K.K Downing - Heavy Duty - new book

Glower wrote:

Had to look it up - 18 releases ( that’d be a cool trivia question - name them in order ).

I think almost any member of this forum would be able to do that...

Fat Freddy wrote:

Glower wrote:

Had to look it up - 18 releases ( that’d be a cool trivia question - name them in order ).

I think almost any member of this forum would be able to do that...

The first thing I thought of when I read that was an episode of That Metal Show where someone (during a stump the trunk segment) asked Eddie (you know, Ace Frehley's best friend) to name all of the UFO albums in order. Lol.

I could name the priest ones but not ufo! Ace frehleys close personal friend might be able to do that.

DallasBlack wrote:

Been reading a lot of stories on this situation. Didn't realize things were this bad between them.

One article (interview) was KK saying before he left, the rest of the band couldn't keep up with him and he had to slow down for them:

http://ultimateclassicrock.com/k-k-downing-judas-priest-last-tour/

That maybe true, but for f**k sake, Glenn Tipton has been diagnosed and living with parkinson's disease for the past ten years, its miracle he could play live as long as he did. Rob Halford had back problems, and if you remember for a tour he did looked like he was doing an imitation of the Hunchback. The fact he bothered touring, was a miracle.

K.K. is a talented guy and I do wish they had invited back in the band, but apparently its personal not musical why they did not ask him back.

manny wrote:

DallasBlack wrote:

Been reading a lot of stories on this situation. Didn't realize things were this bad between them.

One article (interview) was KK saying before he left, the rest of the band couldn't keep up with him and he had to slow down for them:

http://ultimateclassicrock.com/k-k-downing-judas-priest-last-tour/

That maybe true, but for f**k sake, Glenn Tipton has been diagnosed and living with parkinson's disease for the past ten years, its miracle he could play live as long as he did. Rob Halford had back problems, and if you remember for a tour he did looked like he was doing an imitation of the Hunchback. The fact he bothered touring, was a miracle.

K.K. is a talented guy and I do wish they had invited back in the band, but apparently its personal not musical why they did not ask him back.

I forgot to state that I wasn't agreeing with him. I was saying that I didn't realize that he was angry enough to sink that low. I'm well aware of the health problems of the other band members.

I didn’t care for K.K’s replacement. In concert, he played way too loud.
Looked like he was high or drunk. No one in Priest dared say anything.
And he played the songs with little feeling. That was my impression.
Afterwards, when the show was over, Glenn gave me a pick !
I was front row - even got burned CDs from the show.
Never knew K.K sold his song writing rights. Ouch.
It’ll still be a fun read. Never heard of a Judas Priest book written
KISS, yes. Priest, no. Lol

KK was criticizing Glenn for drinking too much before and even DURING JP shows which he thought made the shows worse. That is something in GT's control.

Glower wrote:

I didn’t care for K.K’s replacement. In concert, he played way too loud.
Looked like he was high or drunk. No one in Priest dared say anything.
And he played the songs with little feeling. That was my impression.

When I saw them last week, Richie looked like he was having a helluva time, posing and playing rock star on stage. Andy Sneap on the other hand, seemed very reserved and almost shy. He would move forward every now and then, but mostly stayed out of the spotlight back with Ian. He also seemed very concentrated on his playing. At least they got him some decent leathers now so he doesn't look like some mechanic that just wandered onstage.

Glower wrote:

I didn’t care for K.K’s replacement. In concert, he played way too loud.
Looked like he was high or drunk. No one in Priest dared say anything.
And he played the songs with little feeling. That was my impression.
Afterwards, when the show was over, Glenn gave me a pick !
I was front row - even got burned CDs from the show.
Never knew K.K sold his song writing rights. Ouch.
It’ll still be a fun read. Never heard of a Judas Priest book written
KISS, yes. Priest, no. Lol

Richie is awesome. Guy can shred. He is also not a cardboard cutout Priest cover band guitarist, he has unique mannerisms and rock star appeal.

If there wasn't any bad blood, KK should be back playing his role in the band while Ritchie would play Glen's parts. Andy Sneak doesn't belong on stage with Priest. He's too stiff and shy.

Troublezone wrote:

If there wasn't any bad blood, KK should be back playing his role in the band while Ritchie would play Glen's parts. Andy Sneak doesn't belong on stage with Priest. He's too stiff and shy.

Not to mention that he is FAR worse than KK or Glenn.

Agreed about what should happen.

Whatever, I saw them this past March and it was a fantastic show!

Andy Sneap is definitely too stiff. He should stay in the studio.

Ouch. Way to go easy on the sick guy, K.K.

Blabbermouth wrote:

In a brand new interview with The Guardian, former JUDAS PRIEST guitarist Ken "K.K." Downing revealed that he actually sent two resignation letters to his bandmates more than seven years ago when he decided to quit the legendary heavy metal group. The first is described in the article as "a graceful exit note, implying a smooth retirement from music," while the second was "angrier, laying out all of his frustrations with specific parties."

