A couple of days in the past, Rob Halford used to be mendacity in mattress when he had an concept.
“It used to be 4 o’clock within the morning and I couldn’t sleep on account of my insomnia,” he says. “I believed: ‘Possibly I will have to inform those who I’m going to begin an OnlyFans.’ I’d borrow a cat and hang it in opposition to my nether areas: ‘You idea you had been going to get cock however you were given pussy.’”
He shall we out a cackle that’s extra Elevate On movie than budding web porn baron.
It’s mid-afternoon on a Friday in Phoenix, Arizona, where Halford has known as house for the previous 38 years, and the Judas Priest singer is in an ebullient temper. As he will have to be: his band are about to unencumber their 19th album, Invincible Protect, a slice of razor-sharp heavy steel that cuts like a bandsaw and assists in keeping up the late-career sizzling streak that started with 2014’s Redeemer Of Souls and endured with the armour-piercing barrage of 2018’s Firepower.
We’ll get to Invincible Protect in a while, however first again to cats. It’s no twist of fate that Halford introduced tom cats into his 4am waking dream of beginning an OnlyFans web page. His Instagram feed is kind of 65 in step with cent cat-related: pictures of cats doing silly shit, movies of random cats doing silly shit, pictures of the singer in an collection of comedy cat-related T-shirts.
“Cats are stunning,” he says. “They give the impression of being so lovable and cuddly, but they’re so extremely fierce and unbiased: ‘I’ve simply took a shit, blank this up.’” He doesn’t personal any these days, a lot as he’d like to. “I were given so engrossed with my earlier cat that I by no means sought after to depart the home with out him,” he says. “You’ll’t take a cat at the excursion bus. They’d simply wreak havoc.”
The opposite 35 in step with cent of his Instagram is a splurge of pleasure, whether or not it’s the a large number of pictures of Halford posing subsequent to the cactus in his again lawn that appears find it irresistible’s throwing the horns, or saucy photographs of the singer “status there like an fool in my heavy steel bondage equipment.” What unites all of it is a way of joyousness. In a depressing global, Rob Halford’s Instagram is a small beacon of sunshine.
The similar will also be stated of Invincible Protect. For all its steely, state of the art sound and none-more-Priest music titles – Panic Assault, The Serpent And The King, Gates Of Hell, Sons Of Thunder – it’s fuelled by way of a way of positivity that flies within the face of prevailing 2024 traits. ‘Invincible, our plenty are united,’ Halford sings at the name observe. ‘Invincible, can by no means be divided and not anything can stand in our approach.’
“I’ve at all times been a proponent of strolling against the sunshine,” he says. “Every other Factor Coming, The Sentinel, Painkiller, these kind of characters that we create pop out on best. I feel everyone’s were given an invincible defend. Whilst you bang up in opposition to anything, whether or not it’s a private factor or a monetary factor or a well being factor, you’ve gotten this non-public energy you’ll be able to unencumber.”
Six years between albums is a very long time. Admittedly the distance between Invincible Protect and Firepower isn’t fairly so long as that which separated 1990’s Painkiller and 1997’s Jugulator, however they did have Halford’s departure to cope with again then.
Richie Faulkner is mindful that individuals may marvel why bands take see you later to make albums at the moment. When Priest began paintings at the follow-up to Firepower in early 2020, the guitarist assumed it will be out in 2022 at the newest.
“Then we had the pandemic,” he says. “Then there are the excursion dates that were given knocked again. You do suppose: ‘Will this factor ever get completed?’ However there will have to be a problem. It’s just like the shark in Jaws: when it didn’t paintings, they discovered techniques to get round it, and it made for a greater film.”
Faulkner is at house at his area in Nashville, the place he’s lived for the previous few years. The Londoner has been a member of Priest since 2011, when he changed authentic guitarist KK Downing. “I’ll at all times be the brand new boy,” he says self-effacingly.
That can be true chronologically, however Faulkner’s time within the band has coincided with a red patch that presentations no signal of finishing. Invincible Protect is their 3rd in reality nice album in a row, a feat few bands in their antique can pull off.
“The problem every time is to do anything that’s higher,” says the guitarist. “Higher sounding, higher carried out, higher produced.”
It’s the type of factor each and every musician says about their new report, however on this case it’s true. Invincible Protect does push Priest ahead. It’s by no means going to have the similar affect because the albums they launched within the overdue 70s and early 80s, however that’s a question of timing somewhat than high quality. It’s definitely the equivalent of 1990’s Painkiller, a report that reset the band’s profession after a late-80s wobble.
