Gary Graff of Billboard reports:
Rob Halford is curious to see who — and what — turns up in Las Vegas early next year when he and his Judas Priest bandmates reign over the first all-metal edition of Rock ‘n’ Roll Fantasy Camp.
“I’m sure some of those Rock ‘n’ Roll Fantasy Campers will be full-on,” Halford tells Billboard. “I will be interested to see if there’s some Metal God, Rob Halford lookalikes wandering around Vegas in metal and studs and whatnot — although,” he adds with a laugh, “I’m sure you can find that in Vegas on any given day, right?”
Halford will be joined by Priest guitarist Richie Faulkner, bassist Ian Hill and drummer Scott Travis at the Camp, which runs February 27th-March 2nd at the MGM Grand Hotel & Casino; the group’s Glenn Tipton will be busy mixing the band’s next album, which they are in the midst of recording. Also serving as counselors will be Zakk Wylde, embattled Queensryche singer Geoff Tate, Lita Ford, Quiet Riot alumnus Rudy Sarzo, Vinny Appice (Dio, Black Sabbath, Heaven & Hell) and Phil Soussan (Ozzy Osbourne). Registration is open; details are available at www.rockcamp.com.
Halford says the fantasy camp organizers wanted Priest to participate “for quite a long time, actually. Just because of various points on the colander we were never able to attend and to be involved.” But he promises the group members will offer instruction that was well worth waiting for.
“I think they’re just looking for some professional tips and want to hear from the voice of experience,” Halford says. “It’s one thing to sing in the shower and it’s another thing to sing on stage. They’re two totally different worlds. So it’ll be an opportunity for me to do the best I can to answer questions — How do you sing this note? How do you manage to scream like that? How do you breathe? How are you able to keep up that type of intensity? I’ll try to explain myself as best as possible and give some insight into what it’s like to be a metal singer.”
Halford says that by fantasy camp time Priest should be finished recording its new album, the follow-up to 2008’s conceptual Nostradamus.
“The writing process is complete,” he reports. “Now it’s the painstaking work of making sure that you get every single note, every single nuance of the vocal, every tiny aspect…right. We’re still tracking (instruments). It’s just a very laborious but enjoyable part of making the record.”
Priest is producing the album itself at the moment, but Halford notes that “there’s always a possibility somebody might come in to overview some of the things we’re doing.”
Halford describes the project’s sound as “hard. It’s heavy. It’s something we think our Priest fans will be thrilled with. We know we have a reputation to maintain, and we know we have to deliver something really strong and solid. The album is going to be full of all the great things you love about Judas Priest — I don’t think I can say anything more than that without being hung, drawn and quartered.”
Priest plans to tour in support of the album, though not quite as extensively as it has in the past. Next year will also mark the 40th anniversary of the group’s debut album, Rocka Rolla, which Halford says will be commemorated in some way.
“We’ll be working furiously and manically in the studio cellars and conjuring up some special moments for next year, I’m sure of that,” he says. “That just makes the (fantasy camp) another tremendous moment for Priest, to be in Vegas kicking of the 40th anniversary year, meeting our fans, making this special metal moment happen together.”
source: billboard.com
17 Responses
Awesome !
Those are great musicians, singers and songwriters. A true heavy metal HARVARD with Deen Halford and his whip. Give Geoff Tate credit. AMERICAN SOLDIER was a great album. One of 00s best. For me, Ian Hill showing me the bass parts on THE RAGE would be as good as it gets. I was a 1 year old when ROCKA ROLLA came out and my mother played it for me and I knew those guys would be huge. Ripper should also be there cause he learned PRIEST and did it very well.
First Lulu and now American Soldier? Crap Richman what is going on with you?
You know I’m fond of SABOTAGE and SGT PEPPER as well. Remember how eccentric I was at WOODSTOCK. I promise to behave from now on. I ve been listening to URIAH HEEP lately and someone else brought them up. ABOMINOG was a very solid effort. I can t defend LULU anymore. It is a losing battle. Geoff Tate may be on the run when your young PUBLIC ENEMY # 1. Regardless of weird behavior, he s still a great voice.
I saw Uriah Heep open for Def Leppard in 1983 (Pyromania Tour). Fell in love with Easy Livin after that. In the 80’s Queensryche was one of my favs and Tate was one of my favorite singers. He can’t sing like he used to (like a lot of those guys from that era). But more importantly I don’t like where he took the band musically and even worse, his attitude sucks. Realistically Ryche ended when DeGarmo left. I just try and enjoy the older stuff up to Mindcrime. Empire and Promised Land were ok. But anything after that just pissed me off. I’m good with your tastes in albums Richman, except for Lulu. That truly is fucked up. I’ll accept American Soldier as a moment of weakness. I’ll throw you a bone and tell you that Born Again is actually my second fav Sabbath album after Sabotage. I know I could get crucified for that by the masses. But something about Gillan and Iommi worked for me.
Good call on DeGarmo. BORN AGAIN is a stand alone album. Don t worry about comparisons there.
I like Priest and Halford as well, but who gave him the title Metal God? Not hardly, and he even refers to himself that way… give me a break
Tyler, Halford is THE Metal God. No doubt about it.
I don’t care what Halford does, I absolutely love that guy. My fav by far. I met him in ’88 and he was a class act all the way. Best voice in Rock, period. If only KK was still with the band, but I’ll move on. I’ve heard he’s fantastic person as well. Getting to hang out with some of the guys from Priest would be amazing. Ian Hill and Rob probably have amazing stories to tell. It would be cool to hang with Scott as well, as he’s killer on the skins. Best they’ve had since Les Binks.
campers: if u do practice vocals in the shower with rob please be careful not to drop the soap. in fact you may want to consider soap on a rope.
Hilarious Frank – nothing better than some homophobia at Trunk Nation.
You knew somebody would have to go there. I think back on High School and how all the druggie-rocker kids emulated Rob’s leather and chains bit thinking it made them tough. Yet back then nobody had a clue that it was all just gay S+M paraphenalia or something like that. Same with Paul Stanley’s look. Funny as hell in hindsight.
I remember way back when in their hey day the rumors were out there about Rob. Back then it was sort of a taboo subject and I just remember thinking ‘I don’t care if he is or isn’t’. As long as they kept putting out the music it didn’t matter to me. I’m assuming it was tough for him back in the day – but he’s a legend regardless and one of my all time favs. And for the record, I agree on the Paul Stanley thing.
I agree. Argueably one of the best singers, if not the best to ever record in hard rock was Freddie Mercury. Queen might be the most influential band out there in that genre next to Zep and Sabbath.