JUDAS PRIEST's IAN HILL: Heavy Metal 'Will Never Die'

JUDAS PRIEST bassist Ian Hill was recently interviewed by Rob Rush Radio. You can now listen to the chat below.

Asked for his opinion on the notion that rock is dead, Hill said: "I don't think it ever will be dead. The thing is, what are you gonna replace it with? It's been there since the '50s — rock and roll. I mean, it's all coming from then, basically. And, like I say, if you're gonna kill it off, there's gonna have to be another alternative from your manufactured pop stuff that you've been getting all along. There's always been something else — it's either been blues or it's been jazz or now it's heavy rock, heavy metal. There's always been something there. And I definitely haven't heard anything that could possibly replace heavy metal at the moment… But it will never die. There's always people there who like different things. And heavy metal certainly is different to run-of-the-mill popular music you get in general."

Hill also defended GRETA VAN FLEET over accusations that the Michigan rockers have ripped off LED ZEPPELIN. He said: "I'm familiar with them, yeah. I haven't heard that much of them. Listen, things like that are inevitable. Everybody, especially when they start out, have got influences. When we started out, Ken's [guitarist K.K. Downing] big influence was Jimi Hendrix, for instance, and mine was Jack Bruce from CREAM. So you've got two people there together — you've got him playing Hendrix stuff, me playing Jack Bruce bass lines — and it was recognizable back then. But as you go forward, you find your own feet, you get your own sound, your own direction, you get your own image — the whole nine yards. If they're going out to sound those [other bands], it might be a bit of a mistake. But I'm sure it's influences, probably, coming through."

PRIEST's current touring lineup consists of Hill, singer Rob Halford, guitarists Sneap and Richie Faulkner, and drummer Scott Travis.

JUDAS PRIEST will return to the U.S. for a spring run with fellow classic heavy rockers URIAH HEEP. The 32-date trek will kick off on May 3 at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida and wrap on June 29 at The Joint at Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Hill is the sole remaining original member of PRIEST, which formed in 1969. Halford joined the group in 1973 and guitarist Glenn Tipton signed on in 1974. Rob left PRIEST in the early 1990s to form his own band, then came back to PRIEST in 2003.

JUDAS PRIEST's latest album, "Firepower", was released in March 2018 via Epic.