During a recent interview conducted by Pedro Alonso Diez for Spain’s Metal Journal, JUDAS PRIEST drummer Scott Travis was asked about the potential for guitarist K.K. Downing to return to the band, asking whether the door is “completely closed” on that possibility.
Travis responded: “Well, I don’t think anyone can ever say never or something’s closed forever, but K.K. has his own band now [KK’S PRIEST], doesn’t he? So I wonder how his bandmembers would feel to hear these rumors all the time, because I’m sure they’re very happy to be part of his band and be out there playing. So, we’ll see. I don’t know.”
When asked if he follows K.K.’s endeavors with KK’S PRIEST and whether he has listened to any of the band’s music, Scott responded: “I’ve just seen the stuff that he posts on social media. I’ve not listened to the whole record start to finish, but I follow the drummer on his social media and I think he follows me, so I respect what he’s doing.
“I think it’s great that they’re out there, period, by the way. I think it’s great that K.K. has resurfaced and he wasn’t just trying to grab something from the past that he created, because he left [JUDAS PRIEST], so he must have left the band for a reason. And he was out of the band for a long time. In other words, when JUDAS PRIEST made the decision to go from basically a five-piece band to a four-piece [in January 2022], we quickly realized it was a mistake and we changed it, and K.K. didn’t do that. He left the band and was gone for years and years, and then decided he ought to be back or something, but that was just his opinion. So, time has moved on, but I’m glad that he finally decided to get back in the music business and create new music. So that’s really cool.”
Regarding whether JUDAS PRIEST felt unsettled by K.K.‘s choice to name his band KK’S PRIEST, Scott offered: “No, not at all. I mean, he has a right to the name and to play the songs that he co-wrote. So, no.”
IN 2022, at the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame induction ceremony in Los Angeles, Downing reunited with PRIEST for a performance.
PRIEST received the Musical Excellence Award at the event, which honored Eminem, Dolly Parton, DURAN DURAN, Lionel Richie, Pat Benatar, EURYTHMICS and Carly Simon in the Performers category.
The PRIEST members that got inducted include current members Rob Halford, Ian Hill, Glenn Tipton and Scott Travis, along with former members K.K. Downing, Les Binks and late drummer Dave Holland.
In a last year’s interview with Chaoszine, Downing said that he was ‘not allowed’ to walk the red carpet with the band during the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony.
The guitarist felt it was ‘all very sad’ and expressed his disappointment with the way he was treated at the event, as he felt he was a guest of the Hall of Fame rather than a guest of the band. Despite these issues, Downing did attend the ceremony and performed with the band. He also had a brief exchange with the band’s singer, Rob Halford, who he felt was being influenced by other members of the band.
“[PRIEST‘s] manager told us that we were guests of the band — me and Les [Binks, former PRIEST drummer],” Downing said. “I’m going, ‘F**k off.’ If anything, I’m a guest of the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, but I’m there to accept my own award in my own right. I’m not a guest of anybody.
“And then they were gonna dictate the songs and what was gonna [be] play[ed]. So I said, ‘Oh, f**k. Should I bother doing this?’ You know what I mean? ‘Can I be really bothered?’ And then people were saying, ‘You’ve gotta go. It’ll never happen again, obviously, in your lifetime. You deserve this.’ And anyway, so I decided, ‘Okay, I’ll go.’ But, obviously, we were kept separated and not allowed to walk the red carpet together, which is all very sad, but that’s the way that they wanted it.”
Downing shared that he had an amicable interaction with Richie Faulkner, his replacement in JUDAS PRIEST. Though Faulkner was not being inducted into the Rock Hall, he actively participated in the JUDAS PRIEST performance during the ceremony.
K.K. said: “Richie was great. Richie came into our dressing room. Richie was really — he was fine. Obviously, I am the real thing, aren’t I? [Laughs] What can I say? [Laughs] What can I say? But, no, Richie‘s great; we get on well. And [PRIEST‘s current touring guitarist and producer] Andy Sneap‘s great; he’s an old friend. As for the other guys, I don’t care less about them. If they couldn’t have just, like, at our age, just one time, just — you know what I mean? It was, just forget about it… But [it was] not to be, so [I] can’t help that.
“But anyway, I went there and, yeah, I thoroughly enjoyed it, really,” he added. “I rented some equipment, and luckily I had a couple of brand new guitars over there that I’d never seen or played. So, yeah, it was easy and fun. It was an experience, to be honest.”
As for his brief chat with Rob Halford, Downing said: “Rob came over to me, and I [initially] didn’t wanna speak to him, because he left the band for 14 years and I was instrumental in reinstating him back in the band, having him back in. And then he tells me that I can’t rejoin the band. How does that work? I don’t know how that works.”
K.K. added: “It’s [PRIEST guitarist] Glenn [Tipton] and [PRIEST‘s longtime manager] Jayne [Andrews] who make all the decisions [for the band], and, I hate to say it, but Rob is just… I really think that… The only reason I spoke to Rob [at the Rock Hall] is because I think he’s being controlled. That’s the only reason. I don’t believe that Rob voted not to have me [back] in [PRIEST]. I think he was forced to. I think Rob would have voted me in. But it was their choice. And now Richie‘s off doing his own thing with [his side project] ELEGANT WEAPONS and everything. So it’s not looking great for him, really, is it?”
