Judas Priest guitarist Glenn Tipton was a guest on Eddie’s Sirius/XM’s Trunk Nation radio show on October 27th. Highlights from the interview appear below and has been transcribed exclusively for EddieTrunk.com.
Discussing the legacy of Defenders Of The Faith, which is celebrating its 30 anniversary:
“I think with the success of Screaming For Vengeance, you look at our other albums and you tend to think that perhaps they didn’t reach the market screaming. But in retrospect, a lot of people came back and said, Ram It Down was a great album, Defenders was a great album. Everyone of our albums, I think has some gems on there. The album itself might not be the strongest of all the Priest albums, but its got good songs to offer. A good example is Point Of Entry. I know people weren’t sure about that album when it first came out but it’s got Hot Rockin’ on there, its got Solar Angels and its got Desert Plains. So, if we didn’t experiment a little bit, we wouldn’t have those Priest classics. So, it’s all about trying to push the borders and boundaries further apart and that’s what we have always tried to do.”
Speaking about Turbo being very experimental at the time when it was released in 1986:
“Yes, Turbo, again, was experimental which is what we love to do and we brought in synth guitars. People didn’t exactly condemn us for that, but they didn’t quite understand what we were trying to do at that time. Not everybody, but some people sort of said, ‘Oh, we’re not sure about the synth guitars.’ But then, of course, other people started to use them. When you hear us play Turbo [Lover], even now, and we’re playing it in the set at the moment, it’s one of the strongest songs in the set and everyone sings along with it. So, you’ve got to keep on experimenting and trying different things and going down different paths. But…the songs will always have the character of Judas Priest and that’s the most important thing.”
Talking about Rob Halford’s voice still being strong after all these years:
“It’s amazing….Rob couldn’t be singing better. I don’t know how he does it, really. He’s not a youngster anymore, but he can still hit those high notes. His voice is as strong as ever. But working with him on the album [Redeemer Of Souls], I noticed how strong his voice still is, it’s phenomenal how his voice has held up throughout the years. He’s in tremendous form.”
On where the next generation of iconic, great classic bands will come from:
“I think probably naturally evolution will solve that problem. There’s a lot of great bands out there. I do believe that everything goes in circles and I see a return to that classic style of metal. I think everybody..branches off, they experiment and they try different paths to go down and that’s great offshoots of metal. Even if you go back to Punk, Death Metal or Black Metal, it’s just people experimenting, but it usually finds its way back to the mainstream of what is [classic] heavy metal. Actually, there are some very talented musicians out there and great bands. I think maybe some of them have yet to find themselves and it does take some time to do that sometimes. But, I am sure that void will be filled…I don’t believe in life without metal.”
Answering whether or not he saw K.K. Downing’s recent comments wishing the band luck:
“No, I didn’t no….[But], that’s really nice. It’s really nice of him.”
Discussing what he will do if and when the band ever decides to retire:
Glenn: “I like to travel a lot. I am also a home[body]. I love the country life. I like the countryside. I like animals. I’ve got lots of interests. I even make and crash model airplanes…I’ve got a few weird interests Eddie.”
Eddie: “Wait, you make airplanes and then crash them??”
Glenn: “Well, I’m trying to fly them and then crash them….model helicopters. I am not a successful pilot, I’m afraid. They don’t usually last many seconds. Hours of work for seconds of destruction. There’s a good title for the next Priest album….”
50 Responses
To show what development in guitar playing, sound, and song writing Tipton and Downing took first listen to their performance on the BBC’s Old Whistle Test (on YT) and then to British Steel only a few years afterwards. That is a sign of sheer talent and innovation.
Is this the guy in Panther? I really like Steel Panther