Judas Priest Explain Why K.K. Downing Was Not Asked To Return

Judas Priest frontman Rob Halford explained in a new interview why the band decided not to asked former guitarist K.K. Downing to rejoin the band when they learned that Glenn Tipton would be unable to tour due to his battle with Parkinson's Disease.

"Equally (K.K. Downing) had made the decision to retire, I don't know how many years ago that it was," Halford told the Los Angeles Daily News. "At the time he was emphatic about retiring and never coming back, and that's what we were left with.

"There has been no communication since that time. There has been no inquiries about how the band is doing since that time, or how the guys are doing, or anything of that nature."

Halford then added, "What upset me personally was the inference that Glenn didn't play on this record. I took that quite strongly. How would you feel if those types of insinuations had been placed in a statement along with the not being asked to come back? Just extraordinary. The wording should have been different in my point of view. Like I said on a radio interview, we have never been a band to publicly bring these things to the surface."

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