Magnus:
Hi Kenneth! Here is a hard question for you. I’ve always wondered why Priest pitched the Unleashed In The East album up a half in tune? Was it just for a more instinct sound or for a more brighter production? Because when I am tuning the guitar normally, it’s out of tune with that album but not with the other studio albums.
Please check us out at our homepage http://www.demolator.com/ and listen to a great tribute song we are playing for you.
Best Regards, DEMOLATOR (a great metal band from south Sweden)
Hi Magnus. Please remember that electronic tuners haven’t always been around. Back then in the seventies myself or Glenn just took out our guitars and probably just tuned to the guitar that was most in from the gig before. We did have a tuning fork at one time but I guess it got lost. Good luck with Demolator!
Regards K.K.
Dipankar:
Hi!
I’m from India and JP is my favourite band. I have 2 questions.
1. Are you in the near future planning to perform in India, especially Bangalore? All the metal lovers of India are crazy about you guys.
2. Through all the years that you’ve been in Judas Priest, I assume there must have been ego clashes, indifferences etc.. How did you overcome that? Was it the music and the friendship among the band that saw you through or was there an element of thorough professionalism involved?
Hi Dipankar. Yes I certainly hope that Priest will play in India soon, we are extremely envious that Iron Maiden have already played for you so lets hope that it is our turn next. Egos are a tough subject, I personally do not like them and I hope never to have one. I think sometimes people develop one because they feel that they are not getting noticed enough, others just have a downside to their character. Hope to see you soon.
Regards K.K.
Sean Ely:
Hello Mr. K.K. Downing,
Thank you very much, this is the best thing besides the NY GIANTS winning the superbowl that’s happened in a long while to me!. Just the fact that you took the time to read my message, but to contact me and Im sure you get many, many emails and requests , this makes me feel very good . You are one of the greatest musicians in the world and you are not one of those untouchables who think they are greater than God. I really appreciate this, I have been a fan of Priest for many years and you guys are the greatest and don’t get a quarter of respect from the mainstream industry that you deserve. Wow this is great. Even if you are not able to send me an autographed picture I still will be happy cause you took your time for just a regular civilian and a Priest fan and a K.K. fan for life!!! Good luck with the first time concept album and with your upcoming world tour. I will see you guys again in N.J. Please have a safe tour. Great job with the Mill.
Thank you very kindly, Sean Ely
Hi Sean. Thanks for the kind words. Keep feeding the flames with us.
Regards K.K.
A. Lopez from Calexico, CA:
How’s it hanging K.K.? Kick ass website. You and the Mill guys did a killer job. I wanted to ask you if the ‘Priest Machine’ will ever release the entire concert you did at Long Beach, CA Back in 1984 as a CD or DVD? Or the entire Reunion concert you recorded for the “Angel of Retribution” Bonus DVD?
Hi Alejandro. I am pretty sure that we don’t have any video of the ‘84 shows but there may well be both sound and vision of some of the latest shows. But I would have to find out. Anyway thanks a lot especially if you saw us on both occasions, both very memorable gigs for me.
Regards K.K.
Alejandro:
Hey KK, I wanted to asked you some questions;
• 1)I heard somewhere that the ‘Priest Machine’ has a song called “Father, Mother, Sun”. If that is so, are you planning to record or re-record it for any future Priest album or playing it live this year?
•
2) Why weren’t ‘Beyond the Realms of Death’, ‘Evil Fantasies’, ‘Take On the World’, & ‘White Heat, Red Hot’ included in the remastered version of Unleashed in the East?
• 3)And was this the order of the setlist from “Unleashed in the East:”
Exciter
Running Wild
The Ripper
Diamonds And Rust
Rock Forever
Beyond The Realms Of Death
The Green Manalishi (With The Two-Pronged Crown)
Delivering The Goods
White Heat, Red Hot
Sinner (With K.K. Downing solo)
Evil Fantasies
Victim Of Changes
Genocide
Starbreaker
Hell Bent For Leather
Take On The World
Tyrant
Hi Alejandro. I can’t say for sure that “Mother Sun” will ever shine again but you never know? I can’t say why those songs were not included on the remaster but I am sure there was a good reason. The set list looks very familiar but it was so long ago I can not confirm, sorry I could not be more helpful but maybe the trusty Mill workers could help us out (Millworkers note : setlist is 100% correct).
Regards K.K.
Michael Alberque, Delaware, USA:
Ken, I’m 39 years old. Been listening to PRIEST ever since I first heard THE RIPPER on UNLEASHED…..
There has been an obvious evolution(Revolution? Ha Ha) to your axemanship.
For years it was easy for me to know whether it was you or Glenn soloing.
In the post-DEFENDERS era, that has proved more challenging. I attribute this to Glenn’s introduction of more outside the ‘box’, freestyle, and tremolo work. Your influence on his playing is evident.
How would you describe the influence that his style has impacted you, and how it relates to your complementary styles? For the record: It continues to work nicely.
One request from this long-time fan. More dueling leads! HELLRIDER particularly reminded me that none can trade and marry leads like THE PRIEST!
KEEP THE FAITH.
GOD Bless
Hi Michael. I guess the answer is that I am not aware of any influence on myself from Glenn but maybe there is some? I am always trying to develop myself from within but also I work at enhancing my musical knowledge as I kind of left it behind in the beginning because I was impatient to get out there and rock! Cheers Michael.
Regards K.K.
Phil:
K.K, this is Phil, the guitarist from the Faithful Defenders recording project from JP.com. I am curious as to why the official Judas Priest site is devoid of anything new and exciting. You have to go to your site or Rob’s to see anything or hear about anything. I know you guys washed your hands of it but it is your official site and nothing has been done to it in 3 or 4 years!! Do you know if anything is going to be done about sprucing it up any? You guys have a new album coming out and we are still looking at the AOR theme at JP.com. You have a lot of adoring fans over there that would love to see some improvement to the site and maybe once in a while hear from you guys!!!
Thanks and looking forward to the album
Hi Phil. I will see what we can do for you on that score but I appreciate that you take the time to check out all of our sites for now. Cheers.
Regards K.K.
Jason:
Hi K.K., my name is Jason writing from Indiana. I have 3 questions:
1.If Rob was with you guys when it came time to write and record Jugulator and Demolition, how different would they have sounded? Besides Rob’s voice being on it.
2. I know that Ralf Scheepers was strongly considered for the vocal spot after Rob left. It is obvious to me that he has the stronger voice and more suited to the Priest style. Without being diplomatic, why didn’t he get the job?
3. I think it would be great if Rob and Ripper would sing on Bullet Train together, the way the vocals are tracked, I think it would work amazingly well. What do you think of that idea?
Thanks for your time.
Hi Jason. I think that musically the albums would have been the same and possibly vocally also. It was always the case that we had a preference for a singer that was pretty new to the scene. As you say Ralf is great and was first in line until Ripper came along but Ralph’s long history with the excellent Gamma Ray would have created a seance to us that we were kind of merging 2 bands together. Also we hoped not to split a good band up. “Bullet Train” with 2 singers, who knows? Maybe one day. Cheers.
Regards K.K.
Phil:
Hi K.K. This is Metal Meltdown/Phil from JP.com in Buffalo, NY.
The question I have for you is this: With all of the multi-act festivals that are out there today, Ozzfest and the like, has it ever occurred to Judas Priest to start something like this? I think it would be awesome to see a New Wave of British Metal festival featuring JP as the headliner and have all of the Brit/Metal bands from the glory days tagging along. Bands like Saxon and Venom and so forth.
Also, the last time I emailed you a while back, I had mentioned about my 8 year old son Andy and his abilities on the guitar. You would not believe this kid. He is awesome. He just learned “Between The Hammer And The Anvil” and nails it perfectly!! He cites you and Glenn as being the ones he listens to the most and the ones, besides me, he has learned the most from. Thank you and Glenn for inspiring my son and his old man!! Rock on my friend!!!
Hi Phil. We were kind of thinking that would be cool too, anyway Priest Feast! kicks off in Helsinki, FINLAND (editorial note) June 3th. Sounds like your son will be on tour pretty soon too. Good luck to you both, cheers.
Ragards K.K.
Nathan, Manchester UK:
Hey K.K., before I ask my question, I’d just like to say, I am 15 years old and have been a fan of Judas Priest for about 3 years. Despite my age, I can safely say I am one of your biggest fans and that you, and the rest of Judas Priest are my absolute heroes and I can’t wait to see you at Download! I was worried I wasn’t going to be able to come because of cost and distance.
Quite a lot of the dates that have been announced so far have been festival dates. Does this mean that after all the festival dates you may come back round and play arenas and large theatres and maybe even a date at the Manchester Apollo?
Thank you for all the hours of joy you have given me through your music and I look forward to many more.
Hi Nathan. Yes we are hoping to come back with a comprehensive tour of the U.K and hopefully Manchester will be included so we will see you there.
Regards K.K.
David Noriega, Mexico:
Hi!!!, I’m a big fan of Judas Priest, the best heavy metal band in the whole history. I am going to be brief:
1.You said that you’re a fan of Scorpions. What do you think about Matthias Jabs, and who do you like the best? Michael, Uli or Matthias?
2.Is there any chance to perform The Sentinel, Rock Hard Ride Free, Delivering The Goods and Metal Meltdown in the next tour?
Sorry for my English and thank you for your music, for answering this and I hope you’ll come to Mexico. Take care.
ROCK HARD, RIDE FREE!!!!!!!
Hi David. That’s a tough question for me, all 3 are so different. But I must say that I would like to see more of Uli and yes we hope to include some of those songs for you on the new tour, cheers.
Regards K.K.
Marla:
Hi Ken. As a fan I was wondering if you could ship a few of the millworkers over to Glenn’s site..And have them dust the cob webs out of it..lol. A lot of the fans on the Judas Priest noticeboard are wanting a word from Glenn, in some way shape or form.. Everyone is getting very excited about the new release. And any future tour dates esp. here in the US, and Canada. I know how busy you all must be. I can’t wait to hear of word, on the future, for you and all of Judas Priest. Thank you for your time.
Hi Marla. I will see what I can do but can’t promise anything. Things will really be happening very soon so please be patient with us, see you in the summer.
Regards K.K.
Alex, Belgium:
Hello K.K. First of all, let me congratulate you and the Mill Workers for the first anniversary of the Steel Mill, what a great year it was with your incredible work and devotion to the fans!!! Let me also tell you I already have my ticket for the GRASPOP Metal Meeting show on June, 27th in Belgium (so awesome to see you back here!!!) but also for the Luxembourg show on June 11th and Dusseldorf on June 23th… I’m so happy to see you and the band 3 times this year, really incredible!!! A dream comes true for me and some of my friends, so… Thank you very much for coming and playing for us!
My question is… I know somebody already talked about it a few months ago but what do you think of re-releasing “Unleashed in the East” for its 30th anniversary in a Deluxe Digipack with the whole show… Because I know that two shows were recorded on February 10 at Koseinenkin Hall and February 15 at Nakano Sunplaza Hall…
The set list was :
Exciter
Running Wild
The Ripper
Diamonds And Rust
Rock Forever
Beyond The Realms Of Death*
The Green Manalishi (With The Two-Pronged Crown)
Delivering The Goods
White Heat, Red Hot *
Sinner (With K.K. Downing solo)
Evil Fantasies*
Victim Of Changes
Genocide (With extended Glenn Tipton solo)
Starbreaker (With extended Les Binks solo)
Hell Bent For Leather
Take On The World*
Tyrant
The songs with * were not released in Europe or USA, but maybe in Japan. That would be awesome to have this entire show in a 2 CD set or something with a cool packaging… What do you think about that ? I guess you’re very busy with the new Album and the Tour, but who knows, if ever you find the time…???
Second question, what’s the Strat you played with during “Worth Fighting For” on “Rising in the East?” I like the look of it and I wanted to know what’s the model and specification?
Last one… (lol) Do you plan to come in France for a show? Because there is a real fanbase over there and the last visit of the band was in 2001 in Paris, but since Rob came back to the band, nothing… Could you give me some more information about that, a lot of fans feel really sad with that fact…?
Well, I wish you all the best for the Tour and see you at these 3 shows ! It’s going to be absolutely incredible, no doubt about that !!!
