YOU HAVE TO FIND SOBRIETY FOR YOURSELF, BUT YOU CAN FIND STRENGTH IN OTHERS Through sheer determination and self-belief, we got to the tipping point, but we never ever reached a point where it was like, ‘We’ve made it lads so let’s relax.’” Finally, we could pay the rent and afford a bottle of milk for our cereal! For that first decade, everything we earned went back into the pot. “By the time we reached British Steel, we’d started to feel more confident about who we were and what we were doing. Now, globally, metal is mainstream in ways they’d never have predicted, and it’s inspiring people around the world.”ĮVERYTHING PRIEST HAVE ACHIEVED HAS BEEN THROUGH BLOOD, SWEAT AND TEARS It was tough for a lot of us, particularly when we were making Sin After Sin, because everyone was telling us metal was dead, it’s all about punk, but we just took a wait-and-see approach. “When disco came along, the entire industry seemed to turn its back on metal. TRENDS COME AND GO, BUT PASSION IS FOREVER If you play to 10,000 people, every single one of them is experiencing that for themselves.” If you think 10,000 people are more important than 10, then your head is on wrong. “It doesn’t matter how many people you play to, it should mean something. The tipping point was after Stained Class – the conscious effort we made helped identify what metal looked like.” I found an image the other day where Ian is all in white, Ken looks like a musketeer, I’m in a leather jacket and Glenn is wearing something that looks like he’s took the curtains down. For Priest, it was a conscious effort on our part – we were feeling heavy and sounding heavy, but didn’t particularly look it. Look at metalheads – denim and leather, everyone knows you’re a metalhead. “All the way back to The Beatles wearing suits and having those haircuts, music has been about identity. I would work on all these incredible productions from all aspects – comedy, variety, repertory theatre, ballet… I was like a sponge – I drew all of it into me and I dare say it played a role in what I did as a musician.” “I only worked at the Wolverhampton Grand for a short time, but it was an education.

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