Rob Halford - Biblical - Rob Halfords Heavy Metal Scriptures

I believe they call the story of Jesus, and by extension the Bible, the greatest story ever told. Some people still swear by it (and on it). They pore over its hundreds of thousands of words seeking the ultimate truth and the meaning of life, and strive to follow its scriptures and strictures to the letter.

I see myself as a spiritual person and yet I must confess (its a habit!) to you that Ive never actually read the Bible all that much. I find it very boring and I cant keep up with the plot: so-and-so begat so-and-so who begat so-and-so yawn . It always seems like too much palaver.

I like the idea, though, of a book that compiles all the knowledge that a person has collected through their life and tries to be a definitive guide to what they know about their world. So, Ive taken the audacious, you might say presumptuous, step of writing this book called Biblical .

What is it? Biblical is my book of scriptures. These scriptures are the sacred knowledge, the gospel truths, that I have picked up in the nearly fifty years since I first started fronting a band called Judas Priest. They are my sermons from the mount of heavy metal.

Its been more than two thousand years since a load of ancient wrist merchants cobbled together that first Bible. I reckon were well overdue a follow-up. Its definitely time for that difficult second album! And Biblical is a follow-up but not the follow-up to the Bible.

No, Biblical is the follow-up to a book I wrote two years ago that I called Confess . It deserved its title. Confess was my autobiography, the story of the adventures and misadventures that took me from a Walsall council estate to the (ahem!) venerable Metal God that I am today.

Confess was the story of my personal life in all its devout and debauch detail. Biblical is something else: Its the story of a life in music. Its all about the magic and madness of life in a band and of the half a century I have spent religiously worshipping heavy metal.

When I was a kid, I used to wonder what life in a band would be like. It seemed unreachable, unattainable. As I gazed at my heroes in Melody Maker or Sounds , so many questions bounced around my bonce:

How do you write a song? Whats it like in a studio? What does it feel like to play a gig? To go on tour? Are bands always best mates? How do they decide what to wear? Do they take drugs and shag groupies every night? Do they always trash every hotel?

And the biggest, most burning question of all:

Being in a band looks like the best life in the worldis it?

Well, now I know the answers to all those questions, and I want to share them. I have scribed many psalms and testaments, and Ive journeyed many times around the world on metal pilgrimages. Ive donned my leather vestments, blessed disciples, and succumbed to diabolical temptations.

You dont go fifty years as a Metal God without getting to know every last thing about what its like to be in a band. Well, I wanted to collect this divine wisdom into a holy book. I wanted to ascend to the pulpit (if my dodgy back will let me) and deliver my heavy metal scriptures.

So, take a pew! I dont recommend that you go searching for the ultimate truth or the meaning of life in this book, but there are some cracking stories. Even a few decent parables. And without giving too much away, maybe youll forgive me a little spoiler:

Being in a band IS the best life in the world.

So, lets get started. Its going to be Biblical

There are 783,137 words in the King James Bible. Not that Ive counted them myself, I must admit.

I must admit: I did quite a bit of succumbing to diabolical temptations. I was good at it.