JUDAS PRIEST's ROB HALFORD: 'I've Been Screaming My Tits Off For 38 Years Now'

Aidin Vaziri of the San Francisco Chronicle recently conducted an interview with JUDAS PRIEST singer Rob Halford. The short chat follows below.

San Francisco Chronicle: You're playing a 30-year-old album ["British Steel"] on this tour. Has the backstage catering improved?

Halford: Nothing's really changed. I think as far as venues and hotels and things like that at a certain point I think you just reach a plateau, and we reached ours some time ago. The most important part is when you walk out onstage and lay down some metal. Thirty years later, the songs are still fierce. We just get out there and blast through them.

San Francisco Chronicle: How do you still hit all those high notes?

Halford: Well, I can't hit all the notes. But my voice is an instrument, and you have to do what you can to take care of it. I quit smoking. I don't drink. I went through the whole rehab thing. I've been screaming my tits off for 38 years now, but it still works and it's in good shape.

San Francisco Chronicle: People are actually taking JUDAS PRIEST seriously now. Are you mad?

Halford: I don't think it seems that odd. We didn't have any idea we would be here this long. We weren't an overnight sensation. You've got to work hard to get to this place. It is a wonderful time for us right now, but it doesn't change anything.

San Francisco Chronicle: Now that things are going so well, do you wish you had just stayed in the band the whole time and then also Marky Mark wouldn't have made that terrible movie "Rock Star"?

Halford: I think the last thing you want in life is to live with regret. We've all talked about that time and we've agreed that, in retrospect, maybe we should have just taken a break. But I was able to fulfill my dreams and ambitions by making some music on my own, and I utilized all of those experiences. You don't fully appreciate your band until you're away from them.

San Francisco Chronicle: Even though you wore S&M gear for years and released albums like "Hell Bent for Leather", people were pretty surprised when you came out during a 1998 MTV interview. Were you surprised that they were surprised?

Halford: From my own perspective, I never understood the significance. It was an unplanned moment. I was on TV and said, "Speaking as a gay man." I didn't realize until 48 hours later the firestorm it had created. It never crossed my mind that anyone would care because I'd already been accepted. That part of me is a nonissue. We are who we are. I'm still the same person.

Fan-filmed video footage of JUDAS PRIEST's July 22, 2009 performance at Municipal Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee can be viewed below (courtesy of "LetItDye").