Judas Priest guitarist Glenn Tipton says he feared Judas Priest were dead and buried when K.K. Downing quit in 2011.
Tipton’s fellow guitarist retired ahead of Priest’s Epitaph World Tour and was replaced by guitarist Richie Faulkner who went on to appear on Redeemer Of Souls. But the shock of Downing’s departure left the rest of the band in fear that their decades-long careers had come to an end.
Tipton tells Metalholic, “It came as a surprise to us all. At that time, I really, truly thought the band were finished. We were poised to do a farewell tour and, of course, Ken decided he’d had enough of that. I respect his decision. It must have been a big decision to make. I think we’ve all been through that phase. We’ve been around for 35, 40 years. But we found Richie, and Richie is a small miracle, because the guy is such a great guitar player and he blended in so well first on stage. And then, of course, he’s worked so hard and contributed so much to the album that it’s just a miracle.”
The Epitaph World Tour was supposed to be the band’s farewell, but Faulkner’s influence soon changed their minds.
Tipton adds, “When we got new blood in the band, it was needed at the time. It would be the same thing; you get some new blood in there and there’s energy and enthusiasm — motivation. You see things in a different way. He just gave everybody a kick up the backside, really. We went from literally meaning it was our last tour to there’s such great songs on this album, it’s a shame we can’t get out and play them.”
additional source: classicrockmagazine.com
26 Responses
Hey, Eddie, how come no one has mentioned that the greatest drummer in metal, Scott Travis, is celebrating his 25th year with Priest????
Because that dudes drumming sucks compared to Dave Holland and Travis has zero showmanship and nothing screams out rock star about him like a Tommy Lee or Lars Ulrich
ummmmmmmm…..ok. Dave Holland was good, not great by any means. When Scott came in on Painkiller it was like WOW! Not even gonna compare Scott to Lars or Tommy because he can play circles around both of em. Maybe if he had a mic headset he could say “F**K” about 300 times in concert like Tommy or Lars do, maybe that would give him some more “showmanship”.
Bring back Les Binks……yes I am that old…
What a foolish response.
Rather have a drummer with (cough, cough) “zero showmanship” than a convicted child molester, a junkie, and a dud behind the kit.
You sir have just said the stupidest thing ever in the history of Trunk Nation. Sorry to be rude, but I gotta call stupid when I see it. And you’ve just raised the bar when it comes to stupidity. So congrats I guess. Now go listen to the intro to Painkiller and try to imagine Dave Holland playing that. Take care.
Dave Holland couldn’t have played on Painkiller if it depended on his life.
Dave Holland’s drumming was boring. Some people may be falsely thinking of him as being better than he actually was simply because the songs Rob, Glenn and KK wrote during his time in the band were so great. Those songs were so awesome, I could have played drums on them and it’d still work.
I’m glad that Priest changed their minds. I just won tickets to see them in Dallas this November!!
Redeemer Of Souls is a FANTASTIC album!
Picked up the Deluxe Edition when it was released.
Played the CD in the car for a week straight, 6 or 7 times in a row in order from start to finish. The flow of the tracks is excellent, I couldn’t stop listening and didn’t get burned out. There seems to be a song from all the different era’s of classic Priest. Even the slower or “lighter” songs are great and fit nicely on this album. That last track, “Beginning Of The End” just gives me chills.
Thank you Richie for keeping Priest going.
Thank you Judas Priest for not hanging it up, and giving us fans another GREAT album.
What you talkin bout, JT ??!!
Painkiller sucked and Mr. Trunk himself prefers Dave Holland
Dave was great just keeping a beat. Any time he started a drum roll it was like “Somebody stop him!”. If he was so great why did the band hire a session drummer to fill in on the parts he couldnt play live. This drummer (forget his name) had a full kit under the stage during the Turbo tour. He would fill in on parts Dave couldnt play! They should’ve hired Scott then. Can you imagine Ram it Down with Scott playing!
Listening to parts of Turbo even Ram It Down, I’m not even sure it’s Dave playing. It sounds like a drum machine: A cheap drum machine.