K.K. Downing Calls Out Judas Priest for Keeping HIm Out of the Band

K.K. Downing, who has been known not to pull punches when it comes to calling out exactly how he feels about Judas Priest, recently spilled more insight into how he feels being ousted from the band.

In an interview with Heavy Consequence, he responded, “No. It’s done,” regarding whether or not he would ever work with Priest again, and said he doesn’t understand why they kept him out of the band.

“It doesn’t make any sense at all. And then they were talking about going out as a four-piece [in early 2022]. Apparently, they even preferred to do that, rather than have me back in the band. Just bad decisions after bad decisions, but what can I say? But that’s all in the past. It’s not me just whinging and whining about it—I think people should know the difference between propaganda and the truth.”

He also said he felt hurt by the fact that they would not let him have a second chance with the band, hence wanting nothing to do with them now.

“I mean, Ian (Hill) never wrote a song ever. For him to tell me I can’t step back into the band to play my songs but he can is just ridiculous. We’ve been together since 1969… well, we went to kindergarten together. We were really like brothers. Rob left the band for 14 years [actually 11, 1992-2003], and I was kind of embracing him coming back into the band, and allowing him his one more shot at glory. But he said no to me having mine. I tried to work it out. I can’t work it out.”

While he’s clearly a bit bitter about how things turned out, that doesn’t mean Downing is resting on his laurels. Not at all–In fact, he has started his own project, KK’s Priest, with former Judas Priest vocalist Tim “Ripper” Owens. Their album The Sinner Rides Again is out now via Napalm Records.