K.K. Downing: Judas Priest Sent Threats of Legal Action
Former Judas Priest guitarist and original member K.K. Downing sometimes talks about his former and current bands, Judas Priest and KK’s Priest. Because of the resemblance between those two names, he often gets critics and questions. But in one of his recent interviews, he touched on a different story on this topic. Not only the fans, but Judas Priest also looks uncomfortable with this KK’s Priest name. According to K.K. Downing’s statements, Judas Priest sent him a legal threat for his band name.
In his interview, he first talked about why did he choose that name. That is basically because he’s been a “Priset” for almost his entire musical career. So Downing decided to go with a similar name to show his character even if he left the Judas Priest. Here’s that part of the interview, -Transcribed by Blabbermouth-:
“I think a lot of fans will understand that I have been a Priest since 1968. I’ve wanted to be a Priest since 1968. I’ve traversed the road of the evolution of music as we know it today. We went from blues, when I was young, to progressive blues to rock to hard rock to heavy rock to heavy metal. I’ve been on that journey. So I believe that I have a right to continue as a Priest, because some of the guys in Priest now, I haven’t met them, and they’re playing my songs, which is fine,” he said, apparently referencing his replacement, Richie Faulkner. “But if they have a right to be a PRIEST, then I have a right [to be a Priest. And I can’t start something absolutely new. I can’t sound like a new guitar player. I can’t write like a new guitar player. So everything I do is gonna be reminiscent of the past to the fans. So that’s when I decided that [I was gonna call the band KK’S Priest. And I think it’s gonna be absolutely fine; I really do. And the face of KK’s Priest, that will evolve, and that will be on the journey with us. There’s so much yet to come — there’s more videos, more songs coming your way. And there’s more albums to come also.”
Judas Priest Not Happy With KK’s Priest
Later in the same conversation, he explained the legal situation between him and Judas Priest. According to his statements, his own decision about keep being a priest is not approved by Judas Priest. They tried to find a solution by taking legal action and sending threats to K.K. Downing about that legal actions. But they never followed those threats and no action has actually happened.
“Their lawyers sent a letter to my record company making threats of legal action if I went forward with KK’S Priest,” K.K. revealed. “But for the moment, nothing happened. I think they made the threat but decided not to follow through with the threat. But they made the threat to try to stop me making the band.”
