Tim “Ripper” Owens feels the stupidest comment is when people call KK’s Priest a “tribute band”

Tim “Ripper” Owens feels the stupidest comment is when people call KK’s Priest a “tribute band”

KK’s Priest and former Judas Priest frontman Tim “Ripper” Owens was recently interviewed by Jimmy Kay for Canada’s The Metal Voice. Owens was promoting KK’s Priest‘s upcoming sophomore album The Sinner Rides Again, which will be released via Napalm Records on September 29, 2023, and which is the follow up to their debut record Sermons of The Sinner (2021).

In terms of including more Ripper era Judas Priest songs in KK’s Priest‘s live setlist, Owens indicated (as provided by The Metal Voice with slight edits): “We wanted to do that right out of the gate but the problem was, we were doing festivals and not our own shows. So you have to make a set list that is kind of adaptable to everybody. I think eventually when we start touring and doing our own shows what is going to happen, I hope. We add one or two more of my era [Judas Priest songs]. ‘One On One’ and or ‘Burn In Hell’ has to be in our setlist. It would be nice to also do ‘Cathedral Spires’ because that is the one (song) that fans are asking the most. But I think we are obviously going to be adding more KK’s Priest songs. We have six songs now in KK’s Priest [setlist] and we will be releasing two new videos soon. So we will be adding two more in and probably add another one from the first record and another one from the new record. There is no doubt people want to hear [Ripper Judas Priest era songs], Judas Priest ignores them [songs] and acts like I was never in the band. Which is fine because it makes my solo touring and KK’s Priest all that more exciting for people because at least they can go hear them [Ripper era songs].”

On what his response is to people who claim that KK’s Priest is nothing more than a tribute band to Judas Priest, Owens stated:  “Well it makes no sense. It’s the stupidest comment. I have to be honest since we have been playing live I hardly ever see these types of comments much anymore because now the proof is in the pudding. We are not talking about the sharpest tools in the shed, the people on the internet. People just get on the internet to say things that make no sense whatsoever or they actually give you career advice. I don’t mind if people don’t like us but when they don’t like us and say a tribute band? K.K. [Downing] is the co-founding member of Judas Priest. I was in Judas Priest. Half the set now is our own songs and soon three quarters of the set is going to be our own songs. It makes no sense.”

You can listen to the interview with Tim “Ripper” Owens on The Metal Voice below:

KK’s Priest‘s Reap The Whirlwind” video (from The Sinner Rides Again album):