Former JUDAS PRIEST Guitarist K.K. DOWNING Is Auctioning Off Stage And Studio Equipment

November 26, 2018

A collection of stage and studio equipment from former JUDAS PRIEST guitarist K.K. Downing will be auctioned next month.

International auction house Bonhams has announced the sale of eleven of Downing's guitars, including the 1967 Flying V that was K.K.'s main instrument on several of classic PRIEST albums — from "Sad Wings Of Destiny" to "Point Of Entry" — as part of the Entertainment Memorabilia auction. Other items for sale on December 11 at Bonhams' New Bond Street premises in Central London include Marshall amp heads, guitar FX and a pair of leather jackets from the "Turbo" and "Screaming For Vengeance" tours.

To view all the items being auctioned, click here.

K.K. announced his retirement from PRIEST in April 2011. He has since been replaced by Richie Faulkner, who was once the guitarist in the backing group for Lauren Harris, daughter of IRON MAIDEN bassist Steve Harris.

Downing's autobiography, "Heavy Duty: Days And Nights In Judas Priest", was released in September via Hachette Audio as a digital download, and in print and ebook from Da Capo Press. The book was co-written by the Scottish author and journalist Mark Eglinton, whose previous collaborations include "Official Truth, 101 Proof" with Rex Brown of PANTERA and "Confessions Of A Heretic" with BEHEMOTH's Adam "Nergal" Darski.

Asked by VintageRock.com if writing his autobiography provided him with a sense of closure concerning his time in JUDAS PRIEST, Downing replied: "Yeah, I think so. I guess it's the same with any long-term relationship — whether it's a husband or wife, or father or son or whatever — you spend enough time together, and idiosyncrasies show up. I guess there was no particular right or wrong — some people have more tolerance than others, and it takes a bloody miracle really to stay together for 40 years. Someone has to give. And it has to be give-and-take. But inevitably, it becomes a bit of an imbalance, and I like to think that democracy is always the best policy. And there wasn't enough of it there, I don't think. But it kind of happened — Rob [Halford, vocals] and Glenn [Tipton, guitar] went off and did their lengthy solo careers, and that became a bit disruptive. I didn't even mention that in the book. But Rob actually released two albums and did his own tour in the exact year before I left. And then when they said, 'K.K., we want you to start writing for a five-track EP,' I went, 'Fucking no way in hell! Rob has just released two albums in the last year, and we are only releasing an EP? Something is not right.' Enough was enough, really, and I bailed out there. And, like I said in the book, I tried to put it as diplomatically as I could. But, in a nutshell, enough was enough, really. And that was it."

Find more on Judas priest
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • reddit
  • email

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).