KK Downing's thoughts on his replacement in Judas Priest

KK Downing: I'm not sad or resentful over the fact that the band has carried on recording and touring after my exit from the band. It was bound to happen. It's just the way it has happened. I think it should have been different, really. I think Richie Faulkner [Downing's replacement] should have been allowed to be his own person. And if he likes to play Gibson Les Pauls, then he should go on stage and play those and not be encouraged to play Flying Vs and wear clothes like me and look like me and do all of that. When Ripper [former vocalist Tim Owens] joined we gave him license to be himself — we didn't say, 'You've gotta do this like Rob or that like Rob. So essentially, my initial reaction was that the guys have cloned me. I thought, 'well, maybe they think it's a good move because the fans won't miss me and they'll kind of, in a way, from 10 rows back, think I'm still there'. And the fact that my image was used in so much of the publicity for the upcoming tour. Maybe that's what went on. I think that Richie is such a good player in his own right that he should have been allowed to be himself. And, of course, when Glenn [Tipton] stepped down I didn't see the same thing happening on that side of the stage. It's absolutely seriously, seriously difficult to replace anybody that's been there for such a long time, and I understand that. It's so difficult, because it's not the same person. It doesn't matter, even if some people — and some people do think Ripper has got the edge over Rob. And I can see why — his vocals are young, they are strong. When he came into the band, he was tremendous. But the tonality and the texture, there's always gonna be little things here and there that are not gonna be the same. And people prefer to have the same. But I think that Richie is doing lots of things at the moment, really. He's not just filling in for me now — he's also playing Glenn's solos — and it all seems a bit strange to me. I don't really quite understand it." 

I dunno about you but I'm still seeing a lot of hurt in Downing's words here. He seems to be trying to find things to pick at from afar & I find it a bit disappointing given that he left the band voluntarily. I'm pretty sure that his replacement Ritchie Faulkner wouldn't have thought twice about wearing different clothes or playing a different guitar to suit the band's image. I mean... I'd play a toy ukulele & wear nothing but a pink tutu for the chance at playing with Priest. And why shouldn't they want to maintain the image they'd built their careers on too. There's no question in my mind that all of this is related to the fact that KK didn't get an invite to fill the empty guitar slot left when Glen Tipton stepped down . I think KK needs to get over it & move on. He's only tarnishing the amazing legacy he's built.

He sounds like a dude that's cranky cause his ex-wife has a new lover. Time to move on KK.

Here's Downing taking further strides to tarnish his relationship with Rob Halford in a recent interview with All The Shreds:

"When Ripper joined the band... We would have to say that, physically and technically, Ripper was a better singer than Rob, because Tim was always in tune, he was always in key. I mean, Rob was good. Rob got better after he started to wear in-ear monitors. But Tim was stronger. He still is. I mean, the guy is a powerhouse. But the thing is that the tonality of his voice is not Rob's, and I guess that's what the Priest sound is. That's why it had to come to an end. We would come offstage. Tim would absolutely murder the show, and we would still come offstage and the fans would be saying, 'Oh, yeah, yeah. I enjoyed the show. But when's Rob coming back? Is Rob coming back?' And it was hard. And it must be hard for those guys in Priest out there now, hearing fans say, 'Is K.K. coming back? Is Glenn coming back?' It must be tough for them." 

Here's what he said about the events that led up to Rob coming back to Priest: 

"It's a long story. Sharon Osbourne rang up one day and said, 'Hey, what's happening with Rob? Is he back in the band? Because I want you to do the Ozzfest and I'm gonna pay you a lot of money for doing it.' And that didn't happen the first time around. But then another year or so went by, and kind of the same thing happened again. But by this time, we'd done 'Demolition', and things seemed to be on the decline for us. The venues seemed to be getting worse. And eventually, I took part in the 'Demolition' album, but I wasn't happy. Glenn said he wanted to produce the album and stuff like that. It was all getting a bit funky, so I walked away from it for a while, but I came back and put as much into it as I could. I just think it's the fact that…it was what the fans wanted — it was fan demand, really. And I couldn't see that getting any better, really. Because everything that the band had done before Ripper seemed to be getting more and more popular, having more acclaim, like the 'Painkiller' album. The 'Painkiller' album wasn't very big when we first released it; it was just mediocre. But it started to gain momentum year after year, and it started to become a big album. And the fans wanna hear the band, the original bandmembers." 

