KK’S PRIEST – THE COUNTDOWN HAS BEGUN
K.K Downing fans around the world are waiting with bated breath this weekend as a ‘countdown’ has appeared this afternoon on the KK’s Priest website.
Founding member of Judas Priest, K.K Downing, formed KK’s Priest last year, just prior to the global pandemic. The band features Tim ‘The Ripper’ Owens on vocals, Les Binks on Drums, Tony Newton on bass and AJ Mills completes the line up on second guitar.
The band came to be after KK triumphantly returned to the stage after 10 years – appearing first at Bloodstock in August 2019 and then playing The Steel Mill in November 2019 alongside David Ellefson. The Steal Mill show was crowned our ‘gig of the year’ for 2019. KK then announced KK’s Priest in February of the following year.
Watch K.K performing the opening song, ‘Riding on the Wind’ at The Steel Mill, with David Ellefson, AJ, Ripper and Les Binks, November 2019
The band have recorded their debut album between national lockdowns but the countdown appearing on the website is the first indication of anything concrete. Tony Newton, who not only plays bass on the album, but was involved in the production commented in an interview with Stoakes Media last year that the album is “what you’d expect and a bit more”.
Vocalist Ripper also posted a sneak peak into the recording process last summer, when he was over in the UK tracking vocals, but aside from a few social media posts, the band have been relatively quiet.
The album will be released globally through Explorer 1 and now that we can see an end to the Covid 19 Pandemic, we can only assume KK’s Priest are busy getting some live dates in the diary. Last year after the official announcement KK commented:
“Forging ahead with KK’s PRIEST was not only inevitable, but was essential for me to perform and deliver everything that is expected from me and KK’s PRIEST”
“Due to the massive demand and overwhelming support from fans around the world, I feel this is where I belong, and a set combining the true, classic songs and sound of Priest, together with great, newly forged metal tracks, is what fans can expect when KK’s PRIEST is taking to stages.”
We can only speculate how next week will play out, will they drip feed us little teasers like AC/DC did in the run up to their album PWR/UP, or will they hit us full force and turbo charged with a new heavy metal anthem? Either way, we are ready!
