Judas Priest’s Ian Hill recently had a conversation with Mark Frankhouse of the 107.7 RKR radio station, where he discussed the band’s Tim ”Ripper” Owens era, also, the bassist was asked how was the ”transition” from Rob Halford to ”Ripper” Owens.
Here’s what Ian Hill said:
“It was pretty simple, really. We didn’t really want another name per se if you know what I mean. Because they always bring their baggage with them, and it really would change the band dramatically. And we didn’t really want that; we wanted to continue in the vein that we were in. So, we wanted someone who could pretty much cover what we were already doing.
”And Ripper was an obvious choice. He had a tremendous voice, and he was actually playing in a Priest tribute band at the time, so he knew most of the songs, which was a bonus. So, we went with Tim. And it was a pretty easy process. Tim’s a great bloke, an easygoing fella, so it was an easy process, really.
”But the problem was he wasn’t Rob, and that’s what people wanted, they wanted the trademark lineup. And in the end, Rob sort of started to hint that he wouldn’t mind coming back and whatever, and I think Tim, he agreed. He was a fan of the band as well, and he could see the point. So even that was a comparatively smooth process as well, when Rob came back.”