Judas Priest it's more than just a band. Judas Priest It is an absolute benchmark for anyone who is proud to call themselves a metal lover and a religion for some others. Over the course of five decades of career, the British band has shaped heavy metal, its sound and even its image, leaving behind a legacy that will be very difficult to match.
A pesar de estar pasando por una dificil situación por el anuncio de la “salida” del guitarrista Glenn Tipton for health reasons, Rob Halford and his colleagues will present their new studio album, ‘Firepower’ in a few days with which they will return to Mexico to head the 2018 edition of the Hell and Heaven Crown, where they will meet their thousands of national fans.
A few days ago we were able to talk to the guitarist Richie Faulkner via telephony from London, to get his opinion on all this, and the plans that “El sacerdote Judas” has for the future.
Richie Faulkner: Hi Rick!
Rick Aguilar: Hi Richie! How are you?
Richie Faulkner: How are you brother how are you doing
Rick Aguilar: Very excited, to be honest, it is an honor to have this little conversation with you.
Richie Faulkner: Thank you very much, it's a pleasure, we love doing this, talking about Priest, Firepower, and cool Heavy Metal stuff.
Rick: Of course, that's why you are, who you are! I have a few questions, would you like to start?
Richie Faulkner: Yes of course, let's start.
Rick: Ok, this is a personal question for you. You went from being a very successful professional musician before being in Judas Priest, to being within Judas Priest, as a musician and of course as a fan, I think you are living the dream of every musician. How much did your life change after that?
Richie Faulkner: You can imagine, my life changed a lot, I was in other bands trying to make it work as a musician in the industry and when a band like Priest calls and gives me the opportunity to audition, in my opinion, one of the best Heavy bands Metal in the world, you know what it means and defend it, you know what it means for millions of people around the world. I grew up with the music of Judas Priest, I knew that it was a duty, a great responsibility. Obviously, everything changes, on a personal level, you move much more, you move, your focuses change, everything changes, is what I try to say. When you join a band like Judas Priest, your focus should be one thousand percent on Judas Priest and that's great, creatively. Personally, it is a great thing to focus on something like that, it is the best possible scenario, to travel the world, meet beautiful fans and beautiful countries, beautiful songs, old songs, classic songs. We love doing it and we focus and focus on 1000%, your life changes day by day.
Rick: I can imagine it, it has to be something very powerful for you.
Richie Faulkner: Oh yes, it is a very powerful change, you can imagine it
Rick: Well now, on the other side, when a band member leaves, now with Glenn Tipton, and the way he had to, how do you get ahead?
Richie Faulkner: Bueno, ya mencionamos esto antes, Glenn de ninguna manera se fue de Judas Priest, todavía está en Priest, vamos a evolucionar, vamos a seguir rockeando y creando un nuevo Priest, y él se unirá a nosotros en el escenario cuando pueda para tocar algunas canciones de vez en cuando, aparecerá en algunos shows alrededor del mundo si está lo suficientemente bien. Glenn Tipton no se ha ido de Judas Priest, pero obviamente no estará tocando con nosotros pronto, pues primero debe sortear el desafio de su salud, no queremos ver a un hermano sufriendo por tocar música, la prioridad es la salud de Glenn, que él esté cómodo y respetamos eso, es un hermano, lo amamos y lo vamos a apoyar al mil por ciento. Ahorita haremos el ‘Firepower’ tour, promocionando un gran álbum de cual Glenn es parte, tenemos algunos países hermosos para visitar, tenemos algunos grandes maníacos del metal alrededor del mundo a los cuales cumplir. Sí, serán varios obstaculos por sortear pero es voluntad de Judas Priest superar esos desafíos y es lo que Glenn Tipton espera de nosotros, que salgamos adelante, queremos enorgullecer a Glenn, superar lo que se nos ponga enfrentey continuar.
Rick: Ese es un muy buen ejemplo para las bandas en camino…
… Entonces llegaste a Judas Priest, y tu primer disco con ellos obtuvo una aprobación muy alta, incluso algunos medios y fans dijeron que era el mejor desde Painkiller, ahora, Firepower está por llegar, ¿cómo crees que tus fanáticos hardcore lo tomarán?
Richie Faulkner: You never know, man !, I think I'm sure that the fans are going to love it, we love it, we love the music we make and I think we can always say and you have to feel that it is the best thing you can do in At that time, otherwise there would be no point in releasing a new album. You have to be that committed and you have to focus on that, and I think the fans are going to love it. Priest fans are very passionate and everyone is so dedicated to the band, everyone has their say once you get new music out, our fans generally relate to the different songs they grew up with, like “Oh ese beat suena como algo del Defenders of the faith, o, ese remate de batería me suena al Sin after sin”. Everyone has these connections with Priest over the past 50 years, it's an amazing thing to watch, we have already released two singles from the album and many teasers and they seem to be being overwhelmingly and positively received… so far fans seem to love it. They loved art, they loved production, they loved [Rob] Halford's voice. It seems to be receiving a lot of positive anticipation, we will launch it on March 9 so it won't be long. It is interesting to see how fans will receive it once it is released. It is an incredibly exciting time for Priest.
Rick: That is incredible. I've listened to their first single and I really liked it, I felt it was a little old school, I really love it, I think it will go great.
Richie Faulkner: Thank you very much friend, I appreciate it, I'm glad you liked it.
Rick: I want to ask you something about "upcoming" bands. There are legendary bands, like Priest, THAT kind of bands, that take opening acts for their shows, there are many things that involve that. Some do many many things to put those acts in front of them, some even do very simple things.
When Metallica arrived last year they gave the opportunity to local bands through a very simple contest to open for the 3 shows they had here. What is Judas Priest's position on this matter?
Richie Faulkner: That is a very good question! It is a long time to help the new promises, the new music is the future, it is like seeing Judas Priest as the parents of all these children of Heavy Metal and these different types of Metal, all those different sub-genres. You have Power Metal, Thrash Metal, Speed Metal, you know all these different styles, which bands from these Judas Priest and Black Sabbath gave birth to, it is very important to help new bands emerge and I think Metallica did a great job.
For example, it is what I like most about festivals because you have a lot of new talent, and there are many fans of other bands to whom they can expose their music. It's exciting for us to do festivals, see the bands, see what others are liking. We had an opening band in 2011 called Rival Sons which back then weren't as well known at least in the UK but after that they were more successful so it's great to see bands do that and guide them towards a higher level of success.
Nos preguntan mucho quien será el próximo Judas Priest, el próximo Black Sabbath, el próximo Motorhead, y yo solo puedo decir que nadie lo será… Yo creo que no volverá a existir otro Judas Priest ni otro Black Sabbath; Sin embargo, habrá otras bandas que encarnen ese sentido de creatividad, pasión, enfoque, volumen. Siempre habrá un futuro y lo grandioso de este es… que conozco a amigos míos, cuyos hijos tienen alrededor de 20 años y están en bandas y no se están desilusionando. No están generando nada de dinero de eso, están haciendo música solo por hacer música, porque aman hacer música, crear música. Así era en los inicios de todo, antes de que la industria se metiera y volviera todo menos saludable. Los chicos están haciendo música por el mismo amor a la música, no lo hacen por sonar en la radio, por tener ganancias… así es como surgen las cosas nuevas y es algo muy emocionante sobre todo para el heavy metal.
Rick: Well I completely agree with you, I think the music has to be, in some organic way, you have to like it, you have to like what you write to really connect with people, to really connect with other people
Richie: Absolutamente, creo… en Priest amamos lo que hacemos. La banda ha estado aqui desde hace casi de 50 años y todo es gracias a nuestros fans. Los fans aman a Priest y nuestra musica tanto como nosotros. Judas Priest solo hace “música Priest”. No nos vemos en la necesidad de componer para comerciales de radio, no tenemos que escribir canciones para que sean “hits”, ¿sabes?, solo componemos heavy metal puro para que suene a Judas Priest y eso es lo que le gusta a nuestros seguidores y la razón por la cual nos han seguido por cinco décadas. La banda está en una gran posición, nos podemos permitir crear lo que queramos y que nos venga del corazón y que suena a nosotros. Somos una banda orgánica como dijiste previamente y lo puedes escuchar al menos en nuestros últimos dos discos, con ‘Redeemer of Souls’ y ‘Firepower’, puedes escuchar esa pureza.
Rick: Now Judas Priest is a natural star, after so many years, how does it feel? Are you used to it? How does it feel to come to places like Mexico where you even played on your own, but now co-star with personalities such as Ozzy Osbourne, Scorpions, Deep Purple in the most important Metal festival in Latin America that is Corona Hell and Heaven? How do you react, still get excited?
