More than fifty years of career have not dried up the flow that emanates from Judas Priest, the seminal heavy metal group that has just presented Invincible shield, the 19th album by the British group clad in leather suits full of studs, the same ones that They became fashionable in the seventies and that they maintain in their live performances, as they will do on June 13 in Barcelona. Without Glenn Tipton, suffering from Parkinson’s disease – despite this, he continues to collaborate with the band – and with guitarist Richie Faulkner – replacement for K.K. Downing – recovered from the heart attack he suffered in 2021, the quintet returns to the sharpest sound, with Rob Halford’s voice in top form, baroque guitar riffs and a solid rhythm with the bass of Ian Hill, the only survivor of the Reverend Judas band since its creation in 1973.
“On each album we try to stay modern and relevant,” explains Hill about the development of his new work in the midst of covid. “We never had the opportunity to meet in a studio to work. “Scott and Richie did their recording in Nashville, Rob did a lot of work in Phoenix, and Glenn did a lot of work from home.” The bassist opted to record in hotel rooms while they were on the 50th anniversary tour, “a great way to do things, there was no pressure, you picked a song and had the whole day free.”
The long career of the British quintet keeps them at the top of heavy metal festivals, where classic names do not seem to find a replacement at the same level. “I’m sure they will when we retire, no one lives forever,” says Ian Hill, laughing. “We have been welcoming fans for 50 years, from a purely commercial point of view we give an audience to new bands. You go to a European festival and you have at least a dozen bands in one day, everyone has access to them Even if they came to see us or the Maiden, that’s what happened to us. It’s a kind of learning, at first you played in small clubs and bars and, if you were lucky, you got a third place on the bill with another band and you had 25 minutes or half an hour if you were lucky. The second time you performed with the band, maybe even as a special guest, and the third time you did your own shows. Nothing comes out of nowhere, if someone shows up without you having seen them before you can bet what “You want to know that it’s been a long time getting there.”
Half a century later, the sound of Judas is perfectly recognizable and very different from pop songs, which allow you to “get in your car or walk through a shopping center without hearing them.” The difference with heavy music is that fans of the genre “like to get more involved in the music, it’s not just the lyrics and the chorus, it’s the bass lines and the drum patterns, the guitar riffs and the pieces. keyboard, all that is what they hear.” Therefore, to enjoy heavy metal “you have to take music a little more seriously, and those people will always be there, there is a lot of future for heavy metal.”
Along with their music, Judas Priest are known for bringing leather and studded styling to the genre in the ’70s. “There were a lot of influences, you had regular guys like Colosseum or the Blues Breakers in jeans and t-shirts that They just played,” he remembers from that time. “On the other hand you had the most extravagant ones, the Bowies, who were interested in image, although of course they didn’t use leather, it was all satin, velvet and chiffon. I don’t remember if it was Fue Ken [Kenneth Keith Downing] or Rob the first to show up to a band meeting wearing a leather jacket and we thought it was cool, a biker jacket fits what we were doing: Heavy, powerful music didn’t fit with sapphires and velvet, plus we all had a leather jacket; then came the leather pants, the studs and everything else. It was in the 80s, with the publication of British Steel, when the music and image of Judas completely merged “and heavy metal was recognizable.”
Along with leather and studs, Judas Priest are also known for being one of the first bands of the genre to have an openly homosexual among their ranks, none other than Rob Halford, the legendary singer who came out of the closet in 1998. “ I think it was the worst kept secret, everyone who knew him knew he was gay, including the fans. For him it must have been an immense relief, not so much for us because we didn’t care, we never pressured him to keep it a secret.” When he finally announced it he had already left the band to which years later he returned. “In those years the People weren’t as intolerant as they were in the ’70s and ’80s, so it didn’t have as much of an impact. In fact, it might have won us some gay fans, who knows.”
