Pipeman Radio Interviews Richie Faulkner of Judas Priest About Louder Than Life & Aftershock

0:04 Hey, you have unto censure. For se wow, pray you. Wake up America. It's time for the Adventures of Pipe Man on W four c Y dot com. West pomp Beach is number one Internet radio station. Here's your host, the pipe. Man, by Still Raise the Plan. I'm so my friend of all. Won't you drown? That's nice, Team Bud Will.

0:54 This is the pipe Man here on the Adventures pipe Man W four c Y Radio. I'm very excited at our next guest because I got to see them in June at Grass Pop, in August Labor Day Weekend, Roklahoma, Louder than Life, and now upcoming after Shock. So let's welcome to a show. Richie Faulkner of Judas Priest, how are you. I'm doing very well man. Good to see you. I didn't realize you were at those shows. Dude. There were some good shows right there. No doubt. Yeah. I cover all the Dandy Wimmer festivals, but I also do the European and the UK festivals. I do all over the US, and yes, I've been lucky enough to see you guys, probably for like the two thousandth time past few weeks, and we've got one coming up.

1:42 As you said after Shop Ryan, Sacramento. Yeah, yeah, that's gonna be fun. That's my birthday weekend. We would you get Priest and Maiden together? I know, that's wild. I used to see Priests and Maiden together when I was a teenager in the eighties, like all the time, so it's like a reunion. I was talking to Rob about it the other day, and the last time they played together like that we played with them last year at the Aftershop Festival, but that was not on the same day. But I asked Rob, when was the last time you guys played were Maiden on the same day, and he thinks it's back on point of entry when they played together, like back in the early eighties. So it would be great as a fan as well. You know, I'd love to see Priest and Maiden on a bill. And we were talking about getting a photo together because I don't think there's a photo of Priest and Maiden together, so hopefully we can get a photo together in Sacramento.

2:34 That's pretty cool. And you know, I know that one time Steve Harris said to you way back when that if anything anything happened to anybody in the band that they would bring you right in. Well, yeah, he kind of he said, yeah, if anything happened to any of his guys, I would have been the next phone call, which is I don't know what you call it, like a validation like and then some you know what I mean, if if Harris would have you in his band, that's amazing. But Steve was one of the first people I told when I got the when I got the gig in Priest. You know, I was obviously in Lauren and his daughter's band, and I told the band first, and then I told Steve, and he couldn't have been happier. You know. He thought it was a great opportunity. He loves Priest and he was more than happy to see me do something like that.

3:24 You know, well that says a lot about you as a musician at like two of the most iconic metal bands in history both wanted you. I mean, yeah, I mean that's well, obviously the Maiden didn't be He was just saying, if anything happened, I would run, you know. But but yeah, it was great to be you know, obviously I was. I knew Steve before before Priest, and yeah, it's great to be in those two camps. You know, they're both favorite bands of mine, obviously, so it's good to now know both made An and priest Per's crazy. Really yeah, totally, And as somebody myself that recent years had my own heart issues, I was at Louderlan Life in twenty twenty one, so I was super excited to see you playing there in twenty twenty four.

4:18 Well, as you can imagine, there were a few personal milestones on that show last weekend. You know, I didn't make too much of a public thing about it because everyone seems to do that, and you know, it's a personal thing. But there was a moment in twenty twenty one. We all know what happened. But at the end of the show, at the end of Painkiller, I usually lift the guitar above my head, and I couldn't do it. Obviously, everything was happening internally. I didn't have the strength to do it. So when this one came around twenty twenty four, there was a moment right at the end of Painkiller, I looked out of the crowd and then lifted the guitar above my head and no one knew but me.

4:59 That was my moment. That was kind of a kind of a personal milestone, like I finished the gig as I meant to finish it. It's taken me three years to get back and do it, but I did it. So it was a personal a personal milestone, and also the first one. In twenty twenty one, my daughter she was just a little over one year old and she was at home. She had no idea about what was going on. This time. They came down the front in the pit, her and my other half, and you know, I teared up a bit seeing my little girl down there. If she's four years old, she was in a leather jacket. She was having fun. Wow. And so we've gone from the you know, the one when she was one and now she's four in her leather jacket, and it kind of makes you realize what you've been through and how long it's taken.

5:46 But you've got there, you know, no doubt, and it's it's amazing because, like, you know, what you went through, some people wouldn't be here in twenty twenty four and now you're in all these festivals on tour. New music like by the Way, the newest album that came out in March, that's some of the best Priests music ever and that's coming from somebody who that has been seeing priests since nineteen eighty. I appreciate that. Man, I'm glad you enjoy it. I'm glad you liked the record. But yeah, I think the first thing, you're right, people don't usually make it to the hospital with that when that happens. So fortunately I made it to the hospital. You know, they worked on me, they saved my life. And then I think when you come out at the other side of that, I think my first well, one of my first goals was to get back on the guitar, get back to health, and get back on the road back in twenty twenty two, and we went out in March twenty two. And then there's something in your brain that kind of changes. You know, we're not here forever, and we all know that, but you don't quite know what's around the corner. So if you've got some ideas, if you've got some riffs and melodies and ideas for an album or a book, or if you haven't seen your family for a while, there's something in your brain that says, do it, get it done, get it out there. So it was back on the road, back in the studio, getting back to some sort of normality because you never know what's around the corner, as you.

7:15 Know, oh one hundred percent, and like it's funny because before that happens like I had two heart attacks two years in a row, and both surfing, So like two thousand and the twenty seventeen I was in hawaiisurfing, had a heart attack, and then got cleared a year later. You know how you go through that whole year of like recuperation. Carrio just clears me. I decide I'm gonna go to Costa Rica and celebrate and go surfing, and had like a massive heart attack. Oh no, well, and. Uh, you know before that, it's like I'm invincible, right pun intended, but yeah, I'm invincible. And then you just realize, like I've always lived life to fullest every day, but you realize it even more, like listen, you want, like you said, you want to get everything you have out of you because you never know what's around the corner.

8:12 That's right, And it's glad you're still here. By the way, man, I'm glad you're healthy. Things. I don't know that there's there's always something that drives you. There's always you know, creative stuff. It comes from somewhere and you're driven you have to record it or put it out or let people hear it. I don't know what quite does that, but it's another driving factor. It becomes very clear, your mortality becomes really clear to you. And it's just another driving not that I'm driven by fear of dying or anything like that, but it's just it's reality, really, and it's another driving factor that pushes those ideas out and those songs and those risks and stuff that you get in your head. You're driven even more so to put them onto tape and get them out there hopefully.

9:01 And you're right, because like I'm not driven by fear, I'm driven by living, you know. So it's like I'm not afraid of dying, but i want to accomplish a lot more while I'm here and not waste any time doing which is the same philosophy there. So that's right. Tell me, tell me what else do you want to accomplish in music that has still been something that's a goal that we can look for in the future. That's a great question. I mean, I'm I'm the guitar player in Judas Priest. You know, I've written three albums with them, I've been on I think five world tours. At the moment, I accompanied them with the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. There's not there's you know, kind of I'll be happy with that, Yeah, right, you don't.

9:51 You don't get bigger than that. So everything else, really, every day is a bonus. You know, we're out on this tour at the moment. But there's always something creatively that you haven't dine and it will always be that way you could do. You could be the hardest working musician in the world, and on your deathbed there will still be something that you wanted to achieve. You know. That's just the way the life is, you know. But so yeah, it's I don't know what it is, but you're always trying to achieve a better version of what you can do, or better statement in your music, or better better solos, a solo that speaks better or more technical, or a better song or better connection, whatever it is.

10:32 You're always searching for that. And I don't think that will ever end, you. Know, Yeah, absolutely? And so how about also the four year old, is she gonna get into music like you got into music very young because of your dad, right. That's correct. Yeah, you never know. It's funny with with kids. They get into stuff sometimes because you are, and then sometimes it's the opposite. They don't get into stuff because you are. They're bored of it. For example, she's been around music and guitars all her life. She might get to a point where it's because of that she just doesn't want anything to do with it, you know. But then on the other flip side of that, it could be totally different. She could be introduced to music and something that she loves because she's around that. So you never quite know how it's going to turn out. You just got to kind of support whatever way they go and don't push them into anything. I know at the moment, she loves drums, she loves Scott's kit. Whenever she comes down, Scott lets her get up on the kit and stuff.

