JUDAS PRIEST - Tipton Sets The Record Straight!!
By Tim Henderson

With the incredible success of ROB HALFORD's comeback, Resurrection, the metal god has been accepted back into the community he started in the early '70s with his ol' leather-clad mates JUDAS PRIEST. This new spotlight has opened the door for speculation regarding a full-on Judas Priest reunion. In fact, with Halford meeting new Priest screamer, Tim 'Ripper' Owens at the recent IRON MAIDEN/QUEENSRYCHE/HALFORD/BREAKER concert in Cleveland, net-scavengers began to put two and two together. Halford has added fuel to the fire by stating that such a reunion is a possibility in the future.

Currently embedded in the writing and recording of the follow-up to Jugulator, Priest guitarist Glenn Tipton contacted BW&BK recently and put to rest these idle thoughts of Ripper's exit (he's still part of the Priest family), Ripper's supposed discontent with the new Priest (he's not) and Atlantic Records refusing the band's first demo (utter bullocks, management says).

"Everything's sort of in place," Tipton reveals from Priest's secret overseas English location. "We're getting some final drum overdubs down now with Scott (Travis - drummer). Tim's coming over next month to put the final vocals down, and as I say, we've got almost two albums worth of material - we've got 18 - 20 songs. Tim's going to come and stay with me. I've got a studio at the house, and we can take our time and we're both looking forward to it."

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