JUDAS PRIEST's ROB HALFORD: 'Why Should We Even Consider Retiring Now?'

March 30, 2018

Rob Halford says that there are no plans for JUDAS PRIEST to retire, even though guitarist Glenn Tipton announced that he was stepping away from the road due to his battle with Parkinson's disease.

Tipton found out he had Parkinson's four years ago — after being stricken by the degenerative condition at least half a decade earlier — but only recently announced he was going to sit out touring activities in support of PRIEST's latest album, "Firepower". The guitarist, who is now 70 and has performed on every PRIEST LP since the band's 1974 debut set, "Rocka Rolla", is not quitting the band, but simply cannot handle the rigorous challenges of performing live. He is being replaced on the road by "Firepower" producer Andy Sneap, who is also known as the guitar player in NWOBHM revivalists HELL and cult thrashers SABBAT.

"We know what Glenn has been up against, and he has showed us the absolute proof that there is no such thing as retirement in the PRIEST plan," Rob tells Maximum Ink. "Glenn has been forging ahead for the last 10 years with Parkinson's disease and he never once mentioned retiring or quitting. This is really a strong signal from Glenn and the rest of us. Why should we even consider retiring now? We still feel that there is another song to do, another show to do, and always our beautiful fans to see again and again. You retire when things get too shaky and a bit of sadness. That's not the case with PRIEST. We're probably stronger now than we have been, and I think Glenn would agree with that."

Halford and PRIEST bassist Ian Hill previously spoke about a potential end to the band on the "Metal Hammer Podcast".

"I cannot conceive of us ever saying, in 2022, at 3 o'clock, on a Wednesday afternoon, July, we're gonna end," Rob said. "I think more than ever now, we're so joyed and grateful that we've been able to get this far from the support of our fans that you don't say a farewell tour, you don't say retire. I think slowly but surely we'll just play less and less and less, but I can't see that for the foreseeable future.”

Ian explained that it's virtually impossible for PRIEST to ever stop considering the large number of tour offers the band receives.

"Where don't you play?" he said. "New album, tour coming up, all of these offers are coming from all over the world… so you're right back into touring again."

"You've got to go where your fans want you," added Rob. "You can arrange the touring in a different way, but you can't just got to A, then to C, and miss B out, because those people have supported you for 30, 40 years. You try to explain to them that you're not coming to B so they have to travel a thousand miles to A or C. We can't be that as a band, as people. So we're just going to keep going and going and the end will come when it chooses to show its face."

In 2011, PRIEST embarked on its world run of "Epitaph" shows, at the time billed as a farewell tour. It wasn't long, however, before the members of PRIEST changed their minds, with Halford crediting the addition of guitarist Richie Faulkner, who replaced original member K.K. Downing just prior to the "Epitaph" tour, with rejuvenating the band and causing everyone to reconsider.

"Firepower" was released on March 9 via Epic.

The North American leg of the "Firepower" tour will wrap on May 1 in San Antonio, Texas.

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).