- 1 week ago
Rob Halford from Judas Priest talk about the band's new charity version of "War Pigs" with Ozzy Osbourne, and more during our Audacy Check In.
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00:00it's abe cannon and i'm so excited to be joined by the metal god rob helford from judas priest
00:09rob it's such an honor to talk to you hello abe hi everybody good to speak with you today
00:13when you were a kid growing up rob do you ever think you'd be referred to as the metal god
00:18there wasn't even any metal around when i was growing up you know that's what's so amazing
00:24and blessing about this whole experience with judas priest making heavy metal for over 50 years
00:31and counting it's remarkable but i'll tell you something um i was thinking about this the other
00:38day the fact that i grew up at a time where rock and roll was just being invented and we're going
00:44way back now you know way back to the roots of rock and rolling growing up in the uk as i hit my teen
00:51years the 60s started to happen two of the greatest bands in the world the beatles and the rolling
00:56stones and then everybody else that was coming across from america so i grew up with that you know
01:02i've always had music in my life for as long as i can remember so to go through those decades of
01:09transition from the early roots of rock and roll to the early roots of heavy metal we started in the
01:15late 60s um yeah it's just it's just incredible and then on and on and on we get to the british
01:22steel album and the metal gods album and then the fans start calling me the metal god so yeah you know
01:28it's the way life the way life works you know to prove that you are the metal god i don't know how
01:34you did this you took war pigs and you somehow made it heavier which was it's impossible to do you you
01:41took you did you did something that's impossible because to take war pigs and when i heard it it's
01:46such a badass version of war pigs i don't know how you did it but you made it a heavier song
01:52yeah it's it's pretty powerful isn't it abe you know when we first came up with this idea of
01:59making what we call the judas priest heavy metal style of war pigs we knew we had to tread carefully
02:07because it's such a beloved song for sabbath fans aussie fans all over the world so we wanted to
02:13make sure that we didn't go too far away from the original classic concept idea so the band worked
02:21really hard to emulate what tony and bill and geezer and aussie did together but at the same time give
02:27it our own identity um scott scott did his best to to um pay homage to bill bill style of drumming the
02:36same with with ian on bass for geezer uh richie did a fantastic job with um his guitars as did glenn
02:43and it's really weird because my voice in that song is in the same kind of tonal range as aussie
02:50which makes it work even better you know it really feels like it was destined to be but yeah it was a
02:57privilege and an honor to be able to add our contribution to that amazing day at the aston villa
03:04football ground so how did you guys record this when did you actually have aussie record his part
03:10he did his parts after we sent all the the tracks and files over to to sharon and then all the all
03:18the metal magic happened and it was great because he heard the final part before the idea of bringing
03:24his aussie in onto the track came about and um it was sharon's idea it was a great idea she would
03:31would is there any way we can get aussie on here and we thought this is just going to be
03:35insane if we can get aussie to to be in the track as well because then the idea of making a charity
03:42single came into being all the contributions are going to uh cure parkinson's which was aussie's big
03:49uh foundation and then of course glenn's uh glenn tipton's foundation so um the fact that they both
03:57approved it especially aussie who allegedly was just you know sitting there smiling happy that
04:06he's kind of birmingham brothers because we were both born and raised in the same neighborhood
04:11we had a chance to to do something together and for me as a singer it was especially powerful and moving
04:18um to be able to sing alongside aussie on that track and you know aussie sounded amazing like at the
04:26back to the beginning show he sounded so good just weeks before he passed away and on this war pigs
04:31he it sounds almost like the original recording that's how great aussie still sounds or sounded i should
04:37say you know that's the way that magical things can happen in music today it's it is aussie it's
04:44obviously very much aussie live uh performing and we were just happy that we could make this whole thing
04:51go up to another level you know it was already doing great things as it was with the priest
04:59interpretation but to have aussie uh connected to it just made it even more spectacular yeah you know
05:06rob how do you still sound so great because like when you hear painkill i don't know how you do
05:11painkiller at this point and it sounds awesome like how how are you what what do you do that keeps your
05:16voice the way it is because a lot of people who have been around half as long as you have their
05:21voice is blown out at this point uh it's just i i give it to like two or three things firstly when i
05:29stopped drinking and drugging 40 years ago next january that was a massive decision to make to make sure
05:36that i was still have the pipes working for uh future endeavors and i noticed instantly that
