I had the great pleasure of speaking with Rob Halford about all the Halford digital releases and the progress of Judas Priest's next CD Nostradamus. He was a great interview and seemed like a very decent, humble, down to earth guy who is grateful for all the success he's had over the years and looks forward to continuing his and Judas Priest's metal legacy.
Chad Bowar: What's the status of the next Judas Priest album Nostradamus?
Rob Halford: I'm in San Diego at the moment working on the lyrics. The guys are in the studio in England putting down all the tracks. The writing sessions have been completed and now it's time to actually record. We're on track with that and fingers crossed it will be out in the first part of 2007. We'll be doing some specialty dates to support Nostradamus, which will be performed completely from beginning to end. We've never done that before. It's our first concept album, if you want to call it that. It will be huge moment for Priest to play the whole album front to back. Accompanying that will be one of the biggest stage shows we've ever put together. It's going to be a tremendously exciting year for Priest in 2007.
Were you surprised by the overwhelming reaction of support you received when you rejoined Priest?
We were just floored by the incredible loyalty and support that Priest maintains. We just flourish on that. I think it was that incredible reception and response that kept us going for 18 months of hard work all over the planet. We came off that tour exhausted and wondered what we were going to do next musically. Then Nostradamus reared his head and we thought, what a great way to follow up a very successful critically acclaimed reunion record, and rather than go and make another studio album, here's a chance for this band three decades later to show its metal in a whole new light. It's tremendously exciting for us and we can't wait to release it to the world in 2007.
A lot of your contemporaries have lost the power and range of their voice. How have you managed to maintain yours?
I think metals singers are unique animals. We're still stepping up to the mic, whether it's me or Bruce Dickinson or Lemmy or Ozzy. I don't know why it is. Each of those guys that I've mentioned have special unique talents. You'd think we'd have all blown out our vocal cords by now when you consider what we've put them through. I think we're all in our golden years. If you've got a good voice, as long as you do the right things to take care of it, it keeps making the metal.
How has Judas Priest managed to be so successful for so long?
We're a unique breed of musicians, those of us that came into the rock and metal world in the '70s. There was a standard of musicianship and a style of musicianship that's different than today's world. I think we always hoped that we would be in a musical environment and keep going and going. It's lasted over three decades now, and I think the proof of being able to sustain is all about the quality of work, and we're real taskmasters in Priest. It's to make sure what you create is as valuable in the future as it is now. For example, when you put Sad Wings Of Destiny on, it still rocks and roars, and it's from 1976, and that's always been important to us. We've counted our blessings that we came from that time in rock in roll that really helped us stay the course in what we do with our metal.
What do you think is the most underrated Priest album?
That's a good question. I think that one would pop immediately to mind would be Stained Class. I think that there is some incredible material on that record. Ram It Down was also a bit overlooked. There are some great songs on it. But that's to be understood. Everybody gets that, where people think "Maybe that's better than I originally thought."