As with any Priest albums, there’s extra happening than seems to start with look. The band stay without equal heavy steel ambassadors, embodying the style’s utter sincerity and its skill to wink at itself on the identical time. However Halford’s lyrics run deeper than his skill to get a hold of one thousand other descriptions for ‘steel’ (fascinating reality: he’s been the use of the similar glossary because the days of Sin After Sin). The album’s opening observe and primary unmarried, Panic Assault, is a screaming dive-bomb of an anthem, nevertheless it used to be impressed by way of what Halford sees because the darker, extra pernicious affect of the web.
“The web is good, nevertheless it has created some horrible issues,” he says. “The way in which that language is used on-line to be damaging and corruptive and conspiracy-laden, the entire bullying factor, it’s terrible.”
He’s in full-on reflective mode on Crown Of Horns, a slow-burning not-quite-ballad about bearing your personal ache. ‘I realized the laborious approach that what you dreamed for comes from the ache you hang within,’ he sings.
“I used to be occupied with Ukraine, about status up for your self within the face of anything terrible,” he says. “And it made me take into consideration what’s happening with the ones deficient souls, and the Russians who’ve been dragged into it. However the lyric ‘A choice out to the sector this night, lift your horns up excessive’, that’s about collective harmony. That’s the steel group as neatly. We’re all in it in combination. We’re all in it to win it.”
He says he used to be nervous about being too self-reflective this time round. “I stated to the fellows: ‘Am I being too ‘me, me, me’? They usually stated: ‘No, all of us really feel that approach.’ I feel everybody can relate to that feeling, simply being in this non-public adventure that’s your personal.”
The remaining observe on Invincible Protect is titled Giants In The Sky. It’s a triumphant hymn to the track Rob Halford has listened to and beloved through the years, and the women and men who made it.
“Paying attention to track makes me take into consideration these kind of stunning folks we’ve misplaced in rock’n’roll, from Janis Joplin to Ronnie Dio to Lemmy,” he says, “but additionally about the truth that track lives for ever.”
Halford’s Instagram web page options numerous pictures of the musicians he’s recognized through the years, lots of them not with us, and Ronnie Dio and Lemmy each characteristic closely.
“Ronnie used to be an odd guy,” he says, “he used to be very pleasant, very affable, he preferred to chuckle, he didn’t put any person down. However he used to be very fascinated by his track. Once we did the Pay attention N’ Assist factor [the all-star heavy metal charity single released in 1985], all the ones folks in that room appeared as much as Ronnie. No matter he steered, everyone listened.”
“And I’ve fond reminiscences of sitting on Lemmy’s lap after he’d simply come off level, along with his hair in a white towel turban. I’m giving him a hug, and he’s sweating in all places. However I at all times felt just a little bit intimidated in Ronnie’s presence and in Lemmy’s presence. Simply on account of the energy in their character and their personality. I felt I used to be a step again from them. They had been giants, I used to be simply an admirer.”
A large number of folks would take factor with that, the organisers of the Rock And Roll Corridor Of Reputation amongst them. In 2022, Priest had been inducted into the Corridor Of Reputation, a trifling 23 years once they first was eligible. When Vintage Rock spoke to Halford in 2021, he insisted that he didn’t care about being within the Corridor Of Reputation. “It doesn’t make any distinction,” he stated on the time.
“Yeah, I used to be most probably fibbing,” he admits now. “As a result of at the evening it used to be magic. Ken [ex-guitarist KK Downing] used to be there, Les [Binks, former drummer] used to be there. You take a look at these kind of people who find themselves providing you with the horns, from Eminem to Lionel Ritchie, and also you suppose: ‘Is that this actually taking place?’ And what you don’t be expecting is Purple coming as much as you and providing you with a hug and announcing: ‘I used to write down your identify on my college books.’ Or Sheryl Crow going: ‘I’ve beloved your voice ever since Dwelling After Middle of the night.’ That’s the loveliness of all of it.”
He says he thought of it so much within the run as much as the HOF rite in November 2022, and he’s thought of it so much since. “Remove the institutionalisation of all of it, and also you’re left with a number of musicians who’ve all been at the identical adventure. It doesn’t topic when you’re Lionel Ritchie or Dolly Parton or Judas Priest, there’s the relationship. It’s like successful a Grammy: ‘I don’t desire a fucking Grammy.’ Neatly, sure you do. It’s an confirmation of the entire laborious slog that you just’ve finished. It’s this gorgeous second the place they’re going: ‘Neatly finished, mate. Have a gong.’”
