MusicRadar

Judas Priest guitarist Glenn Tipton, pictured with singer Rob Halford (left), says that the band still has a story to tell. © BRITTA PEDERSEN/epa/Corbis

"There's been some confusion about this farewell tour," says Judas Priest guitarist Glenn Tipton. "While we are calling it a 'farewell,' it's really the Epitaph World Tour. People think we're going away, but we're not. We're just not going to do these long treks around the planet anymore."

Seated in a suite in New York's Essex House, Tipton elaborates on the rigors of touring, and why, at the age of 63, he just doesn't find it as fun as it once was. "Doing a proper tour of the world takes 18 months to two years," he says. "That's a huge amount of time to be away from home. We've done it and done it and done it. So we finally decided, to be a more effective band, and hopefully a more creative one, to focus on making music without the obligations of touring."

Ironically, just as Judas Priest announced their Epitaph tour last year, Tipton's fellow guitarist, KK Downing, tendered his resignation. Rather than pack it in, however, the band picked London-born axeman Richie Faulkner, 31, as his replacement. "Richie's been fantastic," says Tipton. "He's young and fresh and full of enthusiasm. We really feel that we can continue forward in a proper way with him."

Tipton and Faulker sat down with MusicRadar recently to talk about the tour and explain why "farewell" doesn't necessarily mean "goodbye." In addition, the two guitarists - one a certified heavy metal legend; the other a dedicated admirer, thrilled to be sharing the stage with an idol - discussed plans for the next Judas Priest album.

So Glenn, you're stopping touring to make records. That's kind of a radical approach these days.

Glenn Tipton: "Yes, I suppose so. Well, you know, we're not as young as we once were – that certainly has to be considered. Really, to me, the great thing is to have more time on our hands. We'll do at least one more album, if not two. We've already done some writing with Richie, and we're looking forward to making a record with him. There's a lot of options open to us."

Richie, does this feel weird to you? You've just joined a band that's doing its last tour.

Richie Faulkner: "But there will be a future, that's the main thing. There will be more music. I still can't believe this is all happening to me. It was a huge honor to even be considered to play with Judas Priest. To be with them on stage every night is unreal."

Glenn, when KK left the band, was it a horribly painful time for everybody?

Tipton: "It wasn't easy. Ken [KK] e-mailed us last November that touring was a problem for him because of some wrist difficulties he was having. He'd obviously thought about it quite a bit. It was a shock to all of us. For a while, we thought it might be the end of the band. We didn't even try to look for another guitar player for three months, just in case Ken changed his mind.

"But he was set that he was leaving. There wasn't any bad blood or anything – we totally understood his attitude. I'm sure the decision to leave was hard for him, and we respected that. Still, it left us wondering what to do."

Around the web: