Original Judas Priest guitarist K.K. Downing, who spent 40 years in the band, was recently interviewed by Doc Coyle (God Forbid, Bad Wolves, The Wedding Band) for The Ex-Man podcast. Their chat can be heard in its entirety below, an excerpt has been transcribed as follows:

Coyle: From what I've read, there was some disagreements about what happened when you left Priest. Did you retire? You were kind of forced out it seems. 

Downing: "I kind of skirted through that period in my book (Heavy Duty: Days And Nights In Judas Priest), really; I didn't really go into that much detail. No, I didn't retire — absolutely didn't."

"In 2010, things were coming to a boil; things were happening. I wasn't happy with the previous tour because… I love Glenn (Tipton, guitarist) and I respect him a lot, but he used to have too many beers before and during the concerts at the time. And I don't know what was going on. We had words about it. But musically, we weren't as footsure as I felt I wanted to be. I wasn't really happy with that. It was rock and roll. It's one of those things — it's rock and roll, or you're a band that really wants to lock it in tight. And that's what I used to get off on musically — was being really solid and locked in with those kick drums. You're either Keith Richards, and he's got a beer in one hand and a cigarette in the other but you're still playing the guitar, or you're really digging deep."

"It's a long-winded thing, but Rob (Halford, vocalist) was doing a lot of things with his own band — touring, doing the Ozzfest. He released two studio albums the year I left — in that year, 2010. And then I was getting pressured to do an EP, and I'm going, 'We're not an EP band.' And it was the farewell tour. We were all retiring. That was the deal. I saw the press release, saying it was the end of the band and all of this. And I don't know. Maybe I just had some kind of breakdown, and I went, 'You know what? Have it. You want it? It's yours. Have it.'"

"But what actually happened was a friend of mine was really encouraging me to do the tour, and he was saying the right things, I guess: 'You've been there this long. It's just one more tour. You've gotta complete the journey.' And so I started to talk to Ian (Hill, bassist) over a period of about a week, saying, 'Ian, I think maybe I'll do it.' I'd ordered some guitar processors from Germany to do the tour; I was gonna do it. And I was talking to Ian about doing it. And I fully expected to get a message from the management saying, 'Are you gonna do it? Is it true you wanna do it?' But I never heard anything. And I didn't get the right feedback from Ian. My friend was giving me all this encouragement, but I wasn't getting the same sort of thing back from Ian. 'Cause me and Ian went to kindergarten together. We've been there every minute of this journey. But he wasn't saying the things that my friend was saying. But he would have been relaying things back to camp, back to base, but they weren't coming through. They sent a press release they were gonna release, saying, 'We're gonna release this tomorrow. Are you okay with the wording?' And I said to Ian, 'Can you e-mail me the setlist over? Let me see the setlist.' Which he did. And I phoned him back, saying, 'Ian, it looks great. I thought it would be all Glenn's choices. And (I said), 'It looks great.' But the next morning, they sent a press release saying I retired. So I sent in my second letter saying that — this is the truth — 'forget everything I said in my previous letter.' 'Cause I was trying to bail out amicably. And also knowing that those guys would have the purse strings. And I was a director of the company, and everything, and I knew I was gonna speak to 'em. But in the second letter, I just flipped and I told the truth why I really quit three months earlier. But they still told the fans and the world that I retired to look after my golf course. No, I didn't. I had professional managers. It had been open six years. It wasn't true. And I hated it, because I've had to carry this burden now with the fans thinking, 'K.K.'s an a-hole, because he deserted us. He did this to look after his golf course or retire.' Not true."

"So, I continued to do things all the time, but always expecting that there would be an opening. And when Glenn retired, I fully expected that that would be the opening. But they never called me. So, essentially, those guys are going out there playing my songs and stuff like that. So if they can call themselves Priest, I feel totally entitled to be a Priest also, and to be able to play my songs."

KK's Priest, the new project from former Judas Priest guitarist K.K. Downing, will release their debut album, Sermons Of The Sinner, on August 20. Pre-order / pre-save options are now available here. An exclusive autographed limited edition silver vinyl LP version with bonus CD is available.

Cover artwork and tracklist can be viewed below, along with the official video for the debut single "Hellfire Thunderbolt".

Downing: "We are delighted to finally be able to release our first track to the world. It gives a real flavour of the sound and showcases the amazing players I've got in this band. We can't wait for the fans to hear the record."

Tracklist:

"Incarnation"
"Hellfire Thunderbolt"
"Sermons Of The Sinner"
"Sacerdote Y Diablo"
"Raise Your Fists"
"Brothers Of The Road"
"Metal Through And Through"
"Wild And Free"
"Hail For The Priest"
"Return Of The Sentinel"

In addition to Downing, KK's Priest includes former Judas Priest members Tim "Ripper" Owens (vocals) and Les Binks (drums), as well as guitarist A.J. Mills (Hostile) and bassist Tony Newton (Voodoo Six). The band's debut will be released globally by Explorer1 Music Group as a part of the partnership K.K Downing signed in early 2020.

Downing previously stated: "We are incredibly excited and totally ready for the launch of what we consider to be an exceptional and important record; we sincerely hope that you will agree!"