ROB HALFORD

Interview by Hal Miller
Summer, 2000

You know the man. You know that shriek. As leather-clad front man for heavy metal titans Judas Priest, Rob Halford rocked the planet throughout the '70s and '80s with his unmistakable banshee wail.

As one of the most respected and recognizable voices in metal, Halford helped keep Priest atop the rock food chain until Nirvana cleared the path for grunge in the '90s. Not one to watch by the sidelines, however, Halford tried on a few other outfits for size after leaving Priest: thrashers Fight and the short-lived Trent Reznor collaboration Two. Neither band lasted very long or made much of an impact, but served to remind us where Halford truly belongs.

After having spoken with Halford upon the release of Two's Voyeurs back in March of '98, I saw this as a great opportunity to follow up and see where he is today personally and how he views his career. Picking up from where he left off with Priest back in 1990, Resurrection has Halford screaming for vengeance once again as he reclaims his title: The King of Heavy Metal.

Hal: So, I got the new disc in the mail on Monday, and the second I saw the album cover, with bad-ass Rob Halford on the Harley, I just knew it was gonna be good. The songs are passionate and intense in only the way that you could do it.

Rob: Thanks, Hal.

Hal: So anyway, Rob, it's great to talk to you again. When we spoke two years ago, we talked about a lot of different things. You had recently come out to the public, Two was about to be released and your old band Judas Priest were trying to continue with a Halford wanna-be. You were obviously going through some serious soul searching at that point; it was like you were seeking your true identity. Now, with Resurrection, it seems that you've rediscovered yourself. You sound totally confident and your voice is as powerful as it was with Priest if not more so; it's like you've come full circle. What have you learned from your experiences through the '90s?

Rob: Well, I have this little book of daily meditations. Every day I read this book and there's always something in there that really makes me blink and think. Something that I read there the other day was to the effect of, "some of the best things that you do are things that you are repetitive with." And, it's all about getting to a level of excellence and you achieve that by just doing the same thing over and over again. You might think that that routine might bring some area of mundaneness or boredom, but the fact is, this is me. This Resurrection CD is all I'm about as a musician, as a performer, as a writer, as a singer.

And, I think that those couple of things that you just said about the passion and the intensity and the sincere quality coming through, is exactly what that little reference was about that I read the other day. And I think it's the just the simple fact that I'm back in the place now where I do my best work. And, for all of these journeys that I've been going through these last few years with Fight and more recently with Two, the simple fact remains that I'm at my best, I'm at my peak when I'm in the place where I've spent the most time and honed my craft at. So, it all makes a lot of sense for me. And, I just feel for the first time in a long time, to be very much at peace with where I'm at in my music and in my personal life. So, since you and I last spoke, I've been through another couple of years of life and I feel great.

Hal: That's good to hear. You described the recording of Two's Voyeurs as a 'learning experience,' so how do you look back on Fight and Two, now that you're about to release Resurrection?

Rob: I don't dwell on the past, I never have. But I use the past as a reference and it's an important reference for me because it's all-valuable in terms of the journey that you're on, everything connects. So, I think that those moments with Fight and that one moment with Two were important ones in so much I was able to qualify the things that I was searching for after leaving Priest, and to get those things out of my system. You don't know where you're gonna go next until you go through the moment that you're going through. It's all relevant, so I look back at that with good feelings. I don't have any negativity attached to it. It's all there to be thought about and reflected on for all good reasons.

Hal: Do you still have any kind of relationship with Trent Reznor now that Two is history?

Rob: No, that was just that one moment. I would like to feel that we're still friends, and when we see each other again, we'll be able to say 'Hi, what' up, what's going on,' you know. I enjoyed the experience.

Hal: So the title Resurrection implies that it's a direct result of your taking other paths, as we were discussing a moment ago. Almost like this is sort of a comeback ... I don't know if "comeback" is the right word, but I think you know what I mean.

Rob: No, it's true, I think it's safe to use that word. I don't mind that at all. The rock and roll life is encapsulated by little nametags and expressions. And I'm perfectly happy to have this thing used as a comeback, because this is my first metal album since [Priest's 1990 release] Painkiller anyway, and it's a true metal album, so I think it's fair to say that between then and now, I've been off doing other things and I'm back. I've come back. (laughing out loud) So it's a comeback! Ha-ha!

Hal: . . . and we're glad to have you back!

Rob: Thank you.

Hal: The music on Resurrection has connections to Judas Priest, but the lyrics are personal and autobiographical. From the lyrics on the title track, it sounds like you've made quite the personal journey.

Rob: Yes. I just wanted to let people know what's been going on in my life over the past few years. I've never done that before, y'know, it's kind of a new experience. I like the challenge of trying to put those intimate, personal moments into songs, which is quite unusual for heavy metal. But it was one experience, again, I think, that has brought a fresh approach to this record, apart from it being recorded so well by [producer] Roy Z. I think Roy's made a very modern-sounding metal album with great, classic moments that hearken back to some of my times with Priest. This would be the natural continuation from where Painkiller left off. It was about surrounding the voice with the right kind of music. And, this music is totally reflective of where the voice needs to sing from.

