TIM 'RIPPER' OWENS Says Pandemic 'Changed Everything About Everything'

Former JUDAS PRIEST singer Tim "Ripper" Owens, who is promoting the upcoming debut album from KK'S PRIEST, told Jason Saulnier in a new interview that the coronavirus pandemic affected his ability to earn a living in a major way. "It changed a lot of things," he said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET). "I'm a musician — that's all I do for a living. Now, in a normal time, if music would dry up or something could happen and you can't do it, you might have to go get a job doing something else. Well, there wasn't any of those jobs either. It's funny when, all of a sudden, you make your money touring, and it's done.

"I had a really busy year planned, and it was starting with finishing my vocals with the KK'S PRIEST record and thinking, 'This is gonna be an amazing summer. We're gonna get on some festivals and we're gonna get this record out and start touring,'" he continued. "And then you can't even finish the record. Everybody thinks we finished it because vocals were done and things like that. But it's hard when you can't get together at all. You can't do everything via green screens. If you're an established band and you put a record out, you can do that 'cause you're an established band. But when you're a brand new band, you just can't put something out. So it really changed everything about everything.

"I, luckily, sat in my studio and did a lot of studio work for a lot of different musicians all throughout the world," Owens added. "You have to adapt and find new ways to do things. So I did the newest THREE TREMORS record as well. I sang vocals on a band, which I'm still working on, called PYRAMID. Just all kinds of stuff, and just individual songs for musicians everywhere. So I got lucky that I could do that. But, yeah, it's totally changed everything. But at least now things are starting to look better. The mask mandates just went away here in Ohio, so it's really getting a little bit easier. So, hopefully, we'll be able to hit the road."

Owens joined PRIEST in 1996 and recorded two studio albums with the band — 1997's "Jugulator" and 2001's "Demolition" — before PRIEST reunited with Rob Halford in 2003.

Owens and founding PRIEST guitarist K.K. Downing are reunited in KK'S PRIEST which also features guitarist A.J. Mills (HOSTILE),bassist Tony Newton (VOODOO SIX) and drummer Sean Elg (DEATHRIDERS, CAGE).

KK'S PRIEST will release its debut album, "Sermons Of The Sinner", on August 20 via Explorer1 Music Group/EX1 Records.