The ongoing saga between Judas Priest and their former guitarist K.K. Downing has escalated in recent months as Downing promotes the debut release of his new project, K.K.’s Priest. In a new interview with the Goldmine podcast, Downing clarified the circumstances that led to his departure from the band in 2010 saying that the initial announcement that he was retiring “was a myth. That’s complete misinformation. And this is why I’m so unhappy with the rest of the guys in Judas Priest, because they told you and all the fans something that’s complete misinformation. But they only told you that because they don’t wanna get into the details.”
Downing went on to say that he didn’t want to participate in the band’s “farewell tour”, and didn’t think the rest of Judas Priest would continue for “another 10 years. This is why I’m disgruntled about the whole thing — because it made me look like a deserter; it made me look like I jumped ship and deserted the fans,” Downing said. “’Oh, Ken, he’s retiring to look after his golf course.’ Well, thanks a lot.” Downing also said that he had a change of heart and was going to do the tour, but only under certain conditions. “[What I told the band and the management was], ‘I will do this tour, this farewell tour, but things have gotta change. People can’t get pissed on stage. People have got to give a hundred and one percent if we’re gonna do this.”
Downing still laments not being asked to return to the band when it was announced that Glenn Tipton was battling Parkinson’s disease. “If I had retired, why shouldn’t I be allowed to step back out of retirement?” Downing asked. “Bands always come out of retirement. Guys always leave bands and rejoin … I feel as though I was ousted out of the band.”
Current Judas Priest guitarist Richie Faulkner, who replaced Downing in 2011, spoke on the situation with Ryan Roxie. “That whole situation with him and the band over the last 10 years, to me, has been totally unnecessary; it’s been a bit of a sh*t show,” Richie said. “And I don’t know why that is. To me, music aside, they should maybe pick up the phone and just talk to each other as buddies and go and have a beer and just be pals. You know, f*ck music for a minute; let’s just be pals. And then whatever happens, happens. They were pals for 40 years. They lived pretty much together for 40 years — four decades.”
He continued: “I wish it was different. All that weirdness of the last 10 years didn’t need to happen. If they’d parted on good terms, maybe things would be different now. But, unfortunately, that didn’t happen.” Judas Priest is continuing their “50 Heavy Metal Years” tour in March. K.K.’s Priest, which also features former Judas Priest singer Tim “Ripper” Owens, plans to tour sometime later this year.
