by Xakos Pervanidis
Originaly written in Greek
(Taken from an article written for the greek Metal Hammer & Heavy Metal - June 96)
When one wants to go back to the origin of the name Judas Priest, he will undoubtably be astonished at the fact that no
member of the original band that was called Judas Priest back in 1969 ever played at the band we all love and admire. But
let's get things from the start.
Ian Hill and Ken Downing, both from Birmingham, know each other since they were five years old, but they had lost each
other for some time, until they met again in order to share their common love for music. Ken had just bought his first guitar,
while Ian had started a few years earlier. Their modest equipment and the fact that their band didn't even have a name yet,
didn't stop them from searching for a drummer and a singer. While Ian brought John Ellis, an old friend and partner to cover
the seat behind the drums, a singer could not be found and the band felt that they were loosing ground since the other bands of
their neighboorhood could constantly practice and play live. The most famous of those bands were some Hiroshima and some
Judas Priest. While the three musicians were practicing at one of the schools of their area, the locally famous singer from Judas
Priest, Alan Atkins, entered the studio. He had recently broken up with the other members of his band, and was searching for
new ones. After a few rehearsals with the band, he decided to join them, given that the band would be named Judas Priest.
In 1969 the rock movement was growing rapidly (there were over 1500 small bands in the style of Judas Priest recorded
during the time in UK), and many bands had started to enjoy some success. This was not the case, however, for Atkins and
his company, who continued nonetheless to work hard, and finally managed to play at one of their city's clubs. This situation
lasted until 1971, when the singer and the drummer abandon the band, leaving Ian and Ken once again alone. Chris Campbell
and Alan Moore were tested as drummers, and Ken took over singing for a short while, but this experiment had no success
and the band was almost dead. Ian and Ken had to give up their instruments and search for other jobs - Ian worked at the
car-making industry of Triumph constructing motorcycles and Ken started working as an employee. One morning, while Ian
was getting to work, one of his colleages mentioned the ex-Hiroshima singer, Rob Halford, who was searching for a new
band. Ian informed Ken and the next morning they met with Halford at some nearby church. Halford's vocal abilities were of
course astonishing enough to instantly convince Ian and Ken that they had the man for the job. Rob also brought the drummer
of Hiroshima, John Hinch. So the new line-up started practicing inside the church's warehouse, and since they couldn't find
another name, they continued to use their old name, the one that Atkins had abandoned.
So here we reach the forementioned contrast : Our beloved Priest have nothing to do with the band that used this name first.
They now have some experience and so they are able to start taking things a bit more seriously. After gathering some money,
they buy a small Ford van and tour across Britain. Several years later, KK Downing described their situation : "I remember
that one night we were sleeping in our van somewhere at the M5 motorway, but we didn't care, since we were
particularly proud about it, when suddenly Thin Lizzy appeared with their six-wheel truck. That made us think a bit
deeper. I remember that Phil Lynott suffered from flu and Ian had a terible headache. The whole situation was
horrible and we had no money to buy medicine, our food was eggs, beans, potatoes and coffee. Now that I think
about it again, it was really miserable". Ken goes on : "We were all (bands) equal at the time, we helped each other.
When somebody's van broke down, we gave them ours, and the other way round, of course. We could even sleep at
their homes when we played somewhere near. We had shared Budgie's house many times".
The band went on touring in England, playing for just 10 pounds per night, while later their price rised to 25 pounds.Their
status was slowly but constantly growing, and they reached the point when they had visited every known club, like Cavern in
Liverpool, the legendary Marquee in London, Greyhound etc. Their set consisted of cover versions like Hendrix' "Spanish
Castle Magic", some Quartermass songs, and some songs of their own, which were characterised as heavy progressive blues.
The following story shows what could a band do in order to earn some money... One night Priest were in Liverpool and had
programmed no gig, so they played live acroos Cavern in a Greek tavern for 15 extra pounds but also good quantities of
traditional greek dishes. By the time, they still went to the clubs alone and introduced themselves as signed artists for Atlantic
(which was of course a big lie), so as to earn some more money for their live. Nevertheless, the band were working very
professional and KK Downing once said : "Hopefully we realised soon that we had to forget amateur behavour. If for
example a guy in the band was late, that meant a delay for all of us. It's not like golf players, who are responsible only
for themselves. When you are in a band, you belong to a team, which is as strong as its weakest member."
While Priest were trying to establish themselves, another band with the funny name Flying Hat Band were a support act for
Deep Purple. The band consisted of drummer Steve Palmer (Carl Palmer's brother), bassist Mars Cowley and guitar and
piano player Glenn Tipton. Priest needed a good lead guitar player, so they offered Tipton the spot, who accepted and so one
of the steadiest nucleus of a metal band was created. The band, having a capable guitar player who was also an excellent
songwriter, could now start forming its musical identity, through constant practice and powerful live shows.
The precious contract came a year later (1974) from independent label Gull and the band enters the Olympic, Trident and
Island studios in London in June, having a very low budget in order to record their first album... Two months later their debut
LP "Rocka Rolla" produced by Roger Bain (Black Sabbath) can be found at the stores.
