In an interview with “J-Bunny’s Music Hub,” former JUDAS PRIEST singer Tim “Ripper” Owens was asked whether he thinks the members of PRIEST would be “on board” with him re-recording the songs that he originally made with the band.
Owens responded (hear audio below): “I could do it. They wouldn’t be able to stop me. But I’m not certain I would or not. The problem is I don’t ever bring up the JUDAS PRIEST stuff. People always say, ‘Man, you’re always talking about JUDAS PRIEST.’ I’m, like, ‘I don’t ever talk about that stuff.’ Someone asks me a question — just like this — they say, ‘What do you feel about the albums not being out there and them never playing the songs live?’ And the only real response is like the time was erased.”
He contined: “It would be cool to re-record the stuff, and I did say that, but I don’t know if I ever would even have time to re-record it. If I did, it would probably be live, because I play those songs when I tour solo. When I tour solo, I’ll play ‘Cathedral Spires’, ‘Bullet Train’, ‘Burn In Hell’, ‘Jugulator’, ‘One On One’, ‘Hell Is Home’, ‘Lost And Found’.
“I’ll do over two hours of just that kind of stuff — plus ‘Scream Machine’ and my stuff as well, ICED EARTH stuff, solo stuff, BEYOND FEAR stuff. I’d probably do it that way, but I don’t know if I’d actually ever have time. And I just said that to them, that I’d like to re-record it, just because I’d like to have it out there. I wouldn’t make any money from it, as I do now. It’s not like I want these records out there to make money. I don’t make a dime off [them being] out there, so it’s not like I’m asking for something to be out there to try to make money. I just want people to hear it.
“I think that’s the only bad thing. I can live without it, because it’s probably a label thing with them not being out there. I understand it. And I understand Rob even, or the band, not wanting to probably do songs live. I get that as well. I have my own career that I go and do. But it’s kind of amazing that they are gone.”
Owens recorded two studio LPs with the British heavy metal legends — 1997’s Jugulator and 2001’s Demolition — before the group reunited with Rob Halford.
