Downing quits Priest!

[Mr Badguy]

KK Downing has left Judas Priest.

He will not be taking to the road for the "Epitaph" world tour, which will still take place.

His replacement is Ritchie Faulkner.

Downing is said to have retired.

This is bullshit.

(Not the story, the fact he has quit/been fired)

[Mr Badguy]

This for JudasPriest.com:

It is with regret that Judas Priest announce that K.K. DOWNING has formally retired from the band and will therefore not be joining them on their forthcoming EPITAPH Tour.

The band respect his decision and naturally all wish him well.

[binnie]

This is ridiculous - if you're almost 40 years into something, I'm sure you could bear it for a few more months before finishing things off. At least for the fans.

My gut reaction here is that this is a way of publicising the tour (a la Steven Tyler 'quitting' Aerosmith last year). That is, a non-story. Maybe Priest aren't that devious - but why would you not want to do a farewell tour as one band?

[binnie]

Apparently the new guitar player is Richtie Faulkner, who played in Lauren Harris's band.

O.K. Then.

[Mr Badguy]

This must have been in the works for some time, to have a replacement ready to go smacks of Downing having left months ago but the news withheld until the tickets were well on sale.

Total bullshit.

[chefcraig]

This must have been in the works for some time, to have a replacement ready to go smacks of Downing having left months ago but the news withheld until the tickets were well on sale.

Total bullshit.

It does have an unhealthy smell. It's also strange that of the dozen or so articles on the web about the issue, not a single one has drawn the same obvious conclusion. Tickets went on sale in what, December? Consider this line (the full press release is in the inconvenient and annoying PDF form, which also makes you wonder about how much the band wanted people to actually read the whole thing) from the band's official site:

“Having thought long and hard about how to proceed, Rob, Glenn, Ian and Scott unanimously agreed that they should go ahead with the tour and not let the fans down all around the world...".

Wouldn't it be sort of interesting to know just WHEN the group were notified of Downing's decision, and just WHEN this "long and hard" thinking took place?

[Hardrock69]

KK DOWNING has RETIRED from JUDAS PRIEST!!

Not even going out on their final tour. Priest have already found a replacement.

Seems rather sudden....hope there are no serious health issues.....

[Hardrock69]

Dupe post. Please remove.

[Hardrock69]

I have longtime experience in dealing with Priest management. Not on a business level, but scrutinizing how they do business.

They have been mis-managed for many years, in my humble opinion, ever since Halford left the band in the early 90s.

They are notoriously silent, never EVER revealing ANYTHING publicly about the inner workings of the band.

By the early 2000s, it was painfully obvious they were completely out of step with the internet, and were extremely slow to catch on to the internet as both a marketing tool, and an interface between the band and their fans. So the last 10 years or so they have spent a lot of time playing catchup to all of the bands who had been using the net efficiently since the late 90s.

I could go on about that aspect of it, but it is old news.

Sorry that Ken has decided to leave. Hope it is not health-related. Could just as easily be that he is burned out, or whatever....

[Terry]

Weren't JP supposed to have been retiring fairly soon anyway? I seem to recall reading that in this forum some months back...

[chefcraig]

Weren't JP supposed to have been retiring fairly soon anyway? I seem to recall reading that in this forum some months back...

I'm pretty sure they were retiring from touring, as the recording of a new album to come out after the current set of shows has been in the works (and could in fact have been completed) for a while now.

[Hardrock69]

Yes, they announced that the Epitaph tour would be their last.

[Mr Badguy]

Threads merged.

[FORD]

I'm suspecting it has to be a health issue. Even if you can't stand anybody else in the band, it doesn't make any sense at all to quit a band after announcing a farewell tour, unless you aren't going to be physically capable of playing in the first place.

The most logical conclusion, though a sad one, would be that Downing was already ill, which is why the final tour was announced, and at the time, he thought he would be able to handle one more tour. Which would mean that things have only deteriorated since then. Obviously I have no inside confirmation on any of this, but it seems like the only sensible explanation.

[chefcraig]

Or he simply wants to spend more time on a golf course, namely his own.

A round of golf with Judas Priest’s KK Downing

Golf, it has been noted by detractors of the game, is a good walk ruined, observes Ben Bentley.

Alas, whoever coined this phrase has clearly never played with KK Downing, guitarist and songwriter with heavy metal legends Judas Priest. And in any case, on our round with KK, we don’t walk much – we jet around his 27-hole course within the grounds of his home near Bridgnorth in a mini motorcade of electric golf buggies in scenes that are more reminiscent of The Italian Job – especially the bit where my buggy very nearly imitates the closing shot of the 1969 Michael Caine movie as it beaches on the brink of a bunker.

Golf. Heavy metal. Two forms of entertainment with, it would seem, the commonality of a stick of chalk and a slice of cheese.

But there is common ground. And that common ground is called KK Downing.

KK, who off duty is also known as Ken, has now finished construction on not one but two golf courses – one with 18 holes and another with nine – within the grounds of his magnificent 450-acre estate at Astbury Hall.

The course is set in the glorious undulating hills of south Shropshire and is now managed by Troon Golf which operates some of the world’s top courses and has offices in Hong Kong, Australia, Switzerland and Dubai. After several years in the making, Ken’s vision to design and construct an international class course has finally become a reality.

Ben Bentley and KK Downing on KK's new Shropshire golf course

It is officially due to be opened on September 15 when 22 teams, each with a celebrity member, will play at a Lord’s Taverners charity golf day at the hall, after which the course will be open to the public. It is already open to membership.

And as part of the build up to the opening, the star agrees to a “round with KK Downing” with me and the Shropshire Star’s video department, and he’s in top form as he talks music and golf and everything in between while simultaneously knocking the Shropshire Star’s sporting prowess into a cocked hat...

Continued at Shropshire Star