KK’S PRIEST’s Debut Album Is Being Mixed, Says TIM ‘RIPPER’ OWENS

BLABBERMOUTH.NET

Former JUDAS PRIEST singer Tim "Ripper" Owens says that the debut album from KK'S PRIEST is currently being mixed. KK'S PRIEST is Owens's collaboration with founding PRIEST guitarist K.K. Downing and ex-PRIEST drummer Les Binks. The band, which pays homage to Downing's past, is rounded out by guitarist A.J. Mills (HOSTILE) and bassist Tony Newton (VOODOO SIX). KK'S PRIEST's debut LP will be released via Explorer1 Music Group. The group will also play select shows to mark the 50th anniversary of PRIEST and Downing's career as a founding member. KK'S PRIEST's setlist will consist of PRIEST classics and new songs. Owens joined PRIEST in 1996 and recorded two studio albums with the band — 1997's "Jugulator" and 2001's "Demolition" — before PRIEST reunited with Rob Halford in 2003. Downing left PRIEST in 2011 amid claims of band conflict, shoddy management and declining quality of performance. He was replaced by Richie Faulkner, nearly three decades his junior. Last year, Downing said that he reached out to JUDAS PRIEST about taking part in the band's upcoming 50th-anniversary tour but that their response was that they were not interested in including him in the celebrations. In 2018, Downing revealed that he sent two resignation letters to his bandmates when he decided to quit JUDAS PRIEST. The first was described 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 later said that he believed the second letter was "a key reason" he wasn't invited to rejoin PRIEST after Glenn Tipton's decision to retire from touring. Downing, Binks and Owens performed a full-length set of PRIEST classics with MEGADETH bassist David Ellefson in November in Wolverhampton, United Kingdom. Joining them on second guitar was Mills of HOSTILE, the British metal band whose two albums, "Eve Of Destruction" and "The New World Disorder", were both produced by Downing. Binks played drums on PRIEST's "Stained Class", "Hell Bent For Leather" (released as "Killing Machine" in the United Kingdom) and "Unleashed In The East" albums.