JUDAS PRIEST Singer On 'Nostradamus': 'I Love Getting Lost In The Characters'

JUDAS PRIEST frontman Rob Halford and guitarists K.K. Downing and Glenn Tipton sat down with WAXQ (Q104)/New York's Ian O'Malley to discuss the group's new double-disc concept album, "Nostradamus", as part of FMQB's radio special, "Inside Judas Priest: Nostradamus". A couple of excerpts from the chat follow.

FMQB: There has to be a different approach when you're dealing with something as monumental as a concept album compared to a normal PRIEST album. How did you approach this?

Tipton: It was different in a way, but we always write in the same way. We work on ideas individually and then we get together and pool the ideas. In this case, the ideas had to be related to this type of project with the mystique and vibe it was giving off. So we did the same thing, and we usually mess around with some ideas until the room lights up and then we know we're onto something. The only difference in this case was we wrote lots of ideas, and then we had to piece them together. At that point Rob decided lyrically the way the story was going to go and which pieces were appropriate, because we wanted it to flow through Nostradamus' life. The project is really about his life. It touches on his predictions, but it's about his life. So in this case, we had to write chronologically. We discarded a lot of things that weren't appropriate. It all had to musically make sense. So that was the only difference from making a normal PRIEST album piecing it all together.

FMQB: How did this open up your musical capabilities in the sense that you have a broader canvas when you're dealing with this story? How did it affect your playing?

Downing: It was like having something new happen. We had a license to go into the territories of classical music. But the big curio was, "Would it work mixing it with JUDAS PRIEST metal?" I think Rob, in the early days, said "This is going to be the first metal opera." From the offset when we were putting ideas down, it was always in the back of our minds to incorporate and merge different musical elements to this extent.

FMQB: Did you find that you got a fresh start with your guitar playing by writing this kind of music?

Tipton: Yes, it enabled us to explore areas that we normally wouldn't go into on a JUDAS PRIEST album. Not particularly classical because we've often used classical passages in PRIEST songs but more operatic and more dramatic. That was the main difference. Guitar wise, it pushes you to new heights because it's a completely different thing. The funny thing is, when it's all done and put back into the story, it's still very much JUDAS PRIEST, which amazed us. It's like it was meant to be.

FMQB: Speaking of the operatic aspect of things, what was it like doing the vocals on this album?

Halford: It was an absolute joy for me because I love getting lost in the characters. I've been the "Painkiller", "The Sentinel", "The Sinner" and "The Ripper", and when you become somebody else, you're able to do things that ordinarily you wouldn't do. Every day when I'd go to work, all I'd listen to was classical music, just to get the mindset. I'd also listen to a lot of movie soundtracks "Pirates of the Caribbean", "Star Wars" to get into the right frame of mind. We're all metalheads and metal musicians, but if you open your mind to other areas of music, it's tremendous how the inspiration kicks in that ordinarily you wouldn't think about. For me as a singer, I think I had more pleasure and satisfaction in a performance sense than I've ever had before. It's continuous it's being Nostradamus on every single track, as opposed to previous recordings. So I had a blast. We looked at all the vocal recordings afterwards, and the amount of multi-tracking was unbelievable. It was a joy to do.

FMQB: If you look at what PRIEST is doing now, and then you look back at "Screaming For Vengeance" and those years, what comes to your mind when you think of the progression of the band?

Downing: I think it's fair to say that we have been quite versatile with our material, lyrics and subject matter, all throughout our careers. But I think we've always maintained that JUDAS PRIEST connection somewhere along the way. It would be curious to see if the music from "You've Got Another Thing Coming" could've been on "Nostradamus", or if some of the songs from "Nostradamus" could have been on that album. I think we've always maintained continuity somewhere, but as I've said we've always managed to be versatile too.

FMQB: There's talk of you guys performing the album in its entirety in 2009. You have always been known for your live show, and with something like this, the sky is the limit for what you could do.

Tipton: We've got a great idea for what we can base the whole event around, but of course it's a secret. We can't do it this year because we're doing a summer tour and people will want to hear PRIEST classics, although we'll be doing two or three tracks from the new album. But next year, once we've had a rest, our intention is to perform it in its entirety. We're also hoping to select interesting venues around the world and make it an event each time. The idea we've got for the stage show should be absolutely amazing.

Read more at www.fmqb.com.