Downing told The Guardian that he believes the second letter was "a key reason" he wasn't invited to rejoin PRIEST following Glenn Tipton's decision to retire from the road due to his battle with Parkinson's disease.

K.K., who is promoting his newly released autobiography, "Heavy Duty: Days And Nights In Judas Priest", also said the other members of PRIEST have tried to remove him from his ongoing position as a co-director of the PRIEST organization, a role he's unwilling to relinquish.

Despite all the bad blood, Downing said he hopes he and the other members can repair their relationship before it's too late. "If something happened to me, I'd like to think the guys would come to my funeral, and vice versa. You never know what's going to happen."

Downing has called Faulkner his "clone" and revealed that he "never found" Tipton "to be particularly easy to get along with. Very early on, I was fully aware of the limited conditions under which he operated," K.K. wrote in his book. "If you were going to relate to him, you would do so entirely on his terms."

Not surprising that we are finding out Tipton is an alcoholic and not easy to work with.

Temple of Blood wrote:

Not surprising that we are finding out Tipton is an alcoholic and not easy to work with.

Well there is that allegation, we're not finding out much and there are always two sides. Ken sounds really bitter but that's not surprising as he's just gone broke and his old amigos are touring the world.

I also think people should lay off Sneap, he was great when I saw them and he's not joined the band, he is a fill in for the tour, it's not surprising that he wants to keep out of the spotlight.

The book showed up today. I'll let you know how it is, although most musicians autobiographies are awful and all follow the same basic format.

I see a lot of people criticizing KK for speaking his mind on his former bandmates, but they fail to realize that his quotes are taken from interviews and blabbmouth chooses to make them headlines. Noone really knows how KK was treated behind the scenes. Of coarse he is bitter. He probably has good reason to be. What I think is unfair is that when Halford quit Priest nobody made a big deal out of it. But a lot of so called fans act like KK never meant much to the band. What the heck has Ian Hill ever contributed to the band? Sure he is loyal and a solid player... but he has also been taking some cheap shots in the press. According to KK, Ian had said that none of the fans miss him in the band. And that was before all this current drama happened.

With that said, I think he should not talk about Glenn out of respect concerning his illness. People can read his book and leave it at that.

Kk's book is a good read so far. I've read most of it.

I don't think Kk is broke btw.

Boris2008 wrote:

Temple of Blood wrote:

Not surprising that we are finding out Tipton is an alcoholic and not easy to work with.

Well there is that allegation, we're not finding out much and there are always two sides. Ken sounds really bitter but that's not surprising as he's just gone broke and his old amigos are touring the world.

I also think people should lay off Sneap, he was great when I saw them and he's not joined the band, he is a fill in for the tour, it's not surprising that he wants to keep out of the spotlight.

Yeah, KK sounds more bitter about it everyday. He shouldn't be. He wanted to leave and did so. The band wanted to continue and have done so. Be supportive of one another and stop the bickering already.

I read most of this book last night.

revelations:
1.he and Glenn didn't get along much on a personal level
2.Rob screwed them out of a bunch of money when he went solo
3.there were far more groupies than I could have imagined
4.Iron Maiden acted like total jerks to them om multiple occasions
5.KK says they never had proper management, made too many mistakes, and should've gone much, much further. Like ACDC, Def Leppard, or Maiden did
6. he said the live performances were getting to be really embarrassing and dave Holland agreed back in 1988
7. jayne Andrews and glenn tipton basically strong-armed the whole band
8. halford and ripper owens never had the right people around them when they went solo
9. the only 2 bands he said blew them off the stage were ac/dc and status quo.

As a side note - last night on Facebook -
a friend of mine, some weeks back, posted a photo -
before a Judas Priest show -
of him - on Rob Halford's motorcycle. ( for Hell Bent For Leather )

You could sit on it - for ten bucks.
Money goes to some Charity - etc
Does Halford still ride ?
Someone mentioned a back problem.

Glower wrote:

As a side note - last night on Facebook -
a friend of mine, some weeks back, posted a photo -
before a Judas Priest show -
of him - on Rob Halford's motorcycle. ( for Hell Bent For Leather )

You could sit on it - for ten bucks.
Money goes to some Charity - etc
Does Halford still ride ?
Someone mentioned a back problem.

He rode a bike out for Hell Bent For Leather at their show. Even if it was only a few feet.

My reporter friend passed on his "advance" copy of KK's book to me earlier this week. I've only read the first 25-30 pages so far but geez, it sounds like ol' Ken had an epically shitty childhood. No wonder he grew up to be such a miserable git.

I don't think he's miserable at all, but yeah that was a horrible childhood.