In a new interview with Metal Injection, Rob Halford sits down with Rob Pasbani to talk about his new autobiography, Confess, and a few other topics.

With the news of the tragic passing of  Eddie Van Halen earlier this week, Halford shares some fun memories of the first time he heard the band and touring with Eddie. They also talk about what the future looks like for heavy metal, and how Judas Priest got into the mainstream while still maintaining their metal purity. They dive into the book and get into Halford's exploration of his own sexuality, and what it means to be masculine.

Halford's memories of Eddie Van Halen

"A couple of strong memories. First one, when I was introduced to Eddie's spectacular guitarmanship was in the very early days of Judas Priest. Our manager, Dave Cork at the time, came over to where I was living at the time and said you've got to come sit in my car and listen to this cassette that somebody sent me from America. It's this new band, they're called Van Halen. I don't know anything about them, but just listen to this music.

"So I went and sat in the car outside my house, and we played the whole first Van Halen album, and I was just mesmerized. I was mesmerized by his guitar playing. He was like something we've never ever heard before from a guitar player. So that was the first time.

"And then, some years later, Priest were special guests to Van Halen at the Santa Monica Civic Center, and we had a show together, and it was just a thrill because we were all fans of them. Turns out they too were fans of Priest, especially Eddie, with what Glenn and K.K. were doing at the time. So, we became friends and we kept that friendship going.

"I know that Eddie came to Priest shows because afterwards I'd find out, that he'd been with Glenn and they'd have been talking about guitars, like guitar players do. Man, it's just horrible. It's absolutely horrible. We lost so many people this year, on top of this pandemic. When will it stop, you know? But you have to pull through all of that, pull through all the ruble. And do what we always do when we lose these musical giants – it's put this music on. Because I was blasting Van Halen all day yesterday to get me through the loss of this incredible player."

(Eddie Van Halen photo - Mark Gromen)