11:38 She loves to sing, she loves to dance and stuff. But all kids do at that age, you know what I mean. So it's just seeing which way they. Go and is she a big fan of your music because it goes the same way too. With kids, it's like, you know, they're either like it what you do, or they're like embarrassed by it, or they don't like it, or they're going in a different direction, all those things. No, she loves it. At the moment, she loves the whole thing. She loves when they come out on the road. We take her out as much as we can. We take her to Europe, we take her to Japan and stuff for the kind of education of real life, you know. But some kids you get out there and they're crying backstage, they don't want to be there. But she loves it.

12:20 She dances at everything. She loves the music. But I'm sure when she gets to like twelve or thirteen, and she's gonna rebel and hate what DA does. But at the moment, she still likes it. She loves she loves Panic Attack. I love it. And that's an amazing feeling, isn't it when your kids out there dancing to your music. As I said, you know, they walked in front of me in the pit Louder than life last weekend and I had to kind of put my head down. I teared up. I didn't want anyone to see. But it's an emotional thing, you know, when they're getting into your stuff and they're happy, and she's a smart kid. And as I said, she travels a lot with us. So hopefully you never know, parent if you're doing the right thing.

13:01 You just do what feels right. So hopefully we're giving her a good foundation and she'll find her own path, you know, as we all do. And it might not be my path, but it might as long as you kind of again support them and guide them on that way over they choose. But I'm sure she'll get to an age where she hates this stuff. She doesn't want to talk about it, she's embarrassed to even you know, talk about it around her friends. But at the moment, she's still into it. So that's good. There you go. I love it. And so after shock, that's that's one of my favorite Danny Wimmer festivals. It's it's a cool vibe there, it's fun. I always ask the artists I play the Danny Wimmer festivals, how it feels like you've played festivals all over the world, how do you like playing the Danny Wimmer festivals because I get a lot of great feedback of about how Danny treats the artists.

13:49 Yeah, it's always comfortable, it's always I mean, you get some of these festivals in Europe, which have been going twenty five years now, you know, so they've had the time to evolve and you know, change anything that needs to be changed. And for a while the festivals in the US were catching up to that, you know. Yeah, but I think you know, festivals like the dining wom My festivals, they are on par with those kind of things. Now, you know, you've got health Fest and Wakon and stuff like that in Europe, and the women festivals are kind of catching up to that level of not only for the fans, but for the bands as well. You know, we enjoy doing those festivals. We know what to expect, and when you're on a tour like this, you know, everything's kind of you know, gig after gig after gig, so you want it to run smoothly, and those those festivals really do do that.

14:39 Yeah. You know, you mentioned health Ast and I was. I cover health Ast too, but I was absolutely amazed the first time I did health As. It was the first one after COVID with the three hundred and sixty bands, right, and I'm interviewing all these bands and they're just tell me it was the easiest, most stressful, stress free loading ever, Like the soundcheck was done five minutes and from what I heard, there was not one band that had any problems with sound. That to me an artist, that's like the dream, right, you know, like as you don't want that stress. It's not your sound people, it's not like it's your show. You're going festival and you want to just be stress free so you can get up there and have fun.

15:21 That's correct. Yeah, I mean there's always an element of the unknown, especially with festivals. It's not your gig, it's not yours. It's unfamiliar. You know, you're coming into a situation. Our crew is coming into a situation. It might be weather, it might be you know, the the technical aspects of the equipment there. So there's always an element of the unknown. So I think you don't expect it to be one hundred percent, but as close as you can get it to. That is obviously going to be a joy for any artist coming in, any crew coming in the most the smoother they can have it, the better it is for every everyone, and the better show that everyone gets at the end of the day.

16:02 You know, absolutely well, I'm looking forward to being at your set at Aftershock. You're gonna kill it. And thanks a lot for like just giving us great music when we probably need it most, because music is the best therapy and the best uniter and Jews priest has always united the world forever as long as I'm into music, So I'm glad that you're keeping that alive. It's an honor to be here, brother, good to talk to you. Glad you're healthy as well. And I we'll see you after shock in a well a couple of. Weeks now, not even yeah, next weekend, so yeah, man, we'll see you then. And thanks for being on the Adventures pipe Man. It's a pleasure to see you then. Man, thank you for listening to the Adventures of plate Man.

16:46 I'm w for CUI Radio. Hi everybody, it's Richie Former from Judas Priests. You're listening to the Platmin on W four c Y Radio. Give it real M.