

"The opening two tracks on this album, for me, are seriously the way to open a metal album; 'Freewheel Burning' and 'Jawbreaker' are a combination that for me is hard to get tired of. It was also great to play most of this album on the tour, which, I guess, also pays tribute to the album, as it is always difficult to present new material live. It is usual to allow a record to be well digested and to see what tracks become favorites before risking putting too many songs in the set list. For example, in 1990, I think we put five songs in the set list from Painkiller, but after a week or so on tour, we dropped tree songs. Such was the demand for our established songs. Now I guess PRIEST would be well received if the whole Painkiller album was played. Now there's a thought?

"I must say a big thank you to [producer] Tom Allom and [engineer] Mark Dodson for their part in 'Defenders' as they too are real defenders of the faith."