RICHIE FAULKNER Defends JUDAS PRIEST's Appearance On 'American idol' (Video)

Spectre Sound Studios conducted an interview with JUDAS PRIEST guitarist Richie Faulkner at last month's NAMM show in Anaheim, California. You can now watch the chat below.

Speaking about his first-ever performance with PRIEST, which took place in 2011 as part of the Season 10 finale of the Fox singing competition "American Idol", Faulkner said: "No pressure, right? I think it was about thirty million viewers in the States alone. But you know what it means to fly the flag for metal on that sort of scale."

He continued: "I've heard people say before, 'It's a pop show. What are you doing, doing a pop show?' To us, it was, 'How can we get into thirty million people's homes, flying the flag for British metal?' And that was a great way to do it. We announced a new guitar player, a new tour, so it was perfect — a great experience."

Faulkner went on to give credit to his bandmates for PRIEST's successful appearance on "American Idol", explaining: "They've been knocking it out of the park for forty years. I was just there for the ride, you know what I mean? But, yeah, man, it's just great to be a part of it. And from a production side of things, there's no better band to learn from."

JUDAS PRIEST is preparing to enter the studio to begin recording its long-awaited follow-up to the "Redeemer Of Souls" album.

Billed as a return to JUDAS PRIEST's heavy-metal roots, "Redeemer Of Souls" sold around 32,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release to land at position No. 6 on The Billboard 200 chart.

JUDAS PRIEST's tenth studio album, "Turbo", was recently remastered and was released via Sony Music on February 3 on three CDs (the original album and two bonus discs) as well as one-LP 150-gram vinyl. Included on disc 2 and 3 of the CD reissue is, previously unreleased, "Live in Kansas City", a live recording from the band's 1986 "Fuel For Life" tour in support of "Turbo".