05:44you know all the power in my voice was even more secure and and my performances became uh again a lot
05:54purer there was just a definite improvement in my whole being as a person which transferred into
06:01the way i sing so there was that and then of course these incredible uh inventions the in-ear monitors
06:07which were relatively new um when i got hooked up with those that made it easier because a lot of
06:14singers blow their voice on stage because they're trying to hear themselves you know above all the
06:18the noise that the band is making especially if you're having front wedge monitors so it's a little
06:23bit technical a little bit tricky but a lot of it is common sense so it's that it's the combination of
06:29staying clean and sober and also having the opportunity to use these amazing things that you stick in your
06:35head every night and technique technique you see when you watch richie playing the lead break in in in
06:43painkiller he makes it look easy but it's not it's very very hard because glenn originally came up with
06:48that lead break and richie had to interpret it in his own way so uh yeah it's for me singing in a
06:57particular song and as crazy as it sounds it's a pretty easy song for me to sing because i know
07:02exactly where i need to go i know exactly the technique that i that i have to put into my voice
07:08to get the performance and then it's very much a wing in a prayer because we're towards the end of
07:14the show have i got enough steam left to get have i got enough metal left to get through this
07:19this uh this killer track that everybody goes nuts for when scott plays the intro the roof goes off you
07:26know so um yeah that's it's a combination of all those things and i'm just i'm just happy and blessed
07:33to be able to still do it uh at this time of life with judas priest are you feeling this metal
07:39resurgence this hard rock resurgence because you go to the aftershock festival this past year the
07:45biggest crowd of all time louder than life the biggest crowd of all time and i'm feeling it like
07:51there's all these bands like like i just interviewed young blood the other day like there's a lot of
07:55young upcoming rock artists a lot of young metal bands a lot of hard rock bands and the appetite
08:00from the audience i feel like it's there more than in the last 20 years i think that just shows you
08:08how great the trail is that we're leaving for for new musicians new talent to um explore reinvent
08:20investigate bring their own chops to the table um and uh and i think it's a beautiful thing you you
08:29mentioned young blood who i think is an extraordinary talent he's he's just incrementally ever since he
08:35performed changes uh the aussie event incrementally he's been working very hard as a solo artist for
08:42a while but suddenly he's caught he's caught the flames so to speak so uh but all of all of those
08:47other bands that you mentioned that have that are you know banging away on stage we all have
08:54a torch that's passed to us from somewhere else you know musicians thrive on each other on each
09:01other's music you know whether it's cd from the cloud whatever yeah seeing a band live you know it's
09:10a mixture it's a mixture of things that that really keep this kind of uh this if you want to call it a
09:17resurgence it probably is to some extent because it goes in cycles but but what what a great moment to
09:23see all of this new talent um utilizing all of the great work that's that's been uh laid down and
09:31and making their own mark and their own definition it's wonderful and you mentioned cds you know people
09:37are buying vinyl again and you know just there's certainly like for me like on my radio show i give
09:42away boom boxes right okay that's cool they love the boom box right so wait let me show you this boom box
09:49so like like every week i give away every week i give away these boom boxes that's amazing man that's
09:56really cool and they love it they love it and and you know i want to bring back midnight album release
10:02parties if you remember those album release parties it was a party like people like the next judas
10:07priest album that comes out rob i want to do a judas priest album release party a midnight release so
10:12please when you put out your next album i have to do the midnight release party that's great abe that's just
10:18so wonderful and cool when i saw about boom box you brought back so many memories because i used to
10:23i used to carry them on the road and of course my boom box was four times the size as that
10:28that's meant to be metal they used to make some monsters didn't know they used to make some monster
10:33boom boxes that would that would take any kind of thing you rammed in them even to the point whether
10:38you you could get cd player boom boxes combined with a cassette player um great that's wonderful that
10:45you're doing that a props to you but but i feel like violent like kids once you get these kids to
10:50invest in the physical media they're all about it they want to do the same things we did growing up
10:56reading the lyrics looking at the art you can't do that with digital so i'm really happy that vinyl is
11:01really starting to sell at least of the last 10 years or so absolutely we've been involved in this
11:07again this push for vinyl has been going on for some time now more than anything i think young fans
