Recently, I had the honor and the pleasure to talk to a huge Metal personality; actually, it’s the Metal God himself! His Metalness, Rob Halford, is on the other line and he sounds really warm and friendly! He talked to us about his latest album, his future plans, which include a special Priest year, his dream about making a Black Metal album and the story about those three... tremors, which he really wants to put back on track.

Interview by Costas Koulis.

Rockpages.gr : First of all, could I ask you about the NOKIA theatre? It was on the sixteenth...

Rob Halford : Oh, yes... I played with Slash... I know Slash for a long time, he’s a good friend. There was Jason Bonham, too... The rest of the guys... Never met Keith Emerson before, there was Steve Lukather from Toto, it was a charity event, I was so excited to be with all these people... We only did two songs... From “Winter songs” we did “We Three Kings” and we did “Living after midnight” and it was great! Primarily, it was a charity... Tried to see if it’s on youtube but I can’t find anything... (laughs)

Rockpages.gr : Maybe you’ll be able to see something tomorrow or the day after tomorrow (e.n. there is live footage now).

Rob Halford : I took my HD camera with me... I record a lot of stuff. It was a sold out show, the fans loved it, the place is called “L.A.Live”, it’s a fantastic place...

Rockpages.gr : Can I ask you about the last album? How did you come up with the idea to release such an album?

Rob Halford : Well, let me ask you, what did you do for Christmas? Were you with your family and friends and that kind of thing?

Rockpages.gr : Yes, precisely!

Rob Halford : Same for me really... and there’s always music in the background. And I always loved these days... The activities... It’s always a bit of a challenge to do some of these fantastic songs... I’m always on the look out for new things to do.

Rockpages.gr : Press release talked about your sensitive side but I think this is just the expression of an artist who believes that music is just one.

Rob Halford : Music is music and if you are a true musician, you should have a sense of adventure, you should have no regrets later on. I still stay true to that cause. But I have an opportunity, on occasions, to try something a little bit different. When you crank up the first song, “Get into the spirit”, that’s a real metal song... Some of the songs are a bit bluesy but Metal has been like that for years... It can be very powerful or very delicate...

Rockpages.gr : I’m gonna go to your activities... You have toured the world, you have your own label, you have your own clothing line, you have released an album, you are doing all these things. So, I guess there’s time for everything after all, isn’t there?

Rob Halford : Well, it’s about planning the calendar really... (laughs) I’m not doing all that by myself, because I’ve got this great team of people working for me. Whether it’s about my solo tours or with Priest, the final result you see on stage is a combination of a lot of people’s involvement and contribution.

Rockpages.gr : What’s in store for 2010?

Rob Halford : You’ve probably read it... The big event for me is the 30th celebration of “British Steel”... The music is still powerful... We are planning for a special DVD next year... Besides that, I don’t really know what else is going on; I’ve got my business things 24 hours a day... I’d like it to be a combination of live shows and everything else... Just another Metal year. (laughs)

Rockpages.gr : I was reading something you said last year, that you wanted to do a Black Metal album...

Rob Halford : Yeah!

Rockpages.gr : Still interested?

Rob Halford : I’m still interested... When I talk about these things... These are ambitions and dreams I’ve got. I love that kind of music, I think it’s brilliant! I just wanna see what I can do... I might do one song or two songs, I might do an EP of four songs... It might be absolute dog shit! (big laughs) You’ve got to dive in...

Rockpages.gr : Since you’re doing so many things, artistically... I’m just wondering if you are interested in acting as well...

Rob Halford : I’m not good in that, quite frankly... I love watching professional actors doing that... They make it look so easy, don’t they? It’s very difficult to do that... It takes a lot of professionalism and talent to be convincing, to make you believe what you see is real... I’m just going to stay on my side of the road, trying to be what the fans called me. They called me “Metal god” a few years ago and that’s what I’m trying to be...

Rockpages.gr : At some point we heard that three of the best singers ever, you and Bruce Dickinson and Geoff Tate, were thinking about doing “The three tremors” project. Are you thinking about reviving that thought?

Rob Halford : Well, the fact that you talk about it now, still, shows that people are thinking about it... I still think it’s an exciting idea, personally, I think it would be cool and unusual and different. We did actually sing together, we did “The one you love to hate”...

Rockpages.gr : Yeah, I’ve listened to it...

Rob Halford : And the crowd went completely crazy! I seriously think about putting it together...

Rockpages.gr : I read a statement you made, “Heavy Metal Christian”...

Rob Halford : Yeah, that’s part of my life. With the solo material you can be a little more personal... It’s no big deal... It’s just connected to this music. The messages of these songs are so powerful...

Rockpages.gr : Is that phrase close to Metal god?

Rob Halford : (big laughs) I’m not the Metal Messiah! (Huge laughs) I don’t have any agendas, I’m not gonna go freaking people out... If there is one thing that I’m doing, that’s music to talk about, so there it is...