Tim 'Ripper' Owens' has recently suggested that he'd like to go back and re-record "Jugulator" and "Demolition". Ripper's been quoted as saying that he feels that Priest is trying to remove any mention of his involvement with the band & is annoyed that it's hard to find "Jugulator" anywhere and that "Demolition" isn't terribly accessible either. Here's Downing's take on it when prompted during the interview:

"It would probably be legal reasons, I think. Somebody actually must own the rights. But it's worth finding out, because one thing is for sure, between me and Ripper, if nobody owns the rights to them, then we'll start producing them and marketing them. I'd be happy to do that. I'll do some research and find out who owns the rights to those albums. But somebody must have acquired the rights, I'm sure."

Here's Downing's latest comments from an interview with "Full In Bloom":

Had the choice of bringing Downing back to PRIEST ever been presented to Halford, Hill and Travis, "I think that [they] would have welcomed it, because it seems to make eminent sense," K.K. said. "To get the fans to accept a brand new guy or a guy that was there, the originator from day one that's written all of those songs and played all of those solos, it doesn't make any sense to bring someone in that's essentially more of a great producer than anything else." 

Downing went on to take credit for being "the first guy to bring the flying V to heavy metal, ever," a look that is "so synonymous with metal that both Richie and Andy play flying Vs, let alone almost every metal band in the world," he said. "So it doesn't make sense not to have my image and my persona there."  

Asked if he has tried reaching out to Rob directly and talking things out, K.K. said: "Rob's always been cool. I mean, Rob left the band for 14 years, and I was the one that brought him back in, I was the one that was instrumental, I was the one that reached out to him. But at the moment, everything's outside of his control, Ian's and Scott's. That's what I think." 

Pressed about whether he believes Tipton is still running PRIEST from behind the scenes, Downing said: "Well, if Glenn isn't, who is? Rob's never been a decision maker, or Ian, really, in the band ever. It was always me and Glenn, really. Well, it was, to start with. Then the decision making was more Glenn and Jayne [Andrews from PRIEST's management company], really. But, anyway, it's a sad state of affairs. It's well documented now, and I certainly wouldn't like to get any more quotes on Blabbermouth, because I think everybody's had enough of it. It will be what it will be." 

Downing reiterated that he believes most of his former bandmates would have been open to the possibility of him returning to PRIEST. 

"Given the choice, Rob, Ian and Scott, I believe, would have certainly entertained the idea of having me step back in the band, if there wasn't something preventing them to do so," he said. "I don't know what influences there are, but I've always had a very, very good relationship with Rob, Ian and Scott — always. Me and Ian were just brothers. 

"A lot of things went on in the band that us collectively were not happy with — me, Rob, Scott and Ian," he explained. "For a long time, collectively, we were not happy. We were joint, we were as one for some years towards the end. And so, there must be some power that I don't know about that's not doing things the way they should be done." 

K.K. has spent the last few months promoting his autobiography, "Heavy Duty: Days And Nights In Judas Priest", which came out in September.

Here's what current Priest lead guitarist Richie Faulkner has to say about Downing:

"I've never spoken to Ken. And I don't really know. I honestly don't know. I don't think anyone's spoken to him. I don't think he's spoken to them. I think he speaks to the management. But I've never spoken to him. Most of the stuff now is online. It seems that there's a lot online and not enough talking with each other. But who knows? But we're just forging forward and doing what we can — new record, new tour, and forging forward with that, really."