In a recent interview with All That Shreds, ex-Judas Priest guitarist, KK Downing, talked about Rob Halford’s return to the band 15 years ago and compared him with his replacement, Tim “Ripper” Owens. “When Ripper joined the band… We would have to say that, physically and technically, Ripper was a better singer than Rob, because Tim was always in tune, he was always in key. I mean, Rob was good. Rob got better after he started to wear in-ear monitors. But Tim was stronger. He still is. I mean, the guy is a powerhouse. But the thing is that the tonality of his voice is not Rob’s, and I guess that’s what the Priest sound is. That’s why it had to come to an end. We would come offstage. Tim would absolutely murder the show, and we would still come offstage and the fans would be saying, ‘Oh, yeah, yeah. I enjoyed the show. But when’s Rob coming back? Is Rob coming back?’ And it was hard. And it must be hard for those guys out there now (when they hear the fans go) ‘Is K.K. coming back? Is Glenn coming back?’ It must be tough for them.” KK also mentioned that he’d be interested in re-recording “Jugulator” and “Demolition” with Tim “Ripper” Owens: “He did a fantastic job on them. We were dropped from Sony when Rob left and was signed to smaller labels with Jugulator and Demolition. I will do some research as to who owns the rights/masters to the albums and let you know. If nobody owns the rights to them, I will start producing and marketing them. I’d be happy too. I would participate in the re-recordings with Ripper and fund them if nobody owns the rights. I don’t think at the moment it’s the right thing to do something independently”.
Check out the interview in full here…
