In a brand new interview with “Rock Talk With Mitch Lafon”, former JUDAS PRIEST guitarist K.K. Downing talked whether he regrets leaving the band eight years ago.
He said: “I don’t know. As I said before, everybody has the perception that PRIEST is a massive band and that, but in reality, so many other bands just became much more bigger commercially, really, than PRIEST when it comes to packing people in.
“We were overtaken and I felt that we should have been every bit as successful as a lot of other bands. And it just seemed to be on a decline — that’s all. And whether it was commitment from other members in the band, a hundred percent, like I was, or not, I don’t know, but something wasn’t right about the whole organization; the whole thing wasn’t right. We just weren’t doing what we were supposed to be doing, I think, in the way of being a successful band.”
Downing also clarified his recent statement that he has to accept the fact that he will not be invited to play with JUDAS PRIEST again and that he has to “just move forward.” Asked what “moving forward” entails for him, Downing said: “Well, I think in one sense, moving forward is not thinking that you might not have to move forward. If you actually recognize that one day, that you need to stop thinking about what might happen, because it might never happen.
“So you need to move forward from that train of thought. It’s one way of moving forward. Other than that, it’s, for the first time in my life, jumping on the stage with other musicians, since 1969 — since the very, very early days — playing with another entity as opposed to JUDAS PRIEST. So that is moving forward in another way.”
During the chat, Downing also talked about the hostility he has encountered from some PRIEST fans over the comments he has made in various interviews he has given since the release of his autobiography last year, particularly as it relates to the circumstances under which he exited the band.
“You said earlier on, the fans have a misconception about various things,” K.K. said. “I read one thing where someone said on Blabbermouth, ‘Why does K.K. keep writing in and posting sh*t on Blabbermouth?’ The thing is, those guys never do interviews.
“They obviously selectively pick interviews and then create a headline. And sometimes they take what’s said and just put it out of context a little bit, and it starts to have a different meaning. As I said before, if I say that it seems like I don’t have an alternative but to move on, that’s different to saying I want to move on. Wanting to move on and not having a choice to move on, it’s completely two separate things.
“So when you create a headline to the fans, that’s what the puts the guys on a bum steer. So I would say to all the fans, please, whatever you do, take the time out, as many of you obviously don’t, to actually listen or read the original interview, to listen and make your own mind up as to how everything is said and in what context everything is said… And what I find out is actually sometimes the headline that’s printed is nowhere near as interesting as a lot of things that you might [say] in the original interview anyway; I’m sure that that is the case.
“So I definitely would like to try and recommend that everyone, please, take the time out to log in and listen to the original interview, as I would, as a fan.”
K.K. left the PRIEST in April 2011, and has since been replaced Richie Faulkner.
