Judas Priest: Interview with Rob Halford to Rock Confidential

Rob, thanks for making time for this today. It’s great to talk with you.

Jesse, it’s nice to have a chance to talk to you about what’s going on in the world of metal.

First off, I have to tell you – I’ve always noticed with your releases that you make sure the fans have quality products to keep them happy.

Thank you. I’m glad you recognize that. I really appreciate that. Most of my friends around the world, like yourself, rarely pick up on that point. Jesse, to me the launch of Metal God Entertainment was a chance to display what we’re about. We’ve had a very successful run of reissuing the Fight and Halford stuff and we’re focusing on the launch of Metal God Apparel and the Metal God record label. The philosophy behind that is to do the best we can and make sure when you give us your money that you get something decent back.

The attention to detail is something that excites me. It doesn’t have to even be a celebrity such as yourself, but when someone builds a brand on their name and takes the pride to make sure it delivers on all fronts – that means a lot to me.

I don’t take all of the credit for that and I never would. I’m surrounded by very talented people that have a lot of energy and have the same passion that I do. We all connect so the final result is tremendous.

Are you as hands on as it appears with each piece of product you release?

I don’t count for every bit of what happens. I’m there as a conduit. I’m constantly in touch with designers – primarily Mark Sasso, who works on all of the designs for Metal God Apparel. My manager, John Baxter, who runs the day to day operations of Metal God Entertainment through his company EMAS. Chip Ruggieri is my main guy for PR and all things associated with my solo activity. The final stamp of approval has to come from me. I’m always there in the mix.

Let’s talk about the clothing line. How did you know Metal God Apparel was something you wanted to pursue? How did you develop ideas for the designs?

When I opened my closet door everything in there was black! Black tshirts, black pants, black boots. I love black because it’s heavy metal, but let’s try to lighten it up a tad. The fun of merchandise with Priest or my solo endeavours has always been being involved in the creation of those items. This is just an extension of that, really. How far can we go? What can we do next? How can we take the Metal God brand and put it into some kind of clothing experiment? The tried and trusted tshirt was the first way to move forward. These first 13 or so designs are the first run. We’re going to branch out into a more comprehensive display for the Magic Convention in Vegas next year. We’ll hopefully have about 30 designs by then. Beyond that we’re pretty optimistic about where else we might go. We’re still new. We’ve got a long way to go yet. The first launch has been very well received. I’m grateful to everybody that’s taking to it and enjoying it.

The cool thing is the designs are inspired by songs from your catalog. Is that something the artist ran with? How did that come together?

You totally nailed it, Jesse. Mark Sasso is an incredible talent. He basically listens to the solo material, reads the lyrics, comes to my shows. He has a very fertile imagination. Out of all of those different points he comes up with those fantastic displays.

I remember reading a quote from you when you were talking about yourself on stage and you used the words “strength, power and determination”. You also said you wanted those words to come across visually in your clothing. How do those three words fit into your apparel line?

I think the visual is the statement. The Cerberus shirt, for example. The Steel Wings one. Pray For Rock N Roll. They say a picture’s worth a 1,000 words, don’t they? We’re all drawn to imagery. Imagery controls everything we do in life. It’s on the Internet, newspapers, television, the streets, the movies. I think those elements – strength, power, determination, passion and energy – is a way of pushing those feelings into the graphic we may use.

I’m sure you feel different before you go on stage. You have to feel like a different being when you’re getting ready to go on stage to a massive crowd.

I do. It’s bizarre. I was thinking about this the other night. I came off stage in Tokyo a couple of weeks ago and I’d just played to 15,000 Japanese metalheads. I was laying in bed at two in the morning thinking about what I did and it was like another person was doing it. It’s like going outside of my body and looking at myself! It’s great and I love it. You’re going out there and you’re living something. It’s live and it’s a different world. When I come off stage, shower, change, eat and go back to the hotel – I’m no longer the same person that was on stage. You really have to work hard to be able to seperate those things. Some people can’t do that. I need to be able to push my shopping cart around Ralph’s and get the milk, bread and juice! I learned how to do that years ago and I have a wonderful life.