Cheers, Alex, an always more crazy fan from Belgium!!!
Hi Alex. I will do my best to see what I can find but can’t promise you a result. The red Strat is the one I put together with lots of help from a guitar tech in Birmingham. It is heavily modified with scallop frets, hotrail pickups and a khaler trem. It is cool looking and a serious tool, I like it a lot. Yes we have been very disappointed that French promoters have no asked us to come to France. We used to enjoy very much playing to our French fans so hopefully things will change for the better. Sorry to be brief but I have to get back in the studio.
Regards K.K.
Chris, California:
K.K. Did Tom Allom co-produce Nostradamus with you and Glenn? I think Rob Halford has sounded by far his best on “Unleashed In The East” through to “Ram It Down” and then again on “Angel Of Retribution” and coincidentally Tom Allom produced all those brilliant Masterpieces except AOR! Rob’s ”Painkiller” vocals are awesome but just a fraction less unique and original as all his other vocals. Rob set the bar so high with his vocals on “Point Of Entry,” “Screaming For Vengeance” and “Defenders Of The Faith”!!!
If Tom Allom did not co-produce Nostradamus I hope he was at least consulted to get some of his production ideas.
I want to buy and listen to Nostradamus so much!!!!!!!! I want to hear it today…I will be buying Nostradamus the day it is released in the U.S. and hopefully it is within the next 90 days….89 days…88 days….I know it’s going to be so f…ing good! I’ve had at least 3 dreams of hearing Nostradamus.
THANKS K.K. for pounding the world like a battering RAM!!!!!!
Hi Chris. I certainly agree with you, Tom was really cool to work with and did play a very important part in Priest’s history. However, Tom was not on board for Nostradamus. But all the same I think that you will be very pleased with the results. Your enthusiasm is fantastic to hear so I would like to thank you on behalf of the band and also to thank you for your patience (Nostradamus is coming very soon!)
Regards K.K.
Tony:
Hi, I have been a Priest fan since hearing “The Ripper” on Tommy Vance’s Radio 1 rock show back in my teens. Many years older and having played guitar in a few bands over the years I now play in a metal tribute band called History of Heavy Metal here in The UK covering classic metal songs from the 80’s and 90’s. At the moment we do a few Priest songs, ”Breaking the Law,” “Living After Midnight” and “You’ve Got Another Thing Coming” with plenty more that we jam at rehearsals. I use a Marshall JMP-1 pre-amp and a Rocktron effects rack and wondered what settings you use on your JMP-1 and your Rocktron to get the different sounds for the different tracks over the years? Look forward to seeing you on tour this year.
www.myspace.com/historyofheavymetal
http://www.historyofheavymetal.co.uk/
Hi Tony. Can you resend this e-mail in May as my gear is in the warehouse at the moment? Then I can get you my settings, also what Rocktron do you have? Mine is a Replifex.
Regards K.K.
Kevin, Kansas USA:
Hi K.K.! It is an honour to be able to send you a message!
You are my favourite guitar player of all time! I saw Priest at Sandstone Ampitheatre in Bonner Springs, Kansas during the Ram It Down Tour (Mercenaries Of Metal) August 29, 1988 (Yeah, I still have the ticket stub). It was the best concert I ever saw. To see my favourite band Judas Priest in person was a dream come true. I know that you are a fan of a lot of the guitar greats from the 60’s and 70’s like Hendrix, John Mayall, Clapton, Page, Blackmore. I was wondering what you thought about Randy Rhoads, one of the greatest guitar players of the Judas Priest style of Metal?
I have one more question. I thought I read an interview where you said that you were having a one of a kind, Custom Goldtop Flying V made for you. Is this still in the works? If so, is it a Gibson, like the Gold Top Les Paul, or is it an ESP or Hamer, like your other newer guitars? Thank You!
PS. Tell Glenn, Rob, Ian, and Scott I said Hi!
Hi Kevin. No doubt Randy was a true great. I am so disappointed that I never saw him perform but he has certainly left us a treasured legacy of his great work. I actually have the Gold Top V and it was made by Hammer (very special!). Cheers!
Regards K.K.
