Home Featured JUDAS PRIEST’s GLENN TIPTON On K.K. DOWNING: “I’ve Got A Lot To Say And Enough’s Enough.”

JUDAS PRIEST’s GLENN TIPTON On K.K. DOWNING: “I’ve Got A Lot To Say And Enough’s Enough.”

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JUDAS PRIEST’s Glenn Tipton has responded to continuous comments made by the band’s former guitarist, K.K. Downing.

Downing walked away from JUDAS PRIEST in 2011, citing band conflict, bad management and a declining quality in their performance. Since then, he has made numerous public  comments towards his former group, which seem to shine a consistent negative light upon the NWOBHM pioneers.

Well, now Glenn Tipton has shared his side of the story in the latest edition of Guitar World, saying that he “never wanted to get into a public argument after K.K. left. I never said a word and I stuck to my guns for over 10 years, but there comes a point when you read things that have been said that are just crazy. It’s time to say something, really because he’s saying things that he really shouldn’t be saying. They aren’t fair.”

“He’s insinuated that he was the driving force of the band,” Tipton continued. “It just isn’t true. PRIEST [is] made up of five guys working together. [There’s] not just one person driving the band. He’s said all these things that, I think, are meant to upset us and get us to say something in response and for a long time we didn’t. But I’ve got a lot to say and enough’s enough.”

K.K. said last year that he was unhappy with JUDAS PRIEST’s live performances toward the end because Tipton “used to have too many beers before and during the concerts at the time. And I don’t know what was going on. We had words about it. But musically, we weren’t as footsure as I felt I wanted to be. I wasn’t really happy with that. It was rock and roll. It’s one of those things — it’s rock and roll, or you’re a band that really wants to lock it in tight. And that’s what I used to get off on musically — was being really solid and locked in with those kick drums. You’re either Keith Richards, and he’s got a beer in one hand and a cigarette in the other but you’re still playing the guitar, or you’re really digging deep.”

Tipton addressed those particular comments in the Guitar World interview as well, saying: “Everyone knows it’s not true. Like I said, the fans aren’t stupid and they’ve seen me for 50 years playing around the world. I may have had a couple of beers onstage, but that’s all. It’s never affected the concert or my performance whatsoever and he knows that.”

Glenn also claimed that he “used to piece [Downing’s] leads together” in the studio. “I did a lot of editing to make his lead breaks worthwhile,” he said.

“I would never have talked about Ken that way,” he continued. “It’s just that his accusations have gotten sillier and sillier — and I deserve to respond. He left the band. We couldn’t convince him to stay. And then he accused me of taking six years off to write two solo albums. I only did the solo albums because we were inactive at the time while Rob [Halford, vocals] was doing his solo things.”

You can check out the full interview in the new issue of Guitar World.