Speaking of “a wonderful life,” that is the perfect lead-in to discuss your Christmas CD! You started writing and arranging this record last year, right?

Once we greenlighted the project everybody went to work.

What ideas did you initially have going into this project that you knew you had to happen?

We looked for material that we knew could be given the Halford stamp. You’ve got to be able to give it your own texture and impression. That was important. The arrangements were important, to make sure we could “metalize” them. The traditional songs like “We Three Kings” and “O Holy Night” and “O Come All Ye Faithful” mean a lot to me as a person on a spiritual level and for the traditional holiday spirit.

Think of the people 20 or 25 years ago that would have completely freaked out that Rob Halford from Judas Priest was going to release a Christmas album!

Isn’t it great!? This record’s already getting some push back. What the hell are you doing releasing a Christmas record? You’re the Metal God! That’s the passion of the fans. It’s definitely got a reaction from people and I love that. That’s what I do best! Rattling a few cages every now and then has to be alright. That’s what rock ‘n roll is about, right?

Somebody somewhere has to be offended. That’s a sign you’re doing something right! You mentioned a few songs that were especially important to you on this record. Does any song stand out as one that was a blast to arrange and work on in the studio?

Yeah. “O Come All Ye Faithful” and “We Three Kings.” I just felt wonderful singing into the mic. It was like that moment had been waiting to happen forever. It was a very satisfying, moving time for me to sing some of those songs and have them recorded forever. It’s something I always wanted to do. It was important…I was determined to do something like this. It was so much fun I’m going to do another one.

Was this something you knew you wanted to do for a while but were hesitant because of other things going on in your life?

I think that’s a fair observation to consider. I’ve never been a person that’s afraid of anything. I don’t think that’s what life is about. I think life is about living it to the maximum. Life is a gift and it should be treasured. Put as much in as you can and give as much as you can. This moment has been destined to happen. Maybe it’s because I’m getting older but this is important to me. I can’t wait to be with family and friends around the holidays and have it playing in the background.

Is there a chance you’ll do any of these songs live?

I’d like to, Jesse. I’m determined to do another record and I think if you have enough for an entire show you’ll have the Metal God Christmas Show! Everything that I do as a performer is all about doing something that you’ve not tackled previously. Why not? Even if I only do it once. That may be next year but it will happen.

I can see it now. You’ve got the Santa suit on…

(laughs) The black leather suit trimmed in white fur! I think that would be a lot of fun to do. It’s all about having a good time.

Rob, thanks again for taking time out for us today. What would you like to say to the Rock Confidential readers and your Metal God followers?

Thank you for supporting my endeavours and all of my musical adventures – Judas Priest and my solo activities. We’re all part of the Metal Community. We’re watching each other’s back and I thank you for supporting me.

Slayer - Araya Dedicates Slayer Album To Late Sister

SLAYER frontman TOM ARAYA has dedicated the band's new album to his older sister, who lost her long battle with cancer this year (09).

Anamaria Araya died in June (09), shortly after the band wrapped work on World Painted Blood.

And the singer admits he threw himself into the recording process to help cope with the pain of watching his beloved sibling succumb to a disease she had bravely fought for 14 years.

Araya tells Metal Hammer, "At the beginning of the year, when we started recording the album, my sister had been battling cancer for 14 years. When we started recording this album she was on the way out, and I wasn't much use. But I was always in the studio: I didn't want to be alone in the hotel room."

The album's release follows a terrible 2009 for Araya, which was marred by his sister's death and a recent string of illness and injury that forced the band to cancel gigs in Australia, Canada and Europe

Cinderella: Tom Keifer Interview to Metalzone

Given the chance by their latest live release Metalzone.gr had the chance to talk with Tom Keifer of CINDERELLA. Tom talks about the ordeals he went through with his voice, , the upcoming tour and the thoughts on a new album with CINDERELLA, the solo album he intends to release in 2010 and advice for the new vocalists. Read the interview below or download the audio of the interview by scrolling down to the bottom of the page.



Metalzone.gr: Hello Tom, Welcome in Metalzone. We’re honored to have you at the other end of our line
Tom: Well, I ‘m glad to be here.

Metalzone.gr: Let’s begin by your latest news, are CINDERELLA coming back?
Tom: We’ve never really gone away. We’ve been kind of in a break because I injured my voice a few years back and I’ve been trying to rehabilitate my vocal chords and train it back to where I can be able to perform a CINDERELLA show again. I though that I was there in the summer of 2008 for the tour for the States here, and we ended up having to cancel that tour because I re injured my voice. Since then I’ve been working on trying to get it strong again which I am glad to say it’s very strong now and we’re looking to be back out on the road in 2010.

Metalzone.gr: It sounds strong as you speak but was it difficult for you? How are you helping your voice rehabilitate?
Tom: You do it by working with a speech therapist and voice teachers and vocal coaches. I’ve worked with quite a few over the last 3 years, I’d say probably five or six different ones that I’ve gone through trying to find the one that’s really going to address whatever the issue was that I was having. I finally found one this spring that’s teaching me a lot of things about breath control and it’s really helped a lot.

Metalzone.gr: How is it nowadays?
Tom: Really strong.

Metalzone.gr: Do you feel ready to prepare a new album?
Tom: For CINDERELLA?

Metalzone.gr: Aha.
Tom: I think that’s a little off. It’s not anything in the immediate future. Our immediate plans would be to pick up where we left off when we cancelled that tour in 2008. Just get the band back out on the road, play some live shows and get me confident with my voice again, just be a band again and then we’ll see where that leads us. We haven’t rolled out the idea of making a record, it just has to be the right time and the right place and the right label. So there’s definitely a possibility in the future but not immediately.

Metalzone.gr: Tell me a few things about this upcoming tour.
Tom: We don’t have a tour booked yet. We’re going to be going into rehearsals in probably next month to see how my voice feels with the band and start talking with our managers and agents towards the end of this year or early January and start putting something together for next year. It will start in the States because we have that tour that we cancelled to make up for in 2008 and we’re hoping that this will set the way to getting us overseas maybe back to Europe and some other places that we haven’t been in a number of years.

Metalzone.gr: Are you preparing a solo album?
Tom: Yeah I’ve been working on my solo record for probably about 4 years now. I’ve been working off and on it in between tours with CINDERELLA and life in general. It’s been a work in progress for about 4 years and I’m to a point where I’m just about finished with it now. I’m pretty happy with it. I’ve re cut things, and remixed some songs and re worked things and re arranged things for a while now and I think I finally got it where I want it.

Metalzone.gr: What should we expect of it? How does it sound? How would you describe it?
Tom: It’s a lot like CINDERELLA music because being the main songwriter and the lead singer and I did a lot of the guitar work for CINDERELLA, so that style comes through on this record. So it’s definitely a hard rock record but it has dynamics to it too the way CINDERELLA records do and there’s a lot of very hard driven songs in it but there are also ballads and some acoustic music on it too. It has the peaks and valleys and it takes you on a ride throughout the record so…

Metalzone.gr: What about the lyrics?
Tom: Lyrically I am just inspired by really what I always have been inspired and that would be life. Real things, real every day things, the blues were a big inspiration for the songs that I’ve written in the past and they still are. I like to write about good times, bad times, and love, love lost, you know, everyday things that people can relate to. Things like what the blues and a lot of bands are influenced by like the Rolling Stones or Aerosmith, those kind of bands.

Metalzone.gr: Do you think that this is one of the characteristics that made CINDERELLA stand out in the hard rock scene?
Tom: I don’t know. It’s definitely something that was a part of our music. There have been a lot of hard rock bands that have been influenced by blues we’re not the only ones that have been but during the era of the 80s we were one of the few bands that had that flavor really strong. So perhaps it did for that decade.