11:14uh particularly they you know they they want the physical to physically hold something they want
11:22to possess it's like when you're going to see your favorite ball game basketball football whatever
11:27you want to you want the jersey you want to take something home you know you treasure it it's a
11:32memory and so it is with music so yeah we just did something really for the recently for the uk record
11:38day we released we released a a beautiful painkiller album with like a blue and white marble uh vinyl
11:45in it and so we're all behind that you know we've been re-releasing priest vinyl for the whole catalog for
11:51as long as i can remember so absolutely vinyl is a really cool uh an important part of who we are and
11:57what we do when was the last time you watched heavy metal parking lot it's been a while it's been a while
12:03i was approached actually recently by the the people who put that together and they're doing
12:08something very special uh that i'm just be made aware of um i just love it it's a micro it's a
12:15microcosm you know every every show has a tailgate party every single show you know when we drive into
12:22the into the uh into the venue doing a lot of amphitheaters we did the kia forum last night and there
12:28were still people outside you know having fun and blasting priest and alice and everybody
12:34coc um so um yeah that's that that's part part again of of um of the special things that happen
12:44at uh at all these shows that that's the kind of stuff i want to bring back like we we need to
12:49embrace that that's the fun that's the party before the show have you go if you haven't seen heavy
12:54metal parking lot the whole thing's on youtube just go watch it it's just it's just so funny
12:58watching these people from all those years ago in the parking lot partying before judas pre-show
13:03so yeah and it's still the same now it's still the same now you know um yeah the the heavy metal
13:12parking lot has been going on since the original heavy metal parking lot some 40 years later people
13:18are still uh jamming away and and making a great night because it's an event more than anything
13:24man more than ever do we need music to get us through these times that we're going through
13:29you know to party to hang out with each other to catch up with each other i call us the heavy
13:34metal community there's a tremendous amount of unconditional love we're always making sure
13:39everybody's um well you know texting each other keeping the vibe connected so um that heavy metal
13:46parking lot is part of that whole uh metal community experience you're touring right now with
13:52corrosion conformity and ellis cooper have you and ellis walked around somewhere and people have got on
13:58their knees and did the i mean people didn't say that to you but has it happened to you because
14:03ellis cooper happens to him at least three times a day yeah they get on their knees and say we're not
14:08worthy yeah it happens at every meet and greet we were talking about that we had dinner the other day
14:13in los angeles we were exchanging rock and roll stories we should have recorded that because the stories
14:18were just off the hook but he said that um that that's that's just part of the tenure that wayne's
14:24world has left with him but um he's a remarkable man and very dangerous i i mistakenly went into his
14:31dressing room the other day and he was throwing knives throwing knives around the room i mean real
14:38knives and wood panels and just and i'm you know because he was he was morphing into alice cooper he's a
14:45different man he's a genuine he's just it's scary as shit i went oops sorry and he glared at me and i
14:52left the left the room um but he's a remarkable man and um yeah i feel not worthy in his presence
14:59when you think of what that man has done and achieved in music it's just crazy you know he's a
15:05true icon a true legend in rock and roll he's also a great golfer too yeah yeah he is he plays every
15:13down the road before he gets up at the crack of dawn and goes and plays golf and then he does a show
15:17you know while i'm still trying to get you know a night's sleep he's up and out he's out somewhere
15:23hitting balls you know he's he loves he loves that sport uh for the sport and the talent that you need
15:29to play that game well uh and for the fun of it and uh he plays golf all around the world wherever
15:35he's wherever he's got a show uh he's probably playing golf right now as you and i talking
15:39and you know rob you and judas priest are always doing so many great things you guys just gave a
15:45hundred thousand dollars you mentioned that los angeles show you gave a hundred thousand dollars to
15:50the fire department the los angeles fire department yes yes we were we were at the grammys just a few
15:57days after they kind of got control over everything and um there was a big debate whether the grammys
16:03should carry on and of course much like we've all we said in the big picture of rock and roll and
16:09music music heals people music is a release music is an escape you know and um so they were able to
16:16do that and and when we were on the red carpet everybody was saying is are judas priest gonna
16:21gonna do anything um with regards to the fire and we said yeah we will let us think about it uh because
16:27la has been wonderful to this band and to so many other people in the music industry that um
16:35we wanted to we wanted to do something you know so um at the kia forum just a couple of days ago
