No End in Sight for Judas Priest If Rob Halford Has Anything to Say About It
With an average age of about 65 years old, the dudes in Judas Priest have been doing their thing for a long fucking time. They just released a pretty kick ass album Invincible Shield earlier this month and they show now sign that they want to stop playing shows all over the world. Yet, with three out of the five members being in their 70s, how long could they really keep that up?
That was effectively what an interviewer with Germany’s Rock Antenne asked legendary frontman Rob Halford during a recent stop on the show. Does Judas Priest have a finite shelf life? Could we have heard the last new music from a band that’s been around since the late 60s?
The answer to the iconic septuagenarian singer? Not even close. According to Halford, even thinking about the band’s inevitable end is a net negative, as it could create some bad feelings within the band as they’re still cooking.
“No, no. It’s a good question. And no. I think once you start thinking about the end, you start to kind of deflate and decompress and the light starts to get a bit dim. I think all of us in this band, we’re just so grateful to be where we are with this 19th studio album, Invincible Shield.
“I think if you say, ‘One more tour and then we’re gonna call it quits,’ or, ‘One more album. Then we’ll call it quits.’ … Hey, listen, life is life. We all have the emotions, ‘Oh, god. I’ve gotta work today. I just wanna stay in bed and watch the TV.’ It’s perfectly normal. But you have to balance that up against all these great things that Judas Priest has been blessed to achieve.”
Looking back on his career and the band’s longevity, Halford made it sound like he still doesn’t feel like the band’s given back enough to the heavy metal community. In his mind, he apparently thinks the band has to reciprocate all of the support they’ve received over the years.
“And this thing about responsibility as well — I’ve gotta tell you, you owe your fans everything. So we’ve gotta come back to Germany, gotta come back to Austria, Italy, France, Spain, Japan, New Zealand, Australia. All of our beautiful fans are waiting and waiting and waiting to see this band again and celebrate this music that we make with Judas Priest.”
You can check out the full interview below.