Metalzone.gr: Do you think that the Hard rock scene is coming back? New bands coming in the music business having the same feeling you had when you were starting out?
Tom: I don’t think hard rock ever really went away. The 80s hard rock scene kind of went away by a different hard rock scene in the 90s with the grunge and the Seattle movement but I don’t think that sonically or attitude wise, musically that music was a whole lot different than what we were doing. Maybe the lyrics were a bit darker but at the end of the day bands that came out of that era were too loud, with guys ripping guitars through Marshals and screaming into a microphone. I think that the differences were more of a fashion statement, the bands looked different but if you get down to it the differences of a band from the 80s or the 90s weren’t a whole lot different. In that sense I don’t think it really went away but trends come and go and I don’t see a lot of bands that sound the way bands sounded in the 80s it’s always evolving which is kind of a cool thing. There are some new bands that I really like a lot like that band JET and BUCKCHERRY, I think they’re a really great rock band.

Metalzone.gr: You’ve been around for almost 26 years, does it feel the same?
Tom: In what sense the music?

Metalzone.gr: The audience coming into the shows, the way people react to the music.
Tom: Well it’s been 3 years because of my injury, the last show we did was back in 2006 but it feels exactly the same. It really does. It’s just as exciting as it was way back and in some ways more. Because we had the changing of the guard in the mid 90s where it seemed everything from the 80s was done – over – forget it – you’re finished. When we were asked to reunite in 97, 98 by SONY records to make anew record and being given an opportunity by a major label once again when you’re sitting at home and thinking that your career is over for a few years was really inspiring. And unfortunately to make a long story short the record never came out because we run into some disagreements with the label that ended up in a lawsuit but the fact that that offer was extended towards us and we started the creative process working towards that record really sparked something in all of us again and especially myself as a writer and shortly after that we started going back on the road tours here in America in theatres and arenas and I think that there was a minute there in the 90s where we were wondering if that was ever going to happen again. To be able to step back out on that stage, have the chance to do that and be able to see things… we reformed in 98 we did 3 successful tours since then, it’s a really great feeling, something we’re all very grateful for. So in a lot of ways stepping up on that stage is almost more exciting. You appreciate it more. Back when it first happened it was such a world win and it was happening so fast that you almost didn’t have time to think about it or appreciate it. That little moment in the middle of the nineties, given the opportunity to come back with an even greater respect for it, has really been nice and we’ve been really fortunate to…

Metalzone.gr: Do you get nervous before you step on the stage?
Tom: No not really. I can’t think of too many times that I have. I started to get a little nervous on the last tour that we did because my voice was going. It was just about shut when we started the tour and I was having problems in rehearsals. It was a 20 year anniversary tour and we were doing it with POISON because it was their 20 year anniversary. It was a really big tour and in a lot of ways in retrospect I probably should have not gone on that tour. And gone and got with some teachers and fix whatever the problems I was having at the time. I got on the road and my voice just started spar rowing down hill during the tour. And that’s something that I never had to deal with.. And I was walking on the stage and singing and not sounding like the records. I had to change melodies and talk through things and kind of just get through it. I started to feel nervous about doing that. I guess understandably but… I guess that was the time that I really started to feel nervous…

Metalzone.gr: Do you self criticize? Do you reflect on what you did on stage? Are you strict on yourself?
Tom: Well yeah, I think most musicians do that. You do your best up there. People that come to see you play you want to give them the best performance that you can. Yeah I am pretty self critical. I record just about every show and listen to it later that night to critique my vocals or playing whatever…

Metalzone.gr: Are you satisfied with the results you listen to?
Tom: Most nights. We’ve been touring for a long time and most nights it’s enjoyable to listen to. There are nights that are rough when I say I could have done that better or that better but a lot of times I just learn things with all the voice problems that I had. The vocal problems that I’ve experienced over the last 3 years, it’s not the first time that I’ve had problems, it started back in 91 and the result of it is a neurological condition called paresis which is a partial paralysis of one side of my voice box. Singing’s been a constant struggle for me since 1991. We came out on the scene in 86 and I just sang night after night no problem from 86 to 1990. And in 1991 on our third tour I was stricken with this paresis condition that there’s no cure in the sense of a surgery, you just have to work with vocal coaches and kind of re train your self how to sing so it’s been a constant battle since then but it really went down hill on the last tour. I am a little self conscious about it and probably one of the reasons why I record the shows and listen and try to critique and see what sounds better.

Metalzone.gr: What would you advice a new vocalist?
Tom: Probably to get with a great vocal coach and they’re hard to find cause I’ve worked with tons of them since 1991 and I think I just found back in May the guys who is actually fixing my voice. There are a lot of people who can do things but there are a lot of people who are good at the things they do. I learn more from him in one lesson than I did with all the previous ones… so it’s important to have the right coach but if I had been trained prior to when I had that, paralysis, or partial paralysis I probably wouldn’t have affected my voice this much and I probably wouldn’t have bring this much mayhem on my voice. Because I would have had a better understanding of how the muscles work and how they’re supposed to feel like. When you’re never trained and you don’t know how you’re producing that sound, you’re not really aware of it because it comes naturally. That’s how it was for me in the beginning. If you go and train you get in touch with that and you have a little more sense of how it works and if you are stricken with something… I can see how it would have helped me through that if I had training. That would be my best advice for anew vocalist. Find a good coach and at the very least be aware of how you create the sound that you’re getting naturally. So if you have a problem you know how to get back to it.

Metalzone.gr: Tell me about your aspirations for the future. Where do you see yourself in the near future?
Tom: In the very near future I am looking towards the next year 2010. I really want to get back out on the road I’ve been working for 3 years to get my voice back in shape and get out there with CINDERELLA and tour. I’d like to release my record some time next year, it’s almost finished. I’ve kind of been holding it till my voice is strong enough, I don’t want to release a record that I can’t tour behind.

Metalzone.gr: Do you already have a record label? Any timeframe?
Tom: This was produced independently of a label. I just really didn’t want a label breathing down my neck about when the record will be finished. I wanted to make this record and keep making it until it was the way I wanted it and then be able to shop it as a finished record. That would be the next step, to find the right home for it.

Metalzone.gr: Would you consider releasing it over the internet without a label interfering?
Tom: I’d rather have a label. That would be my preference.

Metalzone.gr: How do you see the internet in general?
Tom: It’s like anything, there are good things about it and there are some negatives to it. It’s a good resource tool and communication tool it’s great, overwhelming. Some of the negatives are… Just a simple thing like how people buy music. I am watching record stores closing across the country. To me that’s a negative. The online shopping thing even though it’s convenient there’s going to be a price paid for that eventually. This is actual businesses where you can actually go and spend a day. Walking around, looking at things and actually picking things up and touching them, getting out in to the world and interacting with people. I fear a lot of that is going away because of the internet. There are pretty much no record stores in Nashville here. You can count the record stores in less than one hand. When I moved here 11 years ago there were tons of them. It’s sad to see that go away. It’s a direct result of the internet and as convenient as shopping on line is that’s going to ultimately be the effect, businesses going out.

Metalzone.gr: You do have an old school feeling about it. You like the process of going to the record store, getting the record…
Tom: Oh yes. It’s nice to just get out into the world and interact.

Metalzone.gr: Would you release your release on LP, on a vinyl?
Tom: That would be the record label’s decision, not mine.

Metalzone.gr: You don’t have any special preference about vinyls.
Tom: Ultimately a vinyl sounds better if you have a great turntable and stereo but most people don’t. CDs have a great sound so that’s what most people…

Metalzone.gr: Thank you for the interview last words are yours…
Tom: Thanks to all our fans for always being there and supporting us. We’re going to try to get over there to Europe see all of you out there and play a show.

Interview by Hellena Mihailidou