Rob Halford (Judas Priest)
December 2007
When and where were you born?
I was born on the 25th of August 1951 in a little town called Sutton. I was born in my aunt’s house because my mom was living with her sister at that time.
How do you remember your childhood? Were you a good kid or a bad kid?
I remember it was a very good time in my life. I come from a family that has good values and teaches you right from wrong. I don’t think I was much of a rebel. That happened later on. I just have very fond memories of growing up in the UK. I was born in 1951 and World War II only ended in 1942 so the country was still in a dramatic stage and the country was rebuilding. There was a sense of optimism for the future, there was a lot of hard work to be done. I was raised on one of these public housing estates. We were not a poor family but we didn’t have a lot of money. I mean we just were able to kind of survive from week to week on my dad’s wages. But I got good schooling and good education and I grew up in a really cool environment when I look back and think about it. We still had a lot of good times.
Did you parents support you when you discovered music?
Indirectly. In a lot of families sometimes the father will put some pressure on the son to go into maybe his line of work. My dad used to work in the steel factories but he never talked to me that way. I just remember him saying to me that life is a great opportunity to do many things and to fulfil your dreams and ambitions so he supported me. And the same thing with my mum I guess. But I think I was determined of what I wanted to do and they supported all the way. But that a thing with me, once I make my mind up about something it’s very difficult to get me to change it. So when I wanted to become a musician they kind of endorsed me and got me the support.
Did they go to any of your shows?
Yeah, they still do. Both my mum and dad are 80 years old and they’ll probably come to the next Priest show. (Laughs) It’s fantastic.
What was your dream as a child?
Well, I remember as a kid watching the television shows on a little black and white television and I remember watching the American movies, the cowboys and the westerns and that kind of thing. I think it was a combination of two things. I always wanted to go to America and I always wanted to try and be involved in some way in the entertainment business. I can remember that vividly but when I actually discovered that I had a voice, when I started to sing in the school choirs I always had hopes and dreams that I could use my voice and make a living with it. (Laughs) It went through my teenage years. I liked the teenage years, that’s when I obviously find how important music was to me and how necessary I needed it in my life. That’s when I made up my mind to become a professional musician.
Do you remember the first time you took an instrument into your hand?
No, I don’t think I can. As you know I try and play guitar very very badly. I played well enough to be able to put down riffs and ideas when I’m composing music but no, I don’t remember.
What was the first rock song you ever learned to sing?
I can remember doing songs by the Rolling Stones, by Cream, by Hendrix. I can’t remember exactly the titles of the songs but that would have been when I was about 18-19 years old.
What were your first influences as far as bands and singers?
I think when I became old enough to understand how when you listen to music you can be inspired. I was and still am a big fan of The Beatles’ music for example. As far as singers I was listening to people like Robert Plant, Ian Gillan, Roger Daltrey. That’s when I started to really concentrate and understand how the voice has got many different possibilities and potentials. But overall I’ve just absorbed everything from all different styles of music.
Do you remember the first vinyl you ever bought or received?
Yeah, I was a little kid and my aunt gave me a gift of a very old electric record player and some 45 singles. And in those 45 singles were Elvis Presley songs and songs by Little Richard and songs by Bill Haley and the Comets. It was all American rock ’n roll. And I can just remember playing those and just listening to the energy and the excitement in the sound.
And what was the last CD you bought?
That’s a good question. I get a lot of free stuff. (Laughs) But I do buy a lot of stuff off Apple iTunes. I think the last thing I got was Dimmu Borgir’s CD. I love death metal and black metal. I’ve always been a fan of that kind of music.
What would be your three all time favourite albums?
The first Led Zeppelin album, the first Black Sabbath album and Machine Head by Deep Purple.
And what is your favourite album that you sung on?
Ah, okay. Hm... that is kind of a tough question to answer because I do so many different vocal styles on so many things that I’ve recorded. But I was listening to Painkiller again the other day. I haven’t listened to that for a long long time. I think I’ve really enjoyed that because it just shows the versatility of the voice. I mean you got the theatricals of Night Crawler and you got the intense scream in Painkiller and the attitude in songs like All Guns Blazing and Hell Patrol. As we’re speaking today Zoltán that’s my favourite one. (Laughs) It might change tomorrow.
And what would be the least favourite one?
I reflect on the very first record that I did as a professional musician with Priest, Rocka Rolla. I listen to that and I can sense that there’s a very kind of young attitude in approach and I think I was trying to do as best as I could at that time but I’m still contend with it. But when any band makes its first record there are a lot of things you try to do and you’re limited by the budget and limited by the time in the studio and everything is a crazy mad fucking rush. I don’t dislike anything that I’ve ever done, not so much that wanting to throw it out the window. (Laughs) But yeah, again that’s natural. I think as a musician you should progressively get better, the more you lean the better you should become at doing your job.
What Priest songs do you like to perform the most?
Victim of Changes from Sad Wings of Destiny just because that’s become a cult metal classic. I love that song. That would always be pretty much top of my list. And on the other end I love Living After Midnight having a great time with that sound. I mean there’s still many songs that Priest has not yet played live. I’d love to do Loch Ness live from Angel of Retribution. I think that’d be amazing. But it’s difficult when you’re making the setlist and you’re into double digits in CDs you got like 300 songs to choose from. It’s just a real task to try and cover everything that you want for yourself and for the fans.
What was your best live experience as a music fan?
Well, my best memory is when I went to the Isle of Wright Festival to see Jimi Hendrix play. I went to a number of festivals in the UK but the Isle of Wright was very important to me. And strangely enough KK was there at that festival. We never saw each other because of thousands and thousands of people there. But that was before I even met KK, before I even knew anything about Judas Priest.
I bet you had so many great shows with Priest and Halford. But how about the worse show of your life?
The one that sticks in my mind was a show Priest did on the Painkiller tour where I smashed my head when I got knocked off a motorcycle. That was just for me personally obviously a nightmare because it knocked me out and Hell Bent for Leather was played as an instrumental song that night. It was difficult for me to do the whole of the show because I was so badly injured but I got through it.
What was the strangest thing that ever happened to you on tour?
That’d be the first time I ever did a show without needing a drink. I stopped drinking and drugs in 1986 and the first show I ever did without that was in Albuquerque, New Mexico at the start of the Turbo tour. I can just remember that it was a very powerful moment for me as a performer to find out that I can do these things with kind of chemicals inside of me to give me Dutch courage or whatever. And I remember just feeling very elevated and very spiritually moved by that whole night. That was just a very important thing for me to do and to remember it. Ever since then every show I’ve done has been without booze or drugs.
Obviously Priest plays in front of large audiences but it wasn’t always like that. What do you prefer: playing in front of a more intimate smaller crowd or in large arenas?
I like both dimensions. I think with a band like Priest the bigger the stage the bigger the event the more you get the larger than life qualities of Priest being displayed. Priest has always been a band that shows itself with the most power when you put us on a big stage with a lot of lights and stage set and costumes and things like that. But when I was doing my first solo activities of the Fight band I was playing really small tiny clubs but I still got a lot of pleasure out of that dimension just because it was a different feeling altogether. The music was different and the playing was different. So I’ve experienced all worlds really when it comes to that. I can feel comfortably in both quite honestly. If you were to push me I would say that there’s nothing better for me than to be on a big stage. That’s where I feel the most connected, as far as trying to do all the things that I love to do, all of my stage movements and my costume changes and everything else.
What is the first thing you do after getting offstage?
(Laughs) Go for a piss. (Laughs) No, you just get undressed. It’s a very slow process because I have to take all that stuff off and it takes two people to undress me. Then you just have a shower and get some food and just relax and get ready to get back on the bus to the hotel.
What would be the best and worst thing about being a musician?
The best thing for me is to still be here 36 years later. I don’t think there’s a worst thing. I think the challenge of trying to still come up with great music is the kind of driving element of it, call it pressure call it what you will. I think that time can be very difficult because it’s full of frustration and full of emotion because you’re trying to do something fresh and new and maintain a lifeline in the things you’ve done previously. I don’t think there’s a worst thing. The worst thing for me touring as I never seem to fucking get enough of sleep. For singers you’re just gotta get physical mental rest otherwise your voice gets destroyed. But the good thing is that I’m still here. (Laughs) And the other two things are the elements of trying to come up with great music again again and again, and getting enough sleep on the road.
If you were to make a Dream Team of musicians who would you pick?
Oh god, that’s almost impossible! Where to start... I just throw out something off the top of my head and you can just take this for what it is. Tom Morello on guitar, Bill Ward on drums and Flea on bass and me singing. It’s like crazy. (Laughs) It would be a great band wouldn’t it? So bizarre.
Do you have time for hobbies besides doing music?
I love movies. I love to get lost in a great movie. And I love all kinds of movies. I love the crazy stuff like Transformers and Superman and Spiderman. I also like more off the wall stuff like the latest Coen Brothers film “No Country For Old Men.” I just got the new “Pirates of the Caribbean”. It’s just come out on DVD in the US yesterday. That’s probably it. I’m an Internet junkie as well. I just find a lot of pleasure in just surfing the Internet and see what I can find, if you can get through the porn. (Laughs) These type of things give me pleasure. I don’t go on vacation. I’ve never had a holiday, I can’t remember the last time I had a holiday because the last thing I wanna do is to get on another plane and go to another fucking hotel. (Laughs) I’m quite happy to be at home in the UK or Phoenix or San Diego or Amsterdam.
What would be your day job if you weren’t a musician?
I think it would have to be connected to the entertainment either working in a studio or with a video company or a movie company. I can’t see myself doing nothing that’s not directly connected to music like working in a record shop. It would have to be connected to music or entertainment of some kind.
You’ve been in the music business for quite a long time now. How do you feel about interviews?
I love them to death. I love everyone that I do. I mean I’ve done probably a hundred interviews for the Fight movie and K5 demos. I do about five interviews a day from Monday to Friday. I just love to talk about metal and I love the way that we are able to connect to our fans through magazines and through the blogs on the Internet or whatever. It’s just a nice way to stay connected together in the metal world.
What’s the meaning of life for you?
I think it’s an important question and I think I’m able to answer that now because I’ve been alive for 56 years. I think the meaning of life is just to try and get as much out of it as you possibly can. And that’s not being selfish. I think life is a gift and you should value it. It comes from god and you shouldn’t waste it. And I think that you shouldn’t have any regrets in life, you should do and try and live out all of your dreams and make them happen and if they don’t come true, well, at least you tried. There’s nothing worse than sitting back and thinking about something that you wanna do and not putting an effort into it because nothing comes easy in life. You’ve gotta work hard to get the rewards that you seek. I don’t mean financial rewards, I mean just the rewards of achievement. So I think it’s a pretty straightforward simple philosophy but it does take a lot of efforts and so it should be.