In a new interview with Finland’s Kaaos TV, former JUDAS PRIEST guitarist K.K. Downing spoke about the fact that he never pursued outside musical opportunities while he was a member of the band for over four decades.
“[PRIEST] was my whole life,” Downing said. “I only ever wanted to be in JUDAS PRIEST. I was the loyal [member of] PRIEST. I didn’t leave the band, like Glenn [Tipton, guitar] and Rob [Halford, vocals] did, and record with other musicians and make LPs with other musicians and have my own webshop and sell my own t-shirts; I never did that. I was fully committed to JUDAS PRIEST.
“Because if I had strong musical ideas, [I wanted them to be used in JUDAS PRIEST]. So, if Rob and Glenn felt they had strong musical ideas, they should have been given to JUDAS PRIEST. That’s what I think. If the ideas weren’t strong, then I don’t know why they would want to release albums with ideas that they felt weren’t strong. The material I’ve just produced on the new [KK’S PRIEST] record could happily have gone to JUDAS PRIEST. But Rob wanted his strong material for himself. That’s why I’m saying over all of the years in the history of JUDAS PRIEST, I was the loyal one. I didn’t give strong material to myself.”
Sermons Of The Sinner is an incredible collection of future metal classics, sure to be one of the stand-out metal releases of 2021. K.K Downing’s genre-defining guitar style helped establish JUDAS PRIEST‘s iconic sound and helped propelled them to one of the top Heavy Metal bands of all-time, earning numerous accolades including a GRAMMY® in 2010 for “Best Metal Performance,” a total of five GRAMMY® nominations and multi-platinum and gold releases.
