JUDAS PRIEST - Raisins In The East! Page 5
by Martin Popoff

Moving forward, and politely declining to talk about Halford ("I never talk about Halford in a Priest interview - that would be unethical"), Rob maps out a bit of a Priest timeline. "We're taking a couple days before we head off for Russia. That's going to be exciting. We've never, ever been to Russia before, and the fans are going mental that we're actually going to go over there and play. We'll have the video cameras to record as much of that as possible. And then we'll take a Christmas break, and we're already looking ahead to what the summer metal festivals in Europe are shaping up for. Around that time, Glenn and KK and myself will be in England starting to write more metal. I don't know when that's actually going to commence, sometime in '06, and it will be around the summer festivals, before and after."

In closing, Rob relates something inevitable that happens on a tour of this magnitude, yer so called Spinal Tap moment. "I come up through that trap door on the left side of the stage, looking toward the stage from the audience. And let me see, I did, hmm, 'Judas Rising', and came down on the lift at the back, you know, at the backdrop of the angel, so I came down, and came through the side of the stage, on KK's side, halfway through the song, to finish the song. And then I introduced 'Revolution' and climbed to the top of the ramp, and then I go out on one of the front ramps, and as I got up to the top, to walk across, the trap door was still wide open. There was this huge, black, gaping cavern of dark, and I put one foot in, and just because... you've always got that running in the back of your mind, you know, I put my foot down and there was just nothing but open space and I quickly realized that if I had got any further, it could've been a real Spinal Tap moment, that's for sure. But anyway, that was it so far - ask me that question next year (laughs)."