Downing K. K. - Heavy duty: days and nights in Judas Priest

Copyright 2018 by Ken Downing Ltd.

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First Edition: September 2018

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Downing, K. K., author. | Eglinton, Mark.

Title: Heavy duty: days and nights in Judas Priest / K.K. Downing with Mark Eglinton.

Description: First edition. | Boston: Da Capo Press, 2018.

Identifiers: LCCN 2018014925| ISBN 9780306903311 (hardcover) | ISBN 9780306903298 (e-book)

Subjects: LCSH: Judas Priest (Musical group) | Rock musiciansEnglandBiography.

Classification: LCC ML421.J8 D68 2018 | DDC 782.42166092/2 [B]dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018014925

ISBNs: 978-0-306-90331-1 (hardcover); 978-0-306-90329-8 (ebook)

E3-20180731-JV-NF

R ENO, NEVADA. JUNE 16, 1990

Then the reality hit me.

And as it did I felt as if wed been lulled into a false sense of security, only to be caught in a trap laid out for whichever band wasnt looking where they were going. This day felt like the culmination of a silent conspiracy that had been evolving since wed helped ignite a whole scene in 1980where heavy metal and the lifestyle that went with it had been viewed with suspicion, considered dangerous evento the extent that certain activist groups were gunning for the entire culture. At that moment it occurred to me that we were just the scapegoats.

There was this uplifting outpouring of support for us for the ordeal we were about to go through. I could see the sincerity in the eyes of fans who were lining the streets outside the courthouse. They wanted us to win this casecourt disposition papers claimed that two of their own, two fans of Judas Priest, had shot themselves and that our music was the cause.

Nevertheless, something still didnt sit right about the fact that the US, the country that had welcomed us with open arms back in 1977, was the same one that seemed to be trying to end our career.

As confused as I was, seeing all these pained, desperate faces as I got out of the cab at the bottom of the Reno courthouse steps, all these people yelling, Priest! Priest! Priest! as if the lights had just gone down at the start of one of our shows, gave me the same feeling I got every time I stepped out onstage.

It was this incredible sense of invincibility that came with being in a tight group. Whenever I felt it, I stopped being little Ken Downing from the Yew Tree Estate. No longer that shy and introverted kid with a plastic school satchel and holes in my shoes, instead I transformed into K.K.the cocksure guitarist in the best heavy metal band there is, and my mates were there with me.

Pumped with adrenaline, as I walked up the steps and looked at Rob Halford beside me, eyes staring ahead and his thin jaw set, I thought, Were going to be OK.

As we got shown into the courtroom, everything changed again. The moment the big wood-paneled door closed behind us, it was as if wed just walked into a vacuum. The feeling of loss and sadness was as palpable as the lump in my throat. Id never experienced such a sudden change in mood. I could no longer hear the chanting voices. Their power had been removed and as a group we felt less strong.

The sound of my quickening heartbeat drowned everything out as the clerk stood up to address the court for the first time. Irrespective of how confident I felt about what wed done and, more importantly, what we hadnt done, in an instant I felt like little Ken again, in that all too familiar position of waiting for whatever it was that was bad and heading my way.

W HEN THE IDEA OF WRITING AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY WAS suggested to me at various times over recent years, I think the factor that always held me back was whether I was willing to be really honest about how my incredible career played out over the forty-something years I was in Judas Priest.

From the outside, people, fans, always think, Being in Judas Priest must have been amazing. They toured the world, playing music. There was money, there were girlsits the perfect life.

For some of the time, it was the perfect life.

But just like anything, it doesnt go perfectly every single day of the week. If it did, it would become boring and predictabletwo adjectives that I got into a band to avoid ever having to confront.

What Ive come to realize in recent years is that although a person can walk away from something to present a particular impression or preserve an image and be doing that for some reasons that seemed right at the time, sometimes the need to be honest and forthright about certain happenings is much fairer not only to the fans, but also to everyone involved with the band. In so doing, it seems to me that the slate is wiped far cleaner than when things are left unsaid, incomplete and vague.

And when I left Judas Priest, things were certainly left unsaid, incomplete and vague.

So, with that being said, I changed my mind about writing about my life for reasons that I think are in everybodys best interestsand all the people who are discussed and implicated are people whose company, ability, and friendship I value a great deal and will continue to do so long after Ive finished writing this book. Nothing will ever devalue my time in Judas Priest. But it is important to me that all the facts, as I see them, are laid out for the fans to laugh at, cry to, grit their teeth with frustration and, of course, go out and buy more Judas Priest albums when theyve finished reading.

Therefore, everything Ive written in this book is either how I remember it or my opinion of events that I lived through. Obviously, I dont remember everything; a lot of these events happened a very long time ago. But as Ive gone through the enjoyable process of dredging through more than five decades of memories, Ive come to realize that there are aspects to my life that Id never really thought about until now.

This delayed reaction is neither a good thing nor is it a bad thing. Its just life, and the perspective that it brings you. By and large Ive enjoyed reminiscing.

When I first started thinking about writing about my life in and out of Judas Priest, as I tried to identify and prioritize all the things I wanted to say and thoughts I wanted to get across, the feeling that I just couldnt shake was the idea that a persons upbringing shapes everything that happens later.

Everything.

In my case thats especially trueto the extent that it sometimes feels like Ive spent my entire life trying to escape where, and who