Judas Priest has been on the scene for over 50 years. It would probably be a challenge for any band to rock the stage for that long and not lose their enthusiasm and creativity. But Priest has managed to keep both, and according to Rob Halford’s s latest interview with the Best Show With Tom Scharpling, it’s because of their unending passion for music.
“Each time we go out on stage, as we will for the next Priest record that’s just about done, it’s to show off the things that we’ve created,” the frontman said, hinting at the upcoming record of the band. “And that, for us as a band, is important to us for the reason of, yes, we can still go into a studio at the start of a day and have nothing, but at the end of the day we have a great song that we hope we’ll eventually record and it’s gonna live forever.”
He continued, “That’s the great testimony to bands that still feel the need and the urge and the hunger. There’s always an unending innate inquisitiveness of the adventure: ‘What if we did this?’ ‘What if we did that?’ It’s all about the need to express yourself in a new song or in a new album.”
Rob said it was worth a try, though he would never achieve complete satisfaction. He admitted, “I learned a long time ago that nirvana is unreachable, but it’s a great place to keep aiming for. Why does LeBron James keep going out to play? Well, because he’s got a new move to show; he feels like he wants to show you how he’s getting from this end of the court to that end of the court with these moves that he’s coming up with.”
According to the frontman, it was this passion for creation that held them together, as he said, “It’s all about finding a new form of expression within something that we love and get great pleasure out of — a band, a sports person, whatever it might be; this thing that enamors us and puts us together is really important.”
This passion and excitement of Judas Priest, which has lasted 50 years, has been crowned with a rather belated award. At the beginning of last November, they were inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame and stole the show with both their memorable performance and Rob Halford’s moving speech.
The band released its most recent album, ‘Firepower,’ in 2018, marking the band’s victorious comeback. Since then, both the band members and fans have been eagerly waiting for their upcoming metal masterpiece. We know they’re working on new material, but Halford previously said they’d release it as early as 2023, maybe even 2024. Nowadays, they continue their tour, celebrating their victorious 50 years.