16:43we donated a hundred thousand dollars to the los angeles fire department who are going to use it to
16:48do whatever they want really there's so many places everybody can still go to um it's so easy to go to
16:55any of the number of websites for the los angeles fire and pick where you want to make a donation
16:59you know whatever whatever you got or even just check it out see the good the love that's happening
17:05you know and the the rebuilding process is going to take forever and um so we thought because the
17:11lapd were on the front lines along with the other uh services people there um those guys just man what
17:20they did you know what they did to try and protect as many homes as possible and and lives as many as
17:26as possible is just huge so that they were the first first people that came into my mind and
17:32they're going to use all this money in a great way they're going to they're going to keep feeding us
17:35back as to where they're going to utilize it but yeah we love la and um because of all the great
17:41things that los angeles has done for priest and for rock and roll and metal we wanted to say here you
17:46are guys thank you for what you do and you know the metal community they're the most wonderful people
17:52like a guy like you you even you live two lives for the whole i don't know how many years of judas
17:57priest you couldn't be who you are uh i know you were afraid but at that time because you didn't
18:02know if they would accept you in that community but it turns out they're the most wonderful community
18:07in all of music yeah that it's it's always i've always found it's amusing that people that on the
18:13outside that don't have a clue about metal that they look at us as a very kind of um you know um
18:19i'm trying to think of the right word but you know when people don't understand anything they
18:24put a wall up they become fearful and that's nuts if you don't understand anything and it makes you
18:29feel a little bit you know like wary or concerned find out why you feel that way investigate them
18:36investigate the reason why you feel that way and you'll see that as you said abe uh rightly so
18:42we're we're a very beautiful loving generous bunch of people that um that love our metal
18:48and um we have an extraordinary way of showing how we do that with these massive concerts
18:54uh that are very loud and very aggressive and very full of power but all in the good constructive
19:01sense you know it's all very positive type of experiences so um and on that level um we we do
19:11we are unconditional it doesn't matter who you love it doesn't matter what you believe in or don't
19:16believe in doesn't matter what you look like doesn't matter if you've got money or you don't have
19:21money whatever all all the social strata just breaks away you know it's it's not important it's
19:27irrelevant all that matters to us is being with each other uh looking out for each other and and
19:34seeing each other at metal shows it was you ozzy and lemmy and you're the last one holding the torch so
19:41rob please never please don't retire don't do it just please just do judas priest for the next 40 50
19:48years and please please don't do a retire we need you rob we need you in metal we need you in hard
19:52rock thank you abe that's that's a beautiful words and in my heart i can't see me ever stopping
19:58it it's it's vital to me you know i i have to i have to do this i have to do this this work this this
20:06metal work it sustains me it keeps me motivated um and all great things are happening now more than
20:15ever before so who would want to stop that you know um it's just a fantastic place to be priest
20:21is still raging and roaring from our last album invincible shield uh we're just on the shield of
20:26pain tour which has been celebrating a painkiller one of the most beloved albums in metal um next year
20:33it's the 50th anniversary of uh sad wings of destiny it's the 40th anniversary of turbo so there's
20:40always something lurking in the metal wings you know for this band to kind of go back into and and
20:45dig out and bring back to the stage again and war pigs it's out now like i said you put a fresh
20:51coat of paint on this song that i didn't think there was any way that i like if someone covered
20:56war pigs i'm like i don't want to hear it when i heard war pigs i'm like whoa i i'm telling you
21:02this it's such i don't know how you did it you made war pigs heavier and thank you so much and
21:07the money's for charity so buy war pigs it goes to charity it's and it's a badass badass song so
21:13rob it was such an honor talking to you thank you for everything you've done so many years over 50
21:18years of judas priest and i'm excited for i'm this is what i love about juice priest i'm excited
21:23to hear what's next the new music you're always making new music so to me that's important
21:28keep moving forward and i can't wait for the next judas priest album maybe we'll do a record
21:33release party at midnight that would be a brilliant move abe that'd be fantastic yeah we'll stay in
21:38touch with you brother thanks for everything that you do for rock and roll and metal we need abe for
21:44making all the connectivity happen and uh yeah stay hard stay metal stay uh defending the faith brother
21:51thank you rob it was awesome talking to you thank you all the best babe bye-bye man thank you so much
21:56thank you bye-bye bye
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