K.K. Downing-Heavy Duty: Days and Nights in Judas Priest

[Duojett71]

I hope KK does get back into music. Would love to hear some new music from him. Based on what he is saying he should just find some guys in his area. It would be funny though if he got Ripper Owens involved. He's worked with the guy before. Probably would not happen though...

[Tatosh Guitar]

Just read the first two chapters this weekend. I am not digging this yet. Maybe when he gets to the Priest sections (which hopefully will take the bulk of the book) but as of now... I don't know, maybe it's that I just finished Dickinson's and that thing is a superb example of masterful writing, which I don't think this one is gonna be.



I'll still read the whole thing. Hopefully it will get better as it goes on.

[Duojett71]

Downings book get's better as it goes on. Both his and the Dickinson books are really good. What I like better about KK's is it talks more about his experiences with the band and about the albums and band members. What I like more about Bruce's is that he talks about some fascinating and sometimes dangerous experiences. His experience in Sarajevo and his first solo flight to Las Vegas had you on the edge. The Sarajevo story read