During a new chat with Istanbul, Turkey’s Metal Oda, Ian Hill spoke about the long-standing hate towards Judas Priest.
The bassist reflected on the title of Judas Priest’s latest album, ‘Invincible Shield,’ saying:
“We’ve had a lot of stuff thrown at us over the years. I mean, people have been trying to kill heavy metal now for about 35, 40 years, so it’s always been a bit of a struggle against the establishment, if you know what I mean. But we’ve always sort of managed to survive and come through it. And then we’ve had court cases with people trying to screw us out of a lot of money for absolutely no reason whatsoever.”
Judas Priest Members Went Through Hard Times
Then, Hill talked about the health issues of the remaining Judas Priest members:
“And then the personal struggles of the members of the band. I mean, Rob’s [Halford, vocals] had cancer scares. Richie [Faulkner, guitar] almost died on stage a few years ago. And, of course, Glenn’s [Tipton, guitar] problems with his Parkinson’s disease. And even that he can still get up on stage and play a couple of the encores. It’s almost like having an invincible shield out in front of you. Although I’ve just put a kiss of death on that probably [Laughs].”
Judas Priest’s Future Plans
The band keeps performing live after the release of their album. In March 2024, Hill shared with Spain’s Rock FM if Judas Priest had any plans to retire:
“No, we have no plan to retire yet. We’re still able to perform. The time to think about retiring is when your performances start to dip, and you’re not doing too well. You have to think about it then. We’re not stupid; we know that we’re not getting any younger and that there will be a time when we have to retire, but there’s no plans to do so just yet.”
The group kicked off the U.S. leg of their ‘Invincible Shield’ world tour on April 18 at Toyota Oakdale Theatre in Wallingford, Connecticut. They will perform in different cities of the States until their last show on May 22 in Syracuse, New York.
You can watch Ian’s full interview below.
