K.K. Downing feels KK’s Priest’s sound is the closest thing you’ll get to Judas Priest from the ’60s to ’90s era

K.K. Downing feels KK’s Priest’s sound is the closest thing you’ll get to Judas Priest from the ’60s to ’90s era

KK’s Priest and former Judas Priest guitarist K.K. Downing was recently interviewed by Marko Syrjala for Chaoszine. Downing was promoting KK’s Priest‘s upcoming sophomore album The Sinner Rides Again, which will be released via Napalm Records on September 29, 2023.

The 71 year old Downing was asked what are the future plans for KK’s Priest considering that he does not have that many years left to which he replied: “That’s true. But that was another reason why I decided to do this. I like the idea to do two albums because now I think I can go out for probably two or three years. I’ll probably do some recordings in between, but nothing that will take too much time, you know, just so that I can go out and play everywhere, all over the world. And there’s no doubt I’m going to enjoy being out there with this band and playing these songs. It’s going to be fun and exciting.”

The guitarist added: “Well, never say never, but the main thing is I want a tour for at least two years because the world’s a big place. And I’ve got two virgin albums I’ve never toured with. But I also have the legacy of the Ripper years, classic Priest years, you know. And I think that the sound of KK’s Priest is, to my ears, the closest thing you’ll ever get to Judas Priest from any era, ’60s, ’70s, ’80s, ’90s, you know. It’s so because the thing and I know how to play these songs accurately and properly because I wrote them.”

In terms of touring plans, Downing indicated: “So we’re going to do the UK gigs. Then we go, then we fly to Malta. We’re going to do a show in Malta. So there’s, there’s KK’s Priest, Metal Church, and the girls, Burning Witches, and two local heavy metal bands, so that’s five bands. That’s going to be amazing. And then we’re hoping now that people have seen us play, that we’ll get more added shows. The agents are also, we have a festival in Mexico on the 2nd of December. So we’re going to be playing some West Coast America. We’ll come back to America, and we will play some more shows before Christmas. And then we’ve booked the Monsters of Rock Cruise next year. It sails from Florida. So we’ll be doing more shows in America and Canada, and then we’ll certainly be doing all of the European festivals next year, hopefully. Wacken, Graspop, Download, and all of that. So we’re very much looking forward to seeing what comes in and what offers come from the promoters. We’ve already got one promoter to do us a show in Poland. So, we’ll be putting some shows together, but I’d very much like to continue after October and play in Europe and Scandinavia. Yeah, all of that would be great to do that if that comes and that happens.”

You can read the rest of the interview with Downing via Chaoszine‘s website.

Judas Priest‘s “The Sentinel” live video:

KK’s Priest‘s “Return of The Sentinel” video: