In a recent interview with Rockin’ Metal Revival, JUDAS PRIEST guitarist Ian Hill was asked if he has any plans to write a book in the not-too-distant future. He responded: “We’ll see. If I do, it’ll probably be about my early life, I should imagine. Probably up until [singer] Rob [Halford] joined. Everything else has been cataloged by Rob and Ken [founding guitarist K.K. Downing], in slightly different ways. But all that’s already been said, really. But the lead-up to all of that. I mean, there’s some great instances, some funny instances — how I came to play bass guitar for starters; that’s funny in itself.”
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. Downing parted ways with the band in 2011, and was replaced by Richie Faulkner.
PRIEST‘s current touring lineup consists of Hill, Halford, guitarists Andy Sneap and Faulkner, and drummer Scott Travis.
Halford‘s autobiography, “Confess”, was released in September 2020 via Hachette Books. It was written with Ian Gittins, co-writer of “The Heroin Diaries” by Nikki Sixx. In the book, Halford discusses in detail what it was like becoming the first metal icon to announce he is gay in 1998 during an MTV interview, despite knowing about his sexuality since he was 10. Although his bandmates and their management knew he was gay and were accepting, he was advised to be discreet given the macho hetero nature of the metal world. He also opens up about surviving sexual abuse, as well as his struggles with depression, substance abuse, sobriety, and the suicide of one of his former partners. He also talks about how his own suicide attempt in 1986 led him to the rehab program that saved his life.
Downing‘s own autobiography, “Heavy Duty: Days And Nights In Judas Priest”, arrived in September 2018 via 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.”
Last year, Halford was asked by Sea Of Tranquility about the reason for Downing‘s relative absence from “Confess”. He replied: “We did not steer of any avoidance, per se. We just talked about every aspect that we felt was important and useful to the book itself. So there was never, ‘Oh, we won’t talk about that person.’ There was never any kind of dismissiveness for whatever reasons. So I think there’s my answer.”
JUDAS PRIEST‘s latest album, “Firepower”, was released in March 2018 via Epic.