Hal: The song "The One You Love To Hate" features Bruce Dickenson of Iron Maiden fame, of course - how was it sharing the mic with Bruce and will you perform the song with him live?

Rob: Yes, in fact I'm gonna be rehearsing with him when he gets to Toronto. I don't know if we're gonna do it every single night, or whether he's just gonna run out on stage and go, 'let's do it.' It's up to him. But, I'm looking forward to that moment, because that will be super-exciting to see us both working on the same song at the same moment, live, in front of people. We did it in the studio so the next logical step would be to actually go out and do it live somewhere.

Hal: How did you go about the songwriting process for Resurrection?

Rob: I just sat down with Mike [Chlasciak] and Pat [Lachman], the two guitar players, along with Roy Z. We just wanted to stay focused on making the best metal record that we could make. It was just about accumulating all the riffs and the melodies and stock piling it, and doing it day, in day out, for a few weeks until Roy Z. put the stop to it and said, 'we've got way too much material, we've got everything we need here. Now let's get into the honing process and make the best songs out of what we've stockpiled.'

Hal: How many songs did you come up with?

Rob: About twenty-five.

Hal: How did you find the band members for Halford?

Rob: Like I always do, I just put the word out. People send me a ton of stuff in the mail. I just wade through CDs, videotapes, make a lot of phone calls, and wait for the right thing to click in my head. That happened with [guitarists] Mike and Pat. Ray [Riendeau] was already with me because he played bass on Two. [Drummer] Bobby [Jarzombek] came literally days before we went into the studio to put drum tracks down. I knew I just wanted the archetypal, you know, killer metal drummer. I was struggling to find somebody and suddenly the prayers were answered and Bobby showed up.

Hal: Last time we spoke, you said 'everybody has a favorite Priest song.' I'm bringing this up because I'm really looking forward to the Madison Square Garden show here in NYC in a few days, which sold out in something like an hour. So I'm wondering if any Priest songs will find their way onto your set list.

Rob: Yeah, we're gonna play some Priest stuff. We learned about a dozen Priest songs, all different types. Some of the stuff we learned was stuff that was never played live, or was played live years and years and years ago. I don't want to go out there and do "Living After Midnight," you know, we don't really have the time. I'm just gonna throw some curve balls at people, something that will make it exciting.

Hal: So, the tour starts off in Toronto...

Rob: Yes, it does, August the first, at the Air Canada [Centre]...

Hal: And when did you last perform in Toronto?

Rob: (lets out an insidious laugh) Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! ... sorry! You know why I'm laughing? This is where I left Priest [on the 1990 Painkiller tour]. We're playing at the Air Canada Centre. Yeah, talk about ironic! (laughing out loud) I love this! I love what life does to me! It's where I finished with Priest and where I'm starting with Halford. Isn't that great?

Hal: That's perfect.

Rob: It's wonderful.

Hal: So, what can we expect from these upcoming shows?

Rob: Well, it's just full-on, rip-roaring metal. We don't have much time to play because we're an opening act. For at least the bulk of the tour, we're opening for Queensryche and Iron Maiden. So we've got forty to forty-five minutes but we're just gonna rip it up, y'know? We're gonna look good. We're just gonna stand there with our backline and just tear the place apart.

Hal: Sounds awesome, I can't wait. And speaking of performing live, I was wondering if you've ever seen [the short film] Heavy Metal Parking Lot? [The infamous 1986 documentary where the film makers interview teen burnouts in the parking lot before a Judas Priest concert at Maryland's Capital Center.]

Rob: Yes, I've seen it and it's often brought up in interviews. It's great, it's a little moment that is typical in metal shows around the world. It's just wonderful. It's a timepiece but it's never gonna change because, that fanaticism and that determination and dedication is there from when metal began. The fans of metal are fierce. They love it, they're just like pit bulls, they latch on and they won't let go. They love it to death.

Zebra-boy: Heavy metal roolz, all that punk shit sucks!

Hal: I especially love the part where that girl says, (in Maryland accent) "I'd jump [Rob Halford's] bowwwnes!"

Rob: (laughing out loud) Well, move over, honey, because you haven't got the right parts. You know, I still do that kind of thing if the moment's right.

Hal: Ha-ha! Right on. I definitely appreciate the film because I'm from Maryland and I saw shows at the Capital Center back in the day. The film is definitely amusing and inspiring in many different ways.

Rob: Yes, it is very much so.

Hal: Tell us about this song "Cyberworld" on your new album.

Rob: Well, you know, I did "Electric Eye" on [Judas Priest's 1982 album] Screaming For Vengeance. I was doing a lot of research and thought, "how would I approach that song now?" I'm an internet junkie, like a lot of people. I just see some of the ominous aspects of what the internet is about, which is that there is no anonymity on there. You get followed everywhere you go by the little cookie footprints. People can look at what you're looking at. They can just hack into your system. So, there's a kind of evil side to the internet. And I think that's what I'm trying to portray in "Cyberworld."

