Judas Priest and DIO are arguably the seminal Godfathers of Heavy Metal. For the first time in Australia, two former members of these bands will come together to form Metal Gods, in what will be the ultimate ode to Judas Priest and DIO.
Metal Gods will feature singer Ripper Owens – famed vocalist for Judas Priest after the departure of Rob Halford in 1992 – and Drummer, Simon Wright, who was a member of AC/DC between 1983 and 1989 before leaving the group to join Ronnie James Dio’s band. We spoke to Tim “Ripper” Owens about the upcoming tour, his current solo project and his connection to Dio over the years.
On what got the idea to do the Metal Gods tour:
I think James (Morley) was the head, he had this in his brain. When I did the show with the orchestra, I did a local show there and they backed me up and we jammed and Simon (Wright) was on drums and it was really good, it was a lot of fun and I think James has been thinking about that ever since. James had been talking about doing different shows whether it was me getting there and doing a solo thing or whatever and finally he just said, ‘Hey listen I got an idea, let’s get Simon and you and we’ll do a half Dio and half Priest.
On his connection with Dio over the years:
Well I sang with Dio’s Disciples which was Ronnie’s band after he passed away and Ronnie and I were friends, Wendy Dio was my manager. Ronnie was a big influence and a big hero and he was such a great guy and there’s never been a guy like him, vocally and personally.
On his latest music with Ripper:
It’s a lot heavier than my other stuff but that’s trying to start going that way. This new record pretty much gets heavier as it goes on, there’s only 6 songs on the EP and it’s the second mellowest song, this one that I just released “Embattled”.
Check out the full interview
Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/VQKbwBcp4Q4
Listen to Podcast version on Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3KiSax1
Get tickets here: https://gettix.to/MetalGods
