Rob Halford should have given solo songs to Judas Priest

Guitarist KK Downing said his former bandmate Rob Halford recorded songs for solo projects that should have been used for Judas Priest instead.

“I think I was the able-bodied member who was very loyal and true,” Downing told UCR in a new interview. “I haven’t recorded with other musicians. I didn’t have my own online store. I have never sold my own merchandise. I was the priest’s faithful fan. If I had solid material, it would always go to Judas Priest.

Halford, “had some really good songs” when he worked with producer and songwriter Roy Z. “I think those songs should have happened to Judas Priest, really,” he says. “All I had, if he was strong, came to Judas Priest. I never took solid material and took it elsewhere.

In a previous interview with the Ex-Man with Doc Coyle podcast, Downing said he “went through that time” involving his departure from the group in his 2018 memoir, Heavy Duty: Days and Nights in Judas Priest.

Expanding on the subject, he tells us that he doesn’t know why he didn’t go into more detail about the split in his autobiography. “It was a little scary writing a book, really,” he admits. “When I was regressing in my childhood it would get so emotional sometimes. I think you are on a little different wavelength.

“As you get older, I think you take stock of reality. Maybe the very beginning and the very end are the most important things, I think, ”he continues. “Everything that’s going on in the middle is just a minefield, isn’t it?” A serious roller coaster.

He says he continues to “remember things” all the time since he wrote Foolproof and that there was also a reason for brevity on certain subjects. “I think if I had gone into the details of everything in the book, I think it would have been too thick a book to read, really,” notes the guitarist. “I had to keep it at a certain length.”

But he admits that “the details are pretty important” when it comes to his 2011 exit from the band he helped form over 50 years ago. “I think the point is, what happened shouldn’t have happened, anyway.”

Things came to a head towards the end of 2010. “When Rob released two studio albums and went on a world tour that year, things were not going well, not just with me, nor with anyone,” he says. . “There were a lot of circumstances. I just felt like if there were any issues that really needed to be discussed, they would be resolved, but not by me. I was just expected to accompany the people who had assessed that they had solved the problems. I think enough is getting enough.

Downing continues with KK’s Priest – his new band which reunites him with former member of Judas Priest’s band, Tim “Ripper” Owens. Sermons of the sinner, their debut album, will be released on August 20. Two singles, the title track and “Hellfire Thunderbolt”, have already been released from the next set.

Watch KK Downing’s interview with UCR