The Return of "British Steel": Rob Halford Q&A

At what point did you realize you'd come up with such a strong album?
30 years later [laughs]. We're so British in that way — we never take anything for granted. It's natural to feel good about what you've created, but you have no control over its fate or destiny. It's up to the masses to figure where it's going to stand. But looking at its value 30 years later, it's an important record for the genre of heavy metal.

What were audiences' initial reaction to "Breaking the Law" and "Living After Midnight"?
It was absolutely immediate. That riff in "Breaking the Law" is like our "Whole Lotta Love" or "Smoke on the Water." More exciting to us was how it was creating things in America, because we had been to America on a few tours. Suddenly, we had music that could be played on American rock radio. British Steel has a very strong American connection because of that.

Among Priest's earlier stateside shows was opening for Led Zeppelin in Oakland, on what would be their last two U.S. performances with John Bonham.
We had just come to the end of our first massive American tour. We were ready to go back home, and then we got a call from management that Robert Plant knew we were over here, and said, "We'd love Priest to open for Zeppelin." We had to park our carcasses in a Motel 6 for about a week, and wait for the moment to happen. Without a doubt, those two shows [at Oakland Stadium] helped break Priest on the West Coast. We went on very early in the morning, because it was a 4:00 p.m. curfew. When we went on, there was still a lot of that fog that you get in the Oakland/Bay Area. You could see a few thousand people on the floor. But while we were performing, the sun broke through, the fog lifted, and the place was absolutely full. It was mind-blowing.

And then Priest soon returned the favor to other up-and-coming bands.
We went out with Iron Maiden, Def Leppard. It's what you should do, no matter who you are or what music you play. We've all got a story to tell, and we're all on the same journey. We've all been through barely affording gas and sleeping in the van — that's part of your "apprenticeship."

Do you think Priest's audience is faithfully represented in Heavy Metal Parking Lot?
The camaraderie between the people in the parking lot and the things they're saying, it hasn't changed a lick. You go to any parking lot before a Priest show all these years later, and you'll still get that same kind of essence. That's what's special about metalheads; it's like the Marine Corps — once a metalhead, always a metalhead.

If someone wanted to be Rob Halford next Halloween, where's the best place to buy leather and studs?
[Laughs] There's a place called the Crypt in San Diego, which has all of your Halloween S&M needs...

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