Guitarist Blames ‘UK Financial Crisis’ On Decision To Downscale Judas Priest Tour
Although it received a mixed reaction, Judas Priest offer no apologies for last year’s conceptual double-album, Nostradamus. In bullish mood, guitarist Glenn Tipton also defends the line-up of their Priest Feast UK tour, which was recently forced to downsize some venues and even cancel a show. Exclusive interview follows…
WORDS: DAVE LING
Congratulations on the pair of Grammy nominations. How does it feel?
Well, we’ve been nominated before. I’ll tell you how it feels if we win one.
The band was up for Best Metal Performance in 1999, during the Tim ‘Ripper’ Owens era, for Bullet Train, also for Painkiller in 1991, but lost out to Metallica on both occasions.
[Thoughtfully]: If my memory serves me well, we’ve also beaten to a Best Heavy Metal Album award by Jethro Tull. I’ve got nothing against Tull, but they don’t strike me as an out ‘n’ out metal band. The mind boggles. But after 35 years of flying the flag, we’ve got two nominations. So you never know…
To clarify, Priest are entered into Best Hard Rock performance for Visions, and Best Metal Performance for the single, which was the title cut from Nostradamus. Which do you think you have a chance of winning?
I’d like to think Nostradamus. It’s classic metal; it’s got classical bits, operatic bits and its fast ‘n’ furious. But I’d be pleased with either nomination.
Do you plan on attending the ceremony in Los Angeles on February 8?
It’s possible, but we’ve got a very small window of opportunity. It’ll depend upon how the rehearsals [for the tour] go. If we do make it out there we’d be a bit red-eyed onstage [in Dublin on January 10]. But we’ve had that a few times in our history.
In case you didn’t know, Nostradamus also came 20th in the Classic Rock writers’ Top 50.
Did it? I’m happy to hear that because some have made snap judgements when the only way to listen to it is in its entirety.
Do these honours compensate for those that failed to get what you were trying to do with something as ambitious as Nostradamus, or simply didn’t want to hear it?
Not really because we’re used to it. We’ve had it all through our career. We like to go out on a limb sometimes. With an album like Turbo [1986, which riled fans by heavily featuring guitar-synths], some people didn’t get it. Others thought it was the best thing we’ve done. When you’ve been around as long as Judas Priest has, and you’ve done 16 studio albums, you get used to differences of opinion. We’ve got a large fan-base out there of all different age groups; some prefer us to stick to our heavier, more straightforward style, others appreciate that we try something different with every album. Compare Point Of Entry [1981] to Painkiller [1990] and they’re very different animals.
Most fans eventually came around to Turbo?
They did, and we hope the ones that didn’t initially understand Nostradamus will do likewise. Give it a chance – put an hour and a half aside – and you’ll see what we’re trying to do. It’s all about experimenting and trying to push those boundaries a bit further. You can call us very brave or very stupid but Priest has always been about stepping into uncharted territory. You never really know what you’re gonna get from us.
Do you agree that it’s the band’s most demanding record?
It’s challenging, yeah, but the actual composition was very easy. We found his life story very inspiring. This is a guy that lived 500 years ago and people still talk about him today. Whether you believe in his prophecies or not, he was a very special person.
How much of Nostradamus will be aired on the Priest Feast?
We use the intro tape, Dawn Of Creation, which leads into Prophecy. And we’ll also be doing Death. So that’s three tracks. But this is a just standard Priest tour. We do firmly intend to play the album in its entirety at a future date, once the fans have got to know it. We’ve also taken the opportunity to go back and play some stuff we haven’t done before, like Dissident Aggressor [from 1977’s Sin After Sin]. Stuff that the fans have wanted us to play for a long time. And of course you’ll hear Painkiller and all the rest.
So basically it’s the set from the 2008 festival circuit, only slightly longer?
That’s it exactly.
When Classic Rock spoke to Rob Halford before the festival tour, he expressed mild reservations regarding his vocal power – “At the age of 56, there are some things that I know I can’t sing anymore”. How do feel about that situation?
With that type of comment I think that Rob is selling himself short. To me, he’s singing better than he’s ever sung.
Really? There has been some criticism from the fans.
Rob still has the biggest range of any heavy metal singer I know, and he’s been singing spot-on. He’s still doing great.
There’s also been internet outcry regarding Megadeth and Testament’s places on the Priest Feast bill, some fans preferring a lighter act like the Scorpions instead.
The Scorpions are great friends of ours and it’s always a pleasure to play with them, but we’ve been out together quite a few times. We are very happy with the choices of Megadeth and Testament. We wanted a classic metal bill. A lot of the bills that go out these days are intentionally diverse, the intention being to attract more people. All it really does is split things. At Priest Feast, everyone will be in the same frame of mind.
With the Nottingham cancellation, the smaller venue in Manchester and two-tickets-for-one deals in Sheffield or Birmingham, might your plan have backfired?
