Ahead of K.K. Downing's return to the US this March with his band, KK's Priest, the former Judas Priest guitarist spoke with The Times about his feelings on Judas Priest, and his band's upcoming tour.

Referencing the song "Metal Through And Through" off the first KK's Priest album, The Times' Scott Tady asked Downing what he  thinks makes metalheads unique?

Says K.K., "It's just getting into those bands that evolved; that took music from blues and progressive blues in the late '60s and early '70s. We didn't even have rock until 1970 or thereabouts. That was the first time that I saw bands like Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple and a few of the other bands first became labeled 'rock bands' not progressive blues. And then, of course, followed hard rock and heavy rock into heavy metal so metal fans inevitably got on there at the time and traveled that journey with us or maybe discovered these bands later on, which is fine, too. I guess you can label the whole thing 'classic rock' or 'classic metal;' and it's anything from Dokken, Van Halen, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden and Scorpions, and it goes on. Accept and Saxon and UFO. All these bands that created and took us into the '90s where you started to get some new and different kind of metal, whether it's Megadeth, Pantera, Metallica and so many more bands that took it to a different place. And from there you had thrash metal, death metal, Christian metal, so much more. That great evolution that led us to where we are today has been a fantastic journey. And I'm glad to say a lot of metal fans do like classic metal and they do like new metal bands, which is a great thing to see. It's potentially in jeopardy of becoming extinct at some point. We're at an age where we're losing lots of people and dear friends like Eddie (Van Halen) and Jeff Beck, but we'll do this as long as we can. I will, anyway. And add to the collection and really hope fans will enjoy that."

Read the complete interview at The Times.

KK's Priest's upcoming US tour kicks off on March 7 in Fort Lauderdale, FL and featurs support from special guests L.A. Guns and Napalm Records label mates Burning Witches. This tour is scheduled to be the first of at least a two leg US tour, planned to continue later in 2024.

Tickets for this monumental tour are on sale now. Check local venues or visit kkspriest.com to buy yours.

Tour dates:

March
7 - Fort Lauderdale, FL - Culture Room
9 - Destin, FL - Club LA
10 - Atlanta, GA - Buckhead Theater
12 - Baltimore, MD - Rams Head Live
13 - Buffalo, NY - Riverworks
15 - St. Charles, IL - Arcada Theatre
16 - Columbus, OH - King Of Clubs
17 - Pittsburgh, PA - Stage Ae
19 - Newport, KY - Megacorp Pavilion
20 - Cleveland, OH - Agora Theater
22 - Sayreville, NJ - Starland Ballroom
23 - Patchogue, NY - Patchogue Theatre
24 - Glenside, PA - Keswick Theatre

KK's Priest is:

Tim "Ripper" Owens - Vocals
K.K. Downing - Guitar
A.J. Mills - Guitar
Tony Newton - Bass
Sean Elg - Drums