It's like, what are some of the words? "A Trojan Horse inside your brain." By the way, I have a Trojan Horse virus in my laptop that's driving me fucking crazy. So, that's where that came from. I was in the studio, puttin' the lyrics down on my laptop and this Trojan thing came via email and I had to screw around on the computer for hours. So, that's basically what "Cyberworld" is all about.

Hal: "The One You Love To Hate" is one of my favorite songs on the album.

Rob: Yeah, I mean, the words for that were very spontaneous. Me and Bruce just sat with pen and paper and the words just flew out. I think it's kind of cool because basically it says a lot about me and Bruce, what we are and what we've been through, what we've done to our respective situations. We were, at some point, the ones you love to hate. (laughing)

Hal: People hated you?

Rob: Oh, yeah, I'm sure they did! But I don't think they hate Bruce anymore because he's back with 'Maiden. But I think there's still an element of, I wouldn't say "hate," that's an abused word, but I think a lot of people still are pissed off that I'm not back with Priest.

Hal: So, tickets for these upcoming shows are going fast. When you stare out from the stage at the thousands of faces each night, do you think you'll see mostly old, familiar ones, from the Priest days? Or, do you think this new album will bridge the generation gap a bit?

Rob: Well, we've been doing some secret warm up dates for the last couple of weeks, moving across the country from California, and it's been just great; even on these little shows, we've had such a cross-section of people showing up. And, of course, the big shows with 'Maiden and Queensryche will be the same. I think there will be a good portion of people who've been with all of the respective bands through the many years that we've been making music. And then there'll be the new generation of people that are into this music because there's no other type of it around. There are no more 'Maidens, there's no more Queensryches, there's no more... well, I would assume there's no more Halfords because there's only one of me. But you know what I'm saying. I'm just talking about the style of the music. There's very little of that out there right now. A lot of younger metal heads are hungry for this kind of music. They've had enough of Limp Bizkit, they've had enough of Korn, they've had enough of Kid Rock, they want something with a different edge to it and I think that's what 'Maiden, Queensryche and Halford are gonna provide as we move across the country.

Hal: So what do you think of some of the heavy bands of today?

Rob: I never diss it because it's just pointless [to do that]. Some of the stuff that's out there, I enjoy. Some of it, I'm not particularly interested in. However metal has mutated and changed its shape, it's still alive and well in the year 2000.

Hal: Two things that you said last time, "I love doing what I do" and "I don't take anything for granted." I think that sums up a lot about your career, especially with your new album coming out. Do you still feel that way?

Rob: Yeah, I've always felt that way, Hal, because, you have to let go in life. If you try to control things, if you try and say, "well, this is what's gonna happen in the next twelve months, I'm gonna write things down. This is exactly what's gonna happen." It ain't gonna happen. I have no idea what's gonna happen between now and the end of the day. That's what I love about life. That's why I never take anything for granted. Anything can happen. There are too many peripherals involved. We're all so connected in life, that you don't know what the next phone call is gonna bring, you don't know what the walk down the street is gonna bring, so I never take anything for granted. I just love to wait for things to happen. What's gonna happen next? I'm clueless. Yeah, there are certain specifics that you know, like on this day I know I will be doing this show in this particular city, but between now and then, what's gonna happen? It's wonderful. If you try and get into that controlling mode you just screw things up. Just let it flow. It's like, "Feel the force, Luke!" (laughing)

Hal: Can you offer any advice for bands, for people who make music and want to reach out to others and contribute to the rock n' roll canon?

Rob: I think it's just, once again, what I've always felt is important to do; is just to find the place where you all agree you are getting the most pleasure from, where you are getting the most defining moment from.

It's all about trying to break out of the package, just to have a little bit of an original edge. Have something to say that nobody else is saying. You can be in the same musical environment, but it's all about the material, it's all about the song. That's what grabs people's attention. You can have a heavy groove on the bass or a vocal approach that might be similar to someone else but that doesn't matter. What matters more is the song at the moment you're trying to make. And just stay with it for the right reason. The right reason for me has always been in a room with my band. That's all it's about for me. Where it goes from that point is whatever is gonna happen. But the important moment is when you're in the room jamming, it doesn't matter where you're jamming as long as you're together, you're making music and something is going on. Beyond that, of course, it's important to have some dreams and goals.

But, I think you have to try and keep it real and pure and at its roots. Don't get into a situation where you're saying 'look, we gotta sound like this band because look they're getting all the action,' or 'we gotta turn into this group because that's what's on TV.' That fucking sucks, you know? Whatever you do, don't get trapped into the musical fashion consumeristic environment. Just be yourselves, be natural, and if you're good, those people will find you. It's as simple as that.

This interview originally appeared on Gigmania.com.