Speaking with Martin Popoff for Goldmine about about his new holiday album, Celestial, Judas Priest frontman Rob Halford also offers an update on guitarist Glenn Tipton, who has been suffering with Parkinson’s Disease.

Says Rob, “Glenn is doing great. I’ll be seeing Glenn again next year when we go into rehearsals for the Ozzy/Priest tour. He’s widdling away, as he does in the studio, and is doing what he’s always done, which is putting down riffs and just general ideas that we may utilize for the next Priest record. You know, it’s all about collecting the information. Getting as much stuff in the vaults as you possibly can.”

Later in the interview, Rob offers a few clues as to the future of Judas Priest.

“I think we had one of the strongest experiences ever with the Firepower record. Just when you think you’ve not exactly done it all, seen it all and had it all, you go into the studio with this great producer combination that we’ve never known (Tom Allom and Andy Sneap), and the great music that Richie (Faulkner, guitarist) brought into the mix after he first kind of embedded himself and grown during Redeemer of Souls.

“By the time we were at Firepower, it really gelled and he knew what he needed to do. Redeemer was still a process of discovery for him. With Firepower, he was more attuned and acclimatized to it. The general attitude and atmosphere was a bit like how we went in to making Painkiller, which was an important record to make for lots of reasons. The way that Painkiller was able to really refine and define this band, I think we came to the same kind of place again with the music from Firepower. And this far on, that was just a great, great time for the band—it’s really lifted us in many ways. As a result, the prospect of making the follow-up to Firepower is really intriguing. I haven’t a clue where we’re going to go with it, but as far as the opportunity in the sense of really wanting to make another strong, important record goes, you know, watch out—the Priest will definitely be back.” (laughs).

Read the complete interview at Goldmine.

Check out BraveWords' new interview with Rob Halford here.