K.K. DOWNING Says He Was Insulted With JUDAS PRIEST’s Four-Piece Lineup Announcement

K.K. Downing

Former JUDAS PRIEST guitarist K.K. Downing has shared his thoughts on band’s recent announced that they will tour as a four-piece, which was quickly reversed.

Band wrote in original statement: “Hello maniacs! We are chomping at the British Steel bit to return to world touring… celebrating 50 years of JUDAS PRIEST as an an even more powerful, relentless four piece heavy metal band — with Glenn coming out on stage with us here and there as before. Big thanks to Andy for all you’ve done and continuing to be in the production team for our new album… See you all soon headbangers!”

Later on, Sneap issued the statement to Blabbermouth, writing: “Rob called me last Monday and said they wanted to move on as a four-piece, which I find incredibly disappointing after this amount of time but I respect his decision as they obviously have a vision how they want this to play out.This always was a temporary situation, and like I’ve said before, I’ll always help the band any way I can, and that applies going forward also,” he continued.

“I’ve been a huge fan of the band since the early ’80s and it was mind-blowing to play onstage with the guys and quite frankly terrifying in the beginning at such short notice. We are moving forward with the new album next month and look forward to making a killer follow-up to Firepower.

Five days later, PRIEST announced that Sneap will, in fact, perform with the band, writing: “Hello metal maniacs…given all that has recently evolved and transpired we have decided unanimously as a band to continue our live shows unchanged with RobIan [Hill, bass], Richie [Faulkner, guitar], Scott [Travis, drums], Andy and Glenn [Tipton, guitar] joining us whenever he’s able…so see you all soon as we forge ahead celebrating 50 massive heavy metal years of JUDAS PRIEST together!”

In a brand new interview with the “Rock Of Nations With Dave Kinchen” classic rock show, Downing now said: “I’m like everybody else. I’m totally bemused. It was just so extreme and insulting in a way, I guess, and insulting to Glenn as well. It was kind of a slap in the face, saying, ‘Okay, you two guys did it, but we think just one guy could do what…’ It kind of made us and everything that we’ve done and created, saying it was all superfluous, really, and didn’t really have the value that… I’m sure Glenn will agree with me that it does have a value.”

He went on to say that it is “very, very strange” for PRIEST “to even think about” the possibility of going out as a quartet. “There must be, obviously, something behind the scenes that we don’t know.”

“It’s kind of awkward for me, guys, because with myself and Glenn, that’s JUDAS PRIEST to me,” K.K. added. “I think I’ve got a license to say that, after spending a lifetime in the band. And the image and everything and all the shows and all the work and all the albums and everything, everything revolves around that. I mean, if you don’t see Glenn‘s red pants on stage, it’s not JUDAS PRIEST, right?

“Okay, I created an image with the flying V [guitar], long blond hair, leather and studs — I created that.

“It’s easy to use the wheel, but inventing it is a different story.”