Richie: Pero por supuesto que sí, siempre es sumamente emocionante tocar con Judas Priest, es emocionante tocar nuestras canciones viejas, las nuevas canciones también y por supuesto nos emociona mucho ir a lugares como México donde hay locos fans del heavy metal y sobre todo estar en un festival como este con Ozzy Osbourne, Judas Priest, Deep Purple, Scorpions… es una gran celebración a la música pesada. Nosotros somos fans de Ozzy, de Scorpions y saber que tanto nosotros como los asistentes…. todos conectaremos con esa música, es algo increible, y también es importante saber que todas esas bancas clásicas, incluidos nosotros, siguen adelante componiento nueva músisca, que lanzaron un nuevo álbum este año o recientemente. Que sigamos creando nueva música y que sigamos conectando con tanta gente es algo muy valioso y tienes que estar agradecido al respecto especialmente en lugares como México. Será algo totalmente fuera de serie.
“Las nuevas bandas no están haciendo dinero de esto, no lo hacen por salir en la radio. Lo hacen por que lo aman y así es como surgen las cosas emocionantes.”
Rick: Yes of course, I think you have a very good point there, I agree with you. I think the classic bands that come up with new music set an example there. It has a large fan base, and they want to connect with even more, some bands forget that and focus only on a smaller group of fans, I think you put it differently but I very much agree with you.
Richie: Well I understand what you mean. Judas Priest has always been because of the fans, it has always been about that connection between them and us. We understand them because we are also fans. When we're in the dressing room, we play music, Rob Halford plays some music from [eg] Ghost, Queen or whatever. We are music fans, we know what it means to be a fan of a band. I especially was not in the band a few years ago and now that I'm inside I'm still a Judas Priest fan. Fans are something very special to us.
Reunir a aquellos que te ponen en el lugar en el que te encuentras. Ellos aseguran tu creatividad y se te empieza a salir de las manos sobre todo con fans que han sido fieles por casi 50 años, es simplemente algo qu eno puedes ignorar. ‘Redeemer of Souls’, alcanzó el número 6 en el top 10 de Billboard y noestamos hablando de una lista de rock o metal sino de la música mainstream. Los fans nos pusieron ahí y es una declaración de la posición actual del heavy metal en pleno 2014. Lo podías ver ahí junto a música country, hip hop, rock… y ahí estaba el Heavy Metal, ahí estaba Judas Priest en medio del Top 10. Es una gran proclamación. No puedes ignorar el hecho de que fueron los fans quienes lograron posicionarlo en ese lugar.
Rick: I have a very special question, if you want to answer it, if not, we can try another one. At the 2015 Corona Hell and Heaven, while a reporter was interviewing Kiss, his interview was stopped by the band because the reporter was wearing an Iron Maiden t-shirt and they told him that it seemed disrespectful to them, and they made him wait until They got him a Kiss t-shirt, so he could start the interview, what do you think of that? What can someone playing in Judas Priest think of that?
Richie: Escuché esa historia, ¿fue verdad?, creo que fue un montaje que prepararon… Bueno no creí que fuera genuina la situación, creí que solo fue algo gracioso que hicieron.
Digo, no podría estar de acuerdo, creo que puedes usar cualquier playera, de cualquiera banda que quieras. Todos aman a Kiss, todos aman a Priest, si alguien llega a un concierto de Judas Priest con una playera de Kiss, sería algo como “¡hey, nosotros también somos fans de Kiss”…. o una playera de Maiden, no sé. Tú puedes ondear la bandera de la banda que tu quieras y de la música que prefieras y no creo que haya algo malo al respecto. Estoy seguro que hay gente que llega a conciertos de Maiden usando playeras de nosotros. La comunidad del metal es muy amplia, pero creo que ese asunto de Kiss, pero hasta donde yo sé era una broma, no se enojen con Genne, tu sabes… podría equivocarme
Rick: Thank you very much for the interview, I really really enjoyed this little talk, and we will be there to see Judas Priest in Hell and Heaven
Richie: Thank you very much friend, I hope to see you there, there will be a lot of metal.
[alert type = white] Interview by Rick Aguilar exclusively for Summa Inferno [/ alert]