In October 2023, Priest performed the inaugural Energy Go back and forth competition in California as a substitute for Ozzy Osbourne, who needed to pull out because of ongoing well being problems. Amusingly, right through Priest’s set, Metallica’s James Hetfield and Kirk Hammett had been noticed within the pit, air-guitaring alongside to Priest’s 1980 proto-thrash vintage Fast Fireplace. “You must see them down there,” Faulkner says now. “It’s like: ‘Oh shit, we’d higher be on our recreation.’”
Priest’s set used to be memorable for extra than simply the sight of celebrities fanboying out within the entrance row. Right through the encore, the band had been joined for 3 songs by way of guitarist Glenn Tipton. It wasn’t the primary time Tipton had joined his bandmates on level since saying in 2018 that he used to be stepping again from traveling after being recognized with Parkinson’s illness, nevertheless it used to be definitely probably the most high-profile look.
“It used to be very, very tough for me after we went out for the primary time with out Glenn,” says Halford. “God bless [replacement live guitarist/Priest producer] Andy Sneap, he’s finished a super process and no disrespect to him, however I do pass over Glenn extraordinarily after we play reside. So when he does pop out to have a bang, it’s like: ‘My God!’ It feels so nice.”
Tipton’s situation could have taken him off the street, however each Halford and Faulkner say he used to be as concerned as ever within the making of Invincible Protect. “It’s completely necessary that Glenn is a part of the songwriting workforce,” says Faulkner. “Rob, Glenn and me, we move right into a room with concepts and throw them round. No matter problem Glenn has were given, that’s what he offers with. If he may just play, he would play. If he couldn’t, then I’d take it on. We helped every different out like that.
“Glenn’s like an older brother,” he continues. “Once I joined he took me underneath his wing as the opposite guitar participant. Once we had been at the street we’d move out in combination. So when he pulled again from traveling, I did really feel like my brother wasn’t there. However I do know what it’s love to have anything threaten your long run profession or your skill to play guitar.”
Halford and Faulkner have every had their very own severe scientific problems in recent times. In 2020, Halford used to be recognized with prostate most cancers. After having his prostate got rid of and present process two months of radiation remedy, he used to be given the all-clear.
“It’s something dwelling sooner or later at a time with sobriety, whilst you’re occupied with having a pleasing chilly beer – neatly, a heat beer in The us,” he says. “But if I had the most cancers information it actually shook me up. I went into self-pitying mode. However then I noticed those little children with most cancers at the television tube, with tubes protruding of them. I believed: ‘You’re seventy-something, they’re simply little children.’ It places it into viewpoint.”
Faulkner’s factor used to be arguably much more serious. In September 2021 he underwent emergency center surgical procedure after struggling an acute aortic aneurysm right through Priest’s set on the Louder Than Existence competition. If he hadn’t been in an instant rushed to a close-by health facility, it’s not likely he’d be right here lately to discuss it.
“One thing like that makes you realise we’re no longer right here for ever,” he says now. “Clearly, we all know that no person will get out of this alive, nevertheless it brings it house to you that you just don’t know what’s across the nook. So I at all times suppose that when you’ve were given anything you need to perform, you’ve were given to do it.”
The ones reports, and their respective recoveries, tie into the concept that of the Invincible Protect. “It’s an excessively British factor: simply get on with it, take one step at a time, one step ahead,” says Halford.“The whole lot passes, a method or some other.”
The whole lot passes, needless to say. However that day continues to be some time off for Judas Priest, if Invincible Protect is anything else to head by way of. The sector excursion in improve of the album started final month in Glasgow, with fellow lifers Saxon and Uriah Heep in improve. Faulkner teases that some deeper cuts may well be dropped into the setlist, amongst them Fever (from 1982’s Screaming For Vengeance), Reckless (from 1986’s Turbo) and Saints In Hell (from 1978’s Stained Elegance).
“Now not instantly,” he says. “Possibly because the excursion progresses. Let’s see.”
Past that? Faulkner jokingly says he’d “love to check out and make 5 albums in 5 years”. Halford is bound that there can be a follow-up one day.
“That is the 19th studio album,” says the singer. “I don’t like peculiar numbers. Even supposing I’m turning the quantity up at the television tube, it may possibly’t be 13 – it needs to be 12 or 14. Even numbers are steadiness and unity.”
Does that imply we will be expecting a brand new Priest album someday within the subsequent six years?
“We’re already occupied with what we’re going to do subsequent,” says Halford. “That’s the enjoyment of track, it by no means stops.”
That’s Judas Priest in a nutshell. Unbreakable. Unyielding. Invincible.
Invincible Protect is to be had now by way of Columbia Information.
