Judas Priestin Scott Travis: ”Olemme työstämässä mahdollisesti useampaakin kuin yhtä uutta levyä”
Rock And Roll Fantasy Camp -kesäleiri juhlisti 20-vuotisjuhlavuottaan elokuun 4.-7. päivä. Mukana leirillä oli brittiläinen heavy metalin legenda Judas Priest, jonka rumpali Scott Travis ja basisti Ian Hill antoivat haastattelun 16-vuotiaalle Miles ”The Shoe” Schumanille liittyen yhtyeen pitkällä urallaan kohtaamiin haasteisiin sekä tulevaisuuden suunnitelmiin. Travis kertoi seuraavaa 2014 julkaistun ”Redeemer of Souls” -albumin tulevasta seuraajasta:
”We’re definitely working on a new record, or maybe even more than one record. But we’ll see. It always takes a lot of time.”
Kysyttäessä kuinka laulaja Tim ”Ripper” Owens päätyi aikanaan yhtyeeseen, Travis vastasi:
I had seen Ripper. He was in a cover band, BRITISH STEEL, which was a PRIEST tribute band, believe it or not. And they had come through the town I was living at the time in Virginia, and I had seen him, actually. Of course, he called me up on stage and we jammed a couple of songs. And so when PRIEST was regrouping, I think, around 1995 and asked me to come over. And the idea was that I was gonna come over, and they had a list of singers that we were gonna audition together. And when I came to England to get back with the band, I said, ’Hey, I’ve got this VHS video cassette tape of this singer.’ So we put it in and checked it out. Glenn [Tipton, JUDAS PRIEST guitarist] was, like, ’That’s not him singing. That’s Rob.’ And I go, ’No, dude. It’s really him.’ Ripper was so good, or convincing on this tape that some of the bandmembers were actually unconvinced that that guy could sing like that on a straight-ass, VHS, hand-held tape, or camera, if you will. So, long story short, then obviously we flew him over, he auditioned, and you know the rest.”
Hill kommentoi seuraavasti eroja Rob Halfordin ja Tim Owensin aikaisen Judas Priestin välillä:
”It was about as successful as it could be. Rob’s a very hard act to follow, you know. Ripper has got a great voice, [and he’s] a great talent, but he wasn’t Rob. So when Rob came back, it was sort of like a homecoming. And Tim agreed with us that Rob should come back in the band. He was all for it, because he was a fan of the band as well, as we all are.”
Kysyttäessä oliko yhtye huolissaan Owensin ottamisesta riveihinsä, hän vastasi:
”Oh, yeah. It’s a huge. I mean, a singer is a focal point of the band. PRIEST have got three frontmen — the two guitarists and the vocalist — but the vocalist is the focal point of the band, and to replace him with somebody different, obviously, is a huge change. And we were worried about whether it was gonna go down well or not. Fortunately, it did, and we kept on going.”
Kysyttäessä harkitsiko yhtye ikinä Owensin pitämistä vakituisena laulajanaan uransa loppuun saakka, Hill vastasi:
”Yeah. When [Tim] was in the band, obviously, we all put a hundred percent in, and we were prepared to continue with him, and we would have been perfectly happy to do so. But when Rob made overtures and we started to feel each other out again, like I say, it just felt, obviously, he should come back. It was one of those things that was a no-brainer.”
Koko haastattelu on katsottavissa tästä:
