Rob Halford, leader of the iconic English band Judas Priest, goes through the years with the grace of a great sage. His secrets: curiosity and prayer. Deep conversation with the Metal God, visiting the Bell Centre this Friday.
The scene takes place last June, at the Tons of Rock festival in Oslo, Norway. Backstage, Metallica frontman James Hetfield and Judas Priest frontman Rob Halford are rocking out to the dynamite performance of Turnstile, one of the best young bands in the vast universe of music that rocks.
These few images would quickly become viral thanks to millions of Internet users touched to see that such venerable veterans, faced with the enchantment of decibels, still know how to become kids again. Despite the years, Rob Halford is not at all jaded.
“Turnstile is an absolutely amazing band, it was wonderful to see them play,” says the man nicknamed Metal God, reached by video call at his home in Arizona – Metal God is also his identifier on Zoom.
Black T-shirt, dark glasses, long (white) beard: the man wears the uniform of an average metalhead, although his sensitive eloquence is that of a great sage. And contrary to what often happens when we interview stars of this caliber, no public relations officer spies on the conversation to ensure that we respect the allocated time.
PHOTO IVANOH DEMERS, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Rob Halford in front of our photographer’s lens, in 2007
“Discovering new groups is what makes my investment in my own music flourish,” emphasizes the singer whose band, founded in 1969, launched its 19th album last March.e album, the effective Invincible Shield. “Not to mention that support, concern for others, and brotherhood are at the heart of the metal community.”
“When you adopt a new band,” he continues, “they become a huge part of who you are as a human being. They define you, to a certain extent. That’s the power of music. And all that love comes to life when you see your new favorite band on stage. It’s like meeting a family member for the first time.”
The importance of metal
Rob Halford celebrated his 73rd birthday on August 25th. This means that he belongs to the first cohort of metal musicians to practice their art well into their seventh decade. He is also one of those who had to defend against many prejudices what was described as an ephemeral phenomenon.
PHOTO ARMAND TROTTIER, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES, PROVIDED BY BANQ
Rob Halford (right) with KK Downing, at the Montreal Forum, July 1988
Big question, Mr. Halford: What is metal’s most important contribution to humanity? “There’s no doubt that the vast landscape that metal has brought into the world—the intensity, the volume, the aggression of the sound—is as major as the birth of the blues or jazz,” he answers, choosing each of his words carefully.
But it has long been said that metal has no value. Metal has been saddled with all sorts of epithets, by people who understand nothing about it. It is a classic reflex of ignorance: when something confronts us, we often prefer to build a wall than to make the effort to understand.
Rob Halford
“Between the birth of metal in Birmingham with Black Sabbath and Gojira’s participation in the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games, there is no doubt that we have come a long way. And that metal has an influence on the entire world of music,” rejoices the man who, in fact, recorded a duet with cowgirl Dolly Parton on his most recent album, Rockstar.
Rob Halford spots a poster on the wall in your reporter’s office of a famous wrestler. “That’s Macho Man Randy Savage, right?” he asks.
Yes, right there. Do you know who he is? “Of course, he’s one of the greatest entertainers of all time! I’m not an expert on wrestling history, but I know that wrestling is as important to its followers as metal is to metalheads. It’s something you can’t make fun of, something important.”
The Power of Prayer
At 73, Rob Halford continues to scream every night on stage until his nipples fall off (“screaming my tits off”, according to his own colorful expression), a longevity that he attributes to his undying love of heavy music, but also to the place that the daily practice of prayer has taken in his life.
PHOTO SUZANNE CORDEIRO, ARCHIVES AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Rob Halford performing in San Antonio, Texas in November 2022
Sober since 1986, after years of bacchanalia which he gave an entertaining if tragic account of in his autobiography Confesshe is also one of the first figures in the world of metal to have spoken publicly about his homosexuality. A silence that he only ended in 1998, for fear of sabotaging the success of Judas Priest. A silence that made him suffer a lot.
Prayer is the most important tool that has kept me from dying. It is like a bed in which I can lie down.
Rob Halford
“It’s a simple, enormous and complex idea, to embrace something bigger than yourself,” he explains, as our 20-minute chat has long since passed, “something invisible, thanks to which everything around us is possible. It’s an idea that sometimes even shocks me, because I don’t want to admit my powerlessness. But for me, to rely on such a force was a way of freeing myself. And that force doesn’t have to be an old man with a white beard in the sky.”
“The craziest thing,” he concluded, “is that when you pray, when you meditate, you are heard. I’m not saying that there is someone listening to you, but there is something that hears you. And that something is perhaps simply yourself.”
September 13 at the Bell Centre, with Sabaton
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