In a recent interview with Backstage Axxess, Judas Priest bassist Ian Hill was asked why guitarist K.K. Downing was not asked to re-join after Glenn Tipton had to step aside due to his battle with Parkinson’s.
Ian replied, “When he retired, we took on Richie [Faulkner], you know, so he’s playing all Ken’s parts. So, it’s not Ken’s [parts] that are missing, it’s going to be Glenn’s parts that he would be playing. Really, Ken, what’s he going to do? Come over to my side of the stage and play Glenn’s parts? It wasn’t his job, if you know what I mean, that had become vacant. It was Glenn’s. Glenn and Ken are two excellent guitarists, [but] both are completely different in styles and sounds, and for Ken to be playing Glenn’s parts anyway, it really wouldn’t have sounded right anyway. We never thought about Ken for that reason.”
The “Cobras & Fire” podcast asked what Downing thought of Hill’s justification for why he wasn’t contacted about coming back to to the band, Downing said (as per blabbermouth.net), “Complete load of bollocks. If I had rejoined the band, obviously, I’d step into my role — that’s where people would expect me to be — and Richie is already playing Glenn’s parts anyway, and we’d do that. It wasn’t the case where I was gonna play Glenn’s parts and Richie plays mine.”
“I was thinking, ‘Ian, was it too early in the day or too late in the evening when you came up with this idea?'” K.K. continued. “I don’t know. But bless him — bless him, because we were like brothers; we went to infant school together and secondary school together, and we lived our career together. But I’m not totally happy about what’s being said. Ian seems to be [saying] things like, ‘None of the fans are missing K.K.,’ and, ‘Richie has brought a new energy to the band.’ And I’m going, ‘Ian, dude, on that last tour, I was the energy. I slowed down because people weren’t keeping up with me.'”
Downing added, “That’s a true story. ‘Cause I started off that tour, I played a few shows, and then Scott [Travis, drums] made a comment, and he said, ‘What do you mean, man? It’s your show.’ And I’m thinking, ‘Did he think I’m trying to steal the limelight by doing what I’ve always done?’ Then I started to back off, and then I was in an unhappy place from that point — I didn’t want everybody to think I was trying to steal the limelight when I wasn’t. ‘Cause Rob’s [Halford, vocals] reading his Autocue [teleprompter system] — he’s slowed down — Glenn’s going over there for a beer in between every song, and I’m thinking, ‘Hmm… I don’t know.’ So I’m thinking, Ian, get a grip with yourself, mate. You’ve just replaced the energy with some energy. Fine — well, great. But that’s not moving forward, Ian.”
K.K. Downing’s autobiography, “Heavy Duty: Days And Nights In Judas Priest”, will be released on September 18th through Da Capo Press. Read more about this forthcoming release by clicking here.
12 Responses
I am so glad Maiden is composed of grown-ups instead of little kids.
While I agree all of this public sniping is very disheartening, especially when this my favorite band, let’s not act like Maiden is the pillar of civility.
Mr. Dickinson, although extremely intelligent, has made more than one slight, at the expense of other musicians (Metallica, Rob Halford, etc.). He even criticized his own band, when it was fronted by Paul D’ Di’Anno, saying, “The first Maiden album sounded punky because it sounded like a sack of s–t.”
In his new memoir, What Does This Button Do?, Bruce Dickinson recalls fights with Steve Harris onstage. He writes, “The band was awoken at ‘ridiculous o’clock in the morning,’ so they could shoot [a] video at the venue before the evening’s concert. As a result the show started late, Dickinson said he and Harris were particularly ruthless with one another during the show and afterwards their manager Rod Smallwood had to separate them backstage.”
As far as I know, the members of Judas Priest have never had a go at each other, onstage. So, no band, nor individual, is perfect, but up until recently, Judas Priest seemed to carry themselves in a highly professional manner. One can only hope that as time progresses, they will stop the public feuding and mend their bridges, before it is too late.
D 🙂
Is this KK’s way of trying to promote his book?
Just like when Dave Mustaine has a new album to promote, he trashes his old band.
I suspect it is to help promote his little book. Comes across as petty. Trying to figure out from this article and previous ones which person he has such disdain for. Is it Ian, Rob, Glenn or Travis? I’m confused?? I guess it’s everyone except Holland, no?
Anyway, I’m glad I saw Priest this past tour. It was great but weird without the infamous dueling guitars. What a shame…darn humans and our first world problems.
Glad none of them have gone Geoff Tate onstage…yet, hahahaa.
I LOVE JUDAS PRIEST- HALFORD TIPTON & DOWNING , that core will always be priest to me
– and I actually like no surrender quite a bit great groove , but will not go to another show –
Dana, that Maiden story, if true would be close to 30 years ago. They’ve had their act solidly back together for 19 years.
Also, even Steve Harris thinks the first album’s sound quality is poor.
I agree that Ian Hill’s explanation is nonsensical, but the bottom line is that if Priest had wanted KK back they would have asked him.
Waverider,
The incident must have occurred, because Dickinson wrote about it in his autobiography, which was released almost a year ago. Had it not been true, certainly, Steve Harris, would have refuted it, by now.
Additionally, it doesn’t matter if the incident happened three days ago, or technically, thirty-six years ago (WOW!), the point is no one is perfect. The comparison of behavior from one band to another was unnecessary, unlike an Eddie Trunk metal summit, where comparing two things is up for debate. In the “Who is the better band, Priest or Maiden?” summit, Priest won by the majority, with Jericho being the lone Maiden vote, but I digress…since a comparison was started, I just wanted to point out, that no one is above making mistakes, putting their foot in their mouths, or in Maiden’s case, having the issue spill onstage.
As I stated before, being that this is my favorite band, I find the whole situation sad and unfortunate. I wish both camps would stop discussing the issue in public, but in typical Priest fashion, they are probably asked about it by the journalists/DJ’s, and they respond. They are all honest to a fault, and maybe, they should just table the conversation. Again, I hope they can all move forward and clear up their differences soon. Time progresses quickly, and none of them, unfortunately, are getting any younger.
Cheers,
Dana 🙂