Aedan Siebert at TheMetalForge.com recently caught up with JUDAS PRIEST frontman Rob Halford. The following ins an excerpt from the story:

As some fans may be well aware, Priest were recently inducted into Kerrang magazine’s prestigious Hall Of Fame.

Halford: “Yeah! That was amazing! I mean Kerrang magazine – as you’re aware – is quite an influential mag over in the UK and that kind of came out of the blue! We were asked to accept the award quite some time ago, but it was just a matter of trying to get us all in the same country at the same time because we’re spread around the world. But it was a brilliant night out! To be recognized by that magazine – it’s a weekly publication that reaches about a quarter of a million metal heads and rock heads each week in Great Britain – it was just a very cool thing to receive. And you know, to be in the company of the other bands that were there, like MACHINE HEAD for example, Trent from NINE INCH NAILS, FALL OUT BOY, GALLOWS, MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE – it was just good company! So we had a brilliant night out there with everybody!”

Certainly, between the new Essentials release, the recording sessions of Nostradamus and the award from Kerrang, it could be said that there’s plenty going in the Halford camp to keep the man well and truly busy!

Halford: “Yeah non stop! (Laughs) In over thirty years of it, it doesn’t let up! So it’s absolutely fantastic of course to still be so active and vital in the world of metal all these years later – it’s still the best gig in the world to do what I do. I love it you know? It’s just a real passion.”

I mentioned to Rob that he’s certainly come a long way over the past thirty-something years and wondered if it was strange looking back on how things had turned out.

Halford: “Well you know, I think the thing about music is that it doesn’t really have much of a timeline attached to it. I mean I know it’s been over 30 years but it certainly doesn’t seem that long. It’s remarkable! Like in all of these CD’s and hundreds and hundreds of songs and doing thousands of shows and travelling millions of miles around the world – time just seems to fly be so quickly. But I think the essence of what keeps you driven to do what you do is still pretty much the same as it was when it first kicked off. You’ve got to really be getting something out of being a metal player, creating music, recording it and then taking it out and playing the gigs. So all of that time just seems to get eaten up really quickly.”

Go to this location for the complete story.