{"id":804290,"date":"2020-02-18T06:00:39","date_gmt":"2020-02-18T13:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/?p=951612"},"modified":"2020-02-18T06:00:39","modified_gmt":"2020-02-18T13:00:39","slug":"ex-judas-priest-guitarist-k-k-downing-forms-band-with-other-former-priest-members","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/music-news\/ex-judas-priest-guitarist-k-k-downing-forms-band-with-other-former-priest-members\/","title":{"rendered":"Ex-Judas Priest Guitarist K.K. Downing Forms Band With Other Former Priest Members"},"content":{"rendered":"

After some time away from the spotlight, former Judas Priest<\/a> guitarist K.K. Downing has formed a new band that will pay homage to his past \u2014 alongside other ex-members of the heavy-metal pioneers.<\/p>\n

Downing joined the band in 1970 and left in 2011, saying, \u201cI feel that Priest has played its part in music history and feel very proud to have achieved what we have.\u201d Not long after his departure, Richie Faulkner joined the group.<\/p>\n

Downing\u2019s new band, KK\u2019s Priest, will find him performing alongside vocalist Tim \u201cRipper\u201d Owens, Judas Priest\u2019s singer from 1996 until 2003, and drummer Les Binks, who was in the band from 1977 to 1979 and played on their Stained Class<\/em> and Hell Bent for Leather<\/em> albums. He has rounded out the lineup with guitarist A.J. Mills (Hostile) and bassist Tony Newton (Voodoo Six).<\/p>\n

\u201cForging ahead with KK\u2019s Priest was not only inevitable but essential for me to perform and deliver everything that is expected from me and KK\u2019s Priest,\u201d K.K Downing said in a statement. \u201cDue to the massive demand and overwhelming support from fans around the world, I feel this is where I belong, and a set combining the true, classic songs and sound of Priest, together with great, newly forged metal tracks, is what fans can expect when KK\u2019s Priest is taking to stages.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The group is working on its debut album, which will come out via Explorer1 Music Group. It will be on the road, playing festivals, later this year to mark the 50th anniversary of Downing\u2019s career. The shows will feature a mix of Judas Priest songs and new songs.<\/p>\n

Downing made his return to the stage last year at the U.K.\u2019s Bloodstock Open Air Festival alongside former Manowar guitarist Ross the Boss. He also played a one-off gig with four-fifths of KK\u2019s Priest\u2019s members (Megadeth\u2019s David Ellefson played bass at that show) and decided to move forward with a band.<\/p>\n

In 2018, Downing released a tell-all memoir, Heavy Duty<\/em>. In an interview with Rolling Stone<\/a><\/em> about the book at the time, he said he wasn\u2019t sure if he wanted to make new music. \u201cI find it hard to want to put time into writing music to start all over again,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I\u2019ve just started playing again and I can alternate-pick as fast as anyone on the planet. Can I say that? It sounds a bit conceited, doesn\u2019t it?\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Popular on Rolling Stone <\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

via:: Rolling Stone<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After some time away from the spotlight, former Judas Priest guitarist K.K. Downing has formed a new band that will pay homage to his past \u2014 alongside other ex-members of the heavy-metal pioneers. Downing joined the band in 1970 and left in 2011, saying, \u201cI feel that Priest has played its part in music history […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[98],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-804290","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-music-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-07-22 10:33:42","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSMT The Mountain","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/804290","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=804290"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/804290\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=804290"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=804290"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=804290"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}