Judas Priest Ram It Home!

Without a doubt, Judas Priest have been a prime example of the earsplitting virtues of heavy metal for most of their 15 years together. So when the band released the slightlyless-than-hammerin’ Turbo album a couple of years ago, fans ’round the globe were left pondering the unthinkable question—had the Priest finally lost their bite?

The answer, as evidenced on Priest’s new Ram It Down LP, is a resounding “no.” Ya can’t blame an old dog for trying a few new tricks every once in awhile, and both guitarist Glenn Tipton and lead screech Rob

Halford saw Turbo as a chance to experiment. But if anybody had any doubts about the band becoming a watered-down parody of its former greatness, Ram It Down should convince them otherwise. Everything from the unlikely cover of Chuck Berry’s “Johnny B. Goode” (from the film of the same name) to the powerhouse title track points to one inescapable conclusion: Judas Priest is back.

In between gigs at London’s Hammersmith Odeon and on the eve of an extensive U.S. tour, Halford and Downing found some time to talk to METAL about the album and tour.

The response to Turbo was kind of

lukewarm, at least in the States. Did you guys go into the studio for Ram It Down intending to make a heavier album?

Glenn: “We wanted to make a statement with this album. With Turbofpeopie wondered whether we changed direction. So we subconsciously&new that we were going to go into the studio this time and get the record straight that Judas Priest hadn't changed direction, and Ram It Down is an indication of the way we mean to go, and even heavier than is possible. We thought, ‘This is what we're best at, this is what we’re gonna do.' and just went in there and did it.” Does it surprise you that the climate for metal is so good these days?

Glenn: “I have to say that we’ve always had faith in it and always fjown the flag for it. Ultimately, deepbown we knew that it was something,that people would never be turned off to, you know, and we hung in there. We’ve been through our bad times and the good times. We’ve been through the new wave era, we’ve been there.for all different sorts of moods throughout our career. Heavy metal fans ate the most faithful fans in the worlfi and they’ll stick around for you.” 1 Has it become more of a challenge for you to keep things fresh^ and interesting?

Glenn: “No, I would say if anything it’s become less of a challengegWe’re obviously under a lot less pressure, but we’ve got so much enthusiasm I don’t know where it comes from, you know? And we really, really eljoyed doing this album. I enjoyed doing this album more than any other album, I think, and it shows.”

What does Ram It Down mean?

Glenn: “Ram it down, ram i^ownl Straight through the heart of thMtown.

If you listen to the lyrics of thaj&ong, it’s thousands of cars and a million guitars, and it’s all about a rock concert, you know? The cars are in-the car park, the guitars are the air guitarists inside. We’ve always maintained that a Judas Priest concert, it’s hot the band and the audience, it’s the Whole | thing, you know? We involvedihe aua dience, they involve us, and til's just i one big heavy metal party.” Speaking of parties, you guys did a surprise gig in Birmingham a while back. Any change of a similar surprise in the States?

Rob: “You never know! (Laughs) Look out for those pseudonyms,olike the Praying Monks or the Bad Habits or something, anything to do with priests. I really don’t know if we would ever do that in America. I would never say never, ’cause it's always a possibility, especially after this experience that we had in Birmingham. But all this ties into the feeling that we’ve been generating, particularly on the European tour, which is essentially really going back to what we feel Priest is about in metal.

So in light of that, we’ve kind of done an about-face with what we plan to bring over to America as far as the stage show is concerned. We had plans to bring yet another one of these mammoth Priest mega-shows to the U.S., but we really do want to try and bring everything in that light under control. We felt particularly after the Turbo tour, with the monster and everything else, that it was getting a little bit away from the real, true source of what we feel Priest is about, and thatis still very much the music, what we deliver onstage.

“And as you’re probably aware, we’re a very physical band as well, so it was kind of going through my mind on the Turbo tour, you know? You’d have this monster going up and you’d have 20,000 American maniacs going crazy for this piece of inanimate metal, you know, and I’m thinking, ‘Just a minute —we’ve kind of got the perspective wrong here. Surely, this should be for the band and the music, not for some piece of pneumatic machinery.’ I know a lot of that comes down to what we have created and what other metal bands have created ourselves. But I really feel that a lot of that has gone a little bit out of control now.