No. That’s down to the agents booking too many gigs in such a confined area. Had they come to us and said, ‘What do you think of this?’ we’d have told them. There’s a financial crisis going on and people don’t have much money to spend. They were being too optimistic.
There’s a recession going on.
Absolutely. There’s no shame in what we’ve done. If you’re playing Manchester, Sheffield, Nottingham and Birmingham… they’re all in close proximity. Kids have only got so much money.
Would you like to close by telling us Priest’s plans for 2009?
We do Britain and Europe in February, and after that it’s open-ended. We’ll wait to see what happens. Our ambition is do Nostradamus in its entirety, either late in the year or in early 2010. If there demand is there, we’d love to do it, maybe in special venues around the world – make a real event out of it. It’s an album you could base a spectacular stage presentation around.
Thank you for your answers, Glenn.
Dave, it’s always a pleasure.
* Judas Priest/Megadeth/Testament play: Dublin O2 Arena February 11, Belfast Odyssey Arena 12, Sheffield Arena 13, Birmingham LG Arena 14, Glasgow SECC 16, Manchester Apollo 17, Cardiff CIA 20, London Wembley Arena 21.
[...] recently being interviewed by Classic Rock, Glenn Tipton vehemently defended Rob by saying: With that type of comment, I think that Rob is [...]
errrr, its a crap album full stop. should have made a good rock album instead and people might have gone to see priest. bullshit remarks about the economy. i am off to see metallica at notts arena and thats sold out, very quickly too. metallica or priest…death magnetic or nostradamus..thats a tough one that..sorry to say that priest have seen better days. would have been good to see them play rock city tho.
Priest definately haven’t seen better days, but sadly aren’t regarded as being “cool” like Metallica. I think had Priest gone for bigger venues & played in the UK on 2004’s Reunited Tour, then yes they most probably would have sold out all their shows. Anyway, in my opinion Nostradamus is an excellent album – perhaps two songs too long (for my taste) with Lost love & New Beginnings being a tad dull. Other than that Priest are, and always will be the best British Heavy Metal band ever. All hail the mighty Priest!!!
Glenn, Jethro Tull’s album Crest Of A Knave that won the grammy in ‘88 is ALOT more metal than Nostradamus! Glenn even says that Nostradmus has “operatic bits”, opera is NOT metal Glenn!
Oh and Glenn, Judas Priest is known for playing metal, all of the albums up to Turbo are metal albums. JP became world famous for its metal sound, not “classical and operatic bits”.
Nostradamus – a full on crap-fest of an album. If Nostradamus had been a good ‘ol rock-n metal album, I’m sure the attendance would have been alot higher. People don’t want to pay to see/hear JP play “classical and operatic bits”.
As much as I was a huge Priest fan back in the day, when I saw them at Hammersmith in 2005 it was like watching a cabaret act. They were completely blown away by the Scorpions. It’s sad to say, but their best days are long gone.
Death Magnetic seems to be Metallica playing extremely since the abortion that was St Anger. Respectable but forgettable. Priest are at least trying something ambitious and, to my mind, succeeding in part. It should have been one album but there are some blistering tracks on it. Think it’s a fair comment to make re organisers arranging too many gigs in one area – it’s just greed on the part of the promoters. And yes, not as many people will have money in their pockets to pay for tickets this year…duh.
alex you need to clean out your ears because record is for me by far the best priest record ever,well done guy’s you never stop suprissing me with each record!
Bunch of friggin sissys!Metallica went weak way back in the day when the self titled came out and as for Jethro…..He never was or never will be anything remotely close to metal ! Oh and Charles,you must be on planet s**t because Painkiller is about as metal as it gets!
Cobblers and Balderdash to all you nay sayers. I get sick of hearing Priest criticised. A hell of a lot of classic rock bands succumbed to ‘Hair Metal’ (I mention no names but David Coverdale for one will know who I mean and also a certain Prince Of Darkness) yet Priest were absolutely lambasted for Turbo. Yes it’s the weakest thing they’ve ever done but you can’t blame a band for trying to keep up with the times. Now they try to be different with Nostradamus and everyone slates them for the use of opera (Nightwish anyone?). As a massive Priest fan I found Nostradamus rather challenging but I accept their decision to make it and can appreciate it for what it is.
Get off their backs the lot of you, if it wasn’t for Judas Priest you wouldn’t have Metallica, Iron Maiden, Megadeth, Slayer, Machine Head etc etc etc. Show some respect.
Saw JP in Houston last August. Amazing. Love the new one. I see it as being as “varied” as any other JP release. JUST as many good tracks on it, as any other JP offering. People Need to chill. Take that negativity to the lil wayne forum, and complain about some REAL shite!
Went to see judas Priest in Mountain View, that was my fourth priest concert since the 1980’s. Just like glen said Rob’s voice is (as you brit’s put it) spot on! His voice is a little deeper and he still has a four octive voice. Bye the way when judas priest headlined in Mountain View Testament opened the show followed by Motorhead then Dio/sabbath.Ican’t even imagine the scorpions in that metal catagory. I Remember going to a holloween concert with the scorpions opening for Alice Cooper and thinking,oh no they are really going to make Alice look bad…NOT! Alice took over and blew them out of the arena, so if you think they are really better than judas priest then you might as well move to Germany. If you metal brit’s can’t hang with a full metal show then just send J/P back to the US.
I can’t wait for the full Nostradamus tour.
Bye the way Metallica SUCKS!
Nostradamus is THE GREATEST ALBUM OF ALL TIME!!!!!!!!!!
All of you who don’t GET IT, have very short attention spans. This album is lke a movie man….UNBELIEVABLE. Priest has always been my favorite band and I have always loved the thought that I didn’t know what they were going to do next. Rob Halford is the BEST SINGER IN THE WORLD!! Listen to Nostradamus ans just ry to disagree with that statement.
In closing, I can’t wait for the tour ofthem playing the masterpiece from front to back.
Is it just me or does it clearly read in the interview that Birmingham and Sheffield are doing 2 for 1 ticket deals? I went and bought one yesterday at Sheffield arena and they denied everything haha. Only if you had tickets for Nottingham they said.
Priest are great.. always have been. Nostradamus isn’t their best for sure but its WAY better than a lot of new stuff out there. I agree they should be doing smaller venues and selling them out though.
By the way… whats Metallica got to do with the price of fish? Theyre only a NWOBHM covers band at best.. (light the blue touch paper and stand well clear)
Did Brent really refer to Jethro Tull as a “he”? Both Nostradamus and Death Magnetic are great albums from 2 great bands that I have followed for the last 25 years. Enjoy the fact that 2008 was a great year overall for metal and hard rock and stop bickering.
yes lets stop bickering chaps and have a cup of tea and then put on take thats new album, jeeezus its one heavy album…..mummy i’m scared.
I will not go to see priest because of the megadeth-testament crap!
BORING!!
And then I don’t like Nostradamus,I want REAL priest sound such as point of entry,british steel,screaming for vengeance,the monumental LIVE IN JAPAN UNLEASHED IN THE EAST even TURBO is much better than Nostradamus!!!
Priest will remain the best heavy metal band for me,much much better than fuckin metallica shit or iron maiden but,please,record a GOOD album and tour with REAL heavy metal -hard rock bands not wimpy trasher!
Judas Priest are one of the only bands who are constantly trying to push the boundry’s of the metal scene. They certainly can not be accused of turning out the same repetetive sounds under a different album title hoping to cash in, as do many others.
As for the tour I am travelling from Newcastle to see the Metal gods at Sheffield, looking forward to seeing Megadeth also. One thing for sure Judas Priest never fail to deliver the goods live, they are one of, if not the best live bands around.
I love Priest, yeah the latest cd isn’t my cup of tea, but as far as seeing them live goes, it’s gonna be a blast, especially with Testement and Megadeth on the bill, it’s gonna be KILLER.
Why do YOU lot go on about, “oooh i’m gonna see Metallica” or whatever, who cares? What is that to do with Priest? I’m going too………and?????
I’ll be at both gigs (and AC/DC) and loving every minute of it. STOP BITCHING.
I am going to see Priest on this tour coz they are one of the classic bands..which I also put Maiden, Scorpions, Motorhead, Saxon, AC/DC, Purpl, Zep, UFO,Lizzy, Rainbow and Sabbath in that category..I have always loved Priest but I have to agree…Scorpions blew them away when they last toured together..I saw them at Hammersmith and it lead to the Scorpions going back to Hammersmith twice since, headlining and rocking as good as ever…come on Priest… I wanna see you ROCK again!
hello excuse me you classic rock magazine ..SCORPIONS IS NOT ” A LIGHTER ACT” . let me correct you..SCORPIONS IS A KILLER HARD ROCK BAND and they inspired and even thought some of the heavier bands to be what they are today. im sure those those who loves rock music knows SCORPIONS IS A HEAVY BAND,though at times melodic but they invented being “HEAVY N MELODIC”. so please think before you make a comment on a great legent like SCORPIONS ok..to be correct SCORPIONS are the MASTERS OF HEAVY ROCK AND NOT “lighter act”.
scorpions is right up there with priest heavy n hard! not lighter act..SCORPIONS is a killer rock band
BENJAMIN: if you think yopu can’t imagine putting the SCORPIONS in the metal category then i think you don’t have a clue what is heavy metal.and i think u r a Britney” boobs” Spears fan. Even though the scorpions are more to classic rock but many of their songs did inspire to the birth and creation of heavy metal.if you cant see connection of the Scorpions and heavy metal together then ..do ur self a favor and become and do sum research of the history of metal.
..and by the way Metallica does not suck..it is you that actually can;t understand the versatile and magnificient heavy metal