ROB HALFORD Interview
from BW&BK Magazine
JUDAS PRIEST frontman ROB HALFORD spoke to BW&BK recently about their upcoming live show in support of Angel Of Retribution, the band's long-awaited new album scheduled for release on February 28th in Europe and March 1st in North America via Sony BMG.
Currently rehearsing at a secret location in London, England, Halford says that the band - completed by guitarists KK Downing, Glenn Tipton, bassist Ian Hill and drummer Scott Travis - are firing on all cylinders and are quite anxious to follow up their reunion tour of last year (which included an appearance on Ozzfest) with a show akin to their '80s spectacles.
"We're in the middle of the full stage production at the moment, we're in the big sound stage here in London. It's just sensational. What we're doing is just restating the expectations that I think that everybody looks forward to from Priest when we come out with our big release, Angel Of (pause), I nearly said Angel Of Production (laughs), Angel Of Retribution - I nearly said Angel Of Production 'cause it's massive.
It's really important for us to maintain that tradition that the band has had forever, about going out to the stages around the world with these massive performances. That's what we're working on right now, we're just bringing as much as we can out, physically, just to let everybody see that the power and the glory and the majesty of the band is still as valuable and important as it ever was for us. There's still this massive buzz about the reunion and of course this is the official reunion tour because those dates that we did last summer for Europe and Ozzfest, they were more or less an acknowledgement, a thank you to the fans for their unwavering support, that's why we dropped tools in the studio and ran out on the road to do those shows, because the fans were just going crazy, they didn't want to wait until 2005. I think that proved to be a really important moment for us, it solidified a lot of things between Priest and the fans that we have all over the world. But now it's time to bring back all of that incredible excitement and energy that always comes with a new release. That again is part of the history of the band, when we take out a new release, a new Angel Of Retribution, we have to wrap that in with all of the other great Priest classics and just pull out all the stops and put on a phenomenal, memorable stage show, which is what we're working on right now here in London."
