ROB HALFORD: 'I Want To Jam'

Rob Halford has posted the following message to the official HALFORD discussion forum at www.robhalford.com:

"Hi everyone. First of all, I want to say a big thank you to all the HALFORD fans that came out to the recent shows. Those of you who saw us and posted your reactions, sent a message worldwide that the HALFORD band roars! It felt great to be out on the road again tearing things up! Brief as it was. Right now dates are being rescheduled featuring HALFORD and TESTAMENT, and those dates will be displayed upon confirmation. I'm appreciative of everyone's understanding while we work through this matter. I want to jam… you want to see us… and you will."

Meanwhile, HALFORD manager John Baxter has responded to several fan postings reacting negatively to Baxter's decision to make public his letter to the U.S. promoters following the sudden cancellation of The 2003 Metal Gods North American Tour.

Baxter's message reads as follows:

"Many of you may feel the posting of my letter to the promoters was a poor decision, but every promoter supporting the tour needed to see it and appreciated seeing it. They demanded an answer, and we have the proof and provided one. Let us worry about the consequences.

"You saw what happened in Long Island [referring to an incident where the promoter of the cancelled The Metal Gods concert at the Vanderbilt booked several cover bands — including a JUDAS PRIEST tribute act — as a last-minute replacement for the original gig, dubbing it the 'Fuck HALFORD' show — ed.]. That's how angry several of the promoters were when I cancelled the tour. And knowing the letter would potentially leak onto the net, I wanted the letter on our site prior to someone anonymously posting it and the conjecture that would ensue.

"I accept your thoughts, conclusions, views and assumptions. Rob and the other members of the band accept them. We are still one family, however. And things are never as bad as they seem, especially in the entertainment business. Collectively, all we're really doing is eating up a few chapters in the tour section of Rob's book. [By the way], we're all convinced it's going to be a great read.

"HALFORD is about the music it produces. So far we've been blessed to create three outstanding releases with a fourth in the early stages of development. We passed on countless tours over the last twelve months, so we could do things Rob wanted to do.

"The last four years have been productive and complicated. The time has yielded so many events, and your list of negatives appears accurate and intriguing in that format.

"But the list of positives this band has enjoyed, from our perspective, quickly erase the above events from our minds. With the exception of the regrouping of [The Metal Gods] tour, the rest had to happen for this band to feel right about continuing. And we'll get through this hiccup too.

"Yes, I'm including the immigration on my list of positives. For I watched Rob set a lot of goals while he was locked out of the U.S. Goals he procrastinated on for years, but he now appears hell bent to achieve them.

"Rob's in a very healthy place right now. Bummed out the tour suddenly stopped, but eager to recommence. For the first time in a long time, Rob is enjoying being on stage. We've finally gotten him to wear in-ear monitors, and the result is he's no longer oversinging and blowing out his voice. We did several shows in a short period of time, and Rob's voice strengthened, range broadened, and notes were sustaining and sustaining. He's in a good place.

"Those of you that have been around the members of HALFORD feel the 'creative' energy and enthusiasm from each of them. This is the type environment Rob requires at this stage of his career, and it is a tight rope at times, juggling opportunities with politics. It's a constantly evolving environment, for Rob is constantly directing. It's a stream of conscience that all of us participate in, to make it interesting for ourselves and hopefully each of you.

"Many of our problems experienced over the last year are tour-related. My answer to that is, you've read the praises over-and-over — please get out and see Rob as soon as you can.

"We're going to get through another few weeks of dates, take a rest, and go back into a writing mode. We are looking at some international offers, and if something looks intriguing we'll commit to it.

" 'Crucible' took us fourteen months — it feels like on both sides of the release date — to complete. But the next HALFORD recording should be completed by next spring.

"Please keep the grades, and I'll try and do a better job managing the traffic.

"Best Regards To Each Of You,

"John Baxter"