Arielle Castillo of the Miami New Times recently conducted an interview with
JUDAS PRIEST frontman Rob Halford. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow
below.
Miami New Times: When you decided to [play "British Steel" in its entirety on
the current tour], did you worry that playing one album in order would eliminate
some element of surprise for the audience?
Halford: It's impossible to have a complete surprise now, isn't it?
Unfortunately, that's the way of the world. Everybody's Twittering while they
eat their lunch and while they're sitting in the movie theater, so it's a shame
really. But I also wouldn't deny the excitement that this kind of instant
connection can create. Because you know, no matter how you explain to a fan that
you've seen the pre-show, or seen clips from YouTube or whatever, you can't
really fully understand or experience the true moment until you're there in
person. It's like watching a movie of the Grand Canyon. It's great, but you
cannot understand what it means until you are standing at the rim staring at the
vastness. I think that's true of this particular show. But I agree with you, you
know. When the Internet was going mainstream, we discussed that. Because coming
from that time of our life, there was the excitement of, "Oh, there's a new LP
coming from PRIEST!" You'd put the
vinyl on your turntable, and that was the only way you could experience it. You
couldn't snag it off the Internet or get an illegal download or a video clip. So
there was a mystery of how [a band] would do it onstage. And to a certain
extent, that's gone now. But it's today's world, you have to accept it. It's all
about living in the moment, and the only way you can live in the moment for a
PRIEST show is to come and see us.
Miami New Times: Why did you choose to film your live DVD at the date here in
South Florida? Was it just a scheduling thing?
Halford: It's a combination of a lot of things. We've been coming back and forth
to Florida since the early '80s. We made two or three records in Miami at
Bayshore Sound, which is no longer there. So we spent many years in the Miami
area, especially in Coconut Grove and Key Biscayne, so we have many memories
from South Florida. The fans are crazy down there -- the metal heads go insane.
Miami New Times: Really? You find that South Florida metal audiences in
particular are really that crazy?
Halford: There's just a very special feeling from the Florida metal heads that
we want to capture. So here's a chance for all the Florida metal heads to become
famous, because the cameras will be pointing on them throughout the night, as
well as on the band. We're very excited that we're going to be making this film,
this full show in Hollywood.
Miami New Times: Between working on your last studio album, "Nostradamus", which
seemed like such an epic project, and celebrating "British Steel", have you had
a chance at all to think about writing new material for the future?
Halford: We don't really.... Here's the deal. At the end of this tour, which
finishes when we come back from Japan in October, we'll have been touring the
world for 18 months. We will have traveled hundreds of thousands of miles, and
we'll have just gotten back to our respective homes, and we'll stop moving. And
then we'll take a break through the holiday season. And then one of us will pick
up the phone, probably the writers of the band, Glenn [Tipton] and Ken [K.K.
Downing] and myself — to say, "Hey what's going on? Should we start making
some more metal?" And that'll be the plan from next year. But I don't know when
that's all going to take place. The thing is that we love what we do, and we
still have all the passion and the energy and the drive as we did three decades
ago. This is our life! We make these wonderful records, tour the world, and then
take a little bit of a break. That's built into our system. Come January, we'll
start to feel edgy
and antsy. So [working on new material will] happen next year. We don't know
what it's going to be, what it's going to sound like. Being in PRIEST is very
real, it's not pre-programmed or anything. But it's wonderful to think that at
some point there will be a new JUDAS PRIEST record. |
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