Greg Prato for Ultimateguitar.com spoke with Judas Priest guitarist Richie Faulkner, portions of the interview appear below.
UG.com: How did you approach Invincible Shield from a guitar perspective?
Richie Faulkner: The same way as always really, you sit down with the guitar, and the guitar is kind of like a conduit. The guitar brings riffs and stuff out of you. Pretty organically really…Other times, you sit down with a guitar and you’re jamming around and things jump out of it…
And then what we do, we get together the three of us, [frontman] Rob [Halford], [guitarist] Glenn [Tipton], and myself, put those ideas together, and see if any of them stick…
UG.com: Which songs are you most proud of guitar-wise?
Richie Faulkner: I think the title track has got a lot of stuff in it. It’s got a lot of riffage in it. So, I’m proud of that one in that sense. It’s got a lot of stuff going on, a lot of interesting guitar parts, and the solo section is its own little section. I was going for a Randy Rhoads-style flavor. But all of them for different reasons. You put a lot of work into each song, both individually and as a writing team, to get them as good as they can be.
Panic Attack, Trial by Fire is a bit of a different rhythm on the guitar, the title track, The Serpent and the King. And you’ve got to be proud of them, otherwise there’s no point in releasing songs or a record. Firepower was a well-received record, and if we’re not 1,000% behind what we’re doing as a band and as musicians on this, there’s no point in releasing it.”
Read more at ultimateguitar.com.
Judas Priest’s Invincible Shield will be released on March 8th through Sony Music. The band has also announced tour dates, in support of the new record, view the itinerary, here.
5 Responses
Randy Rhoads eh? I love Judas Priest and Richie but I don’t think he’s quite at Randy’s level even if just for flavoring. Can’t wait to hear the new record though! Hoping my vinyl and cd pre-order arrive on Friday and not some day next week. The whole point of a preorder is to receive it on release day. No excuse.
If the mfg can get the product to record stores days in advance, there’s no reason why they can’t get it to consumers by the date of release!
RPS,
Yes, RR is da best. I think Faulkner meant, he was trying to play in that style. I think he knows better than to compare his playing to Randy. 🙂
RPS, I hear ya on the pre-order. Hate waiting to receive something a week after it would’ve been in the store.
I did get notification from CDJapan on Monday night that my Invincible Shield Deluxe CD has shipped. But, I couldn’t afford the 2-3 day shipping, so I’ll expect it in a week or two. Let’s see if my Target order arrives first.
@Dana – Yes you are correct!
@Mikeyman – Good luck! I ordered my stuff direct from the JP store. No shipping notification yet.
Unbelievable! My CD showed up today, Friday, from CDJapan.com
Perfectly packaged, the cheapest air-mail shipping no tracking, basically 4 days from Japan.
Awesome hard cover booklet style (not a jewel case) with several pages of pics & script, plus came with a bonus post card.
Tracking on my Target order says maybe Monday delivery. It’s in stores today. smh