LoudTrax.com has issued a new interview with JUDAS PRIEST frontman ROB HALFORD. The following is an excerpt:

Q: You are performing at this year’s Heavy MTL festival. Tell us what can fans expect in anticipation of seeing HALFORD live?

A: "Well they can expect the Halford band to be roaring that’s for sure. It will be a wonderful time for the Halford band to return to Montreal. Montreal is great, hotbed of heavy metal madness! The fans have this great reputation for being so intense and hard core, and having such passion and love for their metal.

So the Halford band’s gonna come back to Montreal and tear it up and have a great time. We’ll play a lot of different songs from our back catalog and some other places as well. We’ll be playing about an hour, and run through as many songs as we can and give everybody a great time. Some cool artists are appearing so it will be fun for us as well. My friend Alice Cooper, the guys from Korn, Dave from Megadeth, they’re all good friends of mine. Slayer, my god it’s going to be a great event! All of these different kinds of music will be pouring out and I’m sure everyone’s going to have a brilliant time."

Q: The experience of going to a concert today vs. going to a concert pre-internet has changed. For example, the set list is easy to find, along with video clips of the show and so on. As the performer, how much harder is it to hold that element of surprise at a concert, and does that factor in to how you plan for the show?

A: "Yes right. I think the actual performance is the main essence. Regardless of whether you know what’s going to happen in terms of the set list or the clips that you might have seen on the internet. You can’t beat being in the crowd, being in the pit – with your devil horns up at the band that you love. Nothing beats that, that’s why live shows now are probably more than ever more successful and that’s why this Montreal one is going to continue to grow and become this huge annual event.

The internet is kind of like a double edged sword. It’s serves a wonderful purpose in communicating what your doing with your music and having this instant fix with whatever you need, music or otherwise. The down side is all the rubbish that goes on with the illegal downloading and everyone thinking that they’re famous and aggravating each other!

You cannot deny that all the fans, and myself included… is that I know that if I am going to see my favorite band it’s cause I know that I am going to be seeing something that’s special in that particular moment in time. It’s never the same when you get it from any other source, you gotta be there live."

Read the full interview at this location.

Heavy MTL 2010 is being held at Parc Jean-Drapeau in Montreal, Quebec on July 24th and 25th.

Acts confirmed include:

July 24th: MEGADETH, SLAYER, ALICE COOPER, HALFORD, MASTODON, TESTAMENT, FEAR FACTORY, ANVIL, KATAKLYSM, MELISSA AUF DER MAUR, HIGH ON FIRE, SKELETONWITCH, BAPTIZED IN BLOOD, 36 CRAZY FISTS.

July 25th: KORN, ROB ZOMBIE, LAMB OF GOD, FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH, HATEBREED, 3 INCHES OF BLOOD, AVENGED SEVENFOLD, ALEXISONFIRE, SHADOWS FALL, WINDS OF PLAGUE, CHIMAIRA, ATREYU, IN THIS MOMENT, NORMA JEAN, DESPISED ICON, LES EKORCHES, AIRBOURNE, BENEATH THE MASSACRE, HAIL THE VILLAIN, and DEADLY APPLES.

Further festival details can be found at Heavymtl.com.