“We’re pulling in the reins and coming to the U.S. with a very, very simple show. However, we do have a very elaborate, complex light show which we think is more important, so when we come over there in July, we’re essentially bringing just ourselves, the music, some lights, and really getting back to the nitty-gritty, as it were.” I’m not suggesting you guys are overthe-hill or anything, but has your age become a factor in touring at all? Rob: “I've always believed that heavy metal has its roots in really early American blues, and then contemporary rock ’n’ roll, through people like Elvis, Chuck Berry, Little Richard — that’s where it all started from, you know? And of course it went from that era into electric rock with Hendrix and Cream and so on, Iron Butterfly, the Yardbirds, all of these different bands, and finally metal emerge out of all this. So to an extent it's a bit of a tribute to Chuck Berry, and we were delighted to be invited by Orion Films to provide the Priest version of that song.” There’s another song on the album called “Monsters Of Rock” ...

Glenn: “Not really, not age. Commitments have become a problem, because I've got two children, I’m married, and obviously I don't want to keep being away from them for such a long period of time, but it’s something in my blood. I can’t give it up. I love it so much that I've gotta get out there and do it!”

Youd did a cover of “Johnny B. Goode” for a movie of the same name. Are you guys big Chuck Berry fans?

Glenn: “I’m not particularly a Chuck Berry fan, but I used to play that track in blues bands years and years ago. We were approached to do ‘Johnny B. Goode’ by the film company, and they wanted a Priest version of it, and we said ‘Well, we’ll attempt it. If we like it, we'll send it to you, and if we don’t like it, you’ll never hear it.’ We worked on the arrangement and it just fell into place, and we liked it so much we decided to put it on the album as well. After all, he was one of the guys who started it all, and it just seemed appropriate—this whole album, Ram It Down, is about heavy metal, and we just thought there was a place on there for a track about a guitar player around the time it all started, you know?”

Glenn: “Funnily enough, we wrote ‘Monsters Of Rock’ about two years ago. It was going to go on the Turbo album, but there wasn’t enough room. We changed it from what it was, and it’s updated, but it was called ‘Monsters Of Rock’ then.”

Where did you record this album?

Glenn: “We recorded it in Denmark, at*a studio called Puk's studio, believe it or not. Doesn’t sound like a very heavy metal studio, but it was great. And it’s right in the middle of nowhere, which is one reason why we chose it, because we wanted .. . we’ve been known to drink heavily, and on this occasion we decided we wanted to just get the work done. We wanted to really make this a great album, and get stuck here and not wander off getting out of it, drunk and all that. I don’t want to create the wrong impression, but we’ve been known to put a few beers away. So there were very few distractions. It was a great studio, well-equipped, it was available and it was not far from England, so we could get back to work.”

You actually drink and stuff?

Rob: “Well, that side of it is something that you learn to control in whatever way you want to. I personally stopped drinking about two-and-ahalf years ago. The simple fact is that

! after so many years, we still go crazy when we want to. Some of us do it yfth booze, some of us do it in other ways, you know? But I personally took abstinence from booze two-and-a-half years ago, and I’m living very Successfully without it. It was a real decision for me, and I’m glad I’ve made it. I’m enjoying myself now, in my music and everything about Priest, more than ever before. We’re still those crazy metal maniacs as we always h|ve been, but I just realized you don’t have to be smashed out of your brains, to have a good time, you know? I’m Irav ing a better time now, and rememlering it all!” W

Glenn: “Well continue for a long time yet. I wouldn’t say that, other t|an I just feel—you know, we’re already looking forward to doing the next album! We’ve just got a lot of love for metal, a lot of enthusiasm, a lot of fove for Judas Priest, and we just want to be out there playing heavy metal. I mean, I can’t ever say when it’ll finish.

I can’t see it in the near future. AH I know is that Priest will finish on a nich. not a low. Well know when to call it a day, and it'll be well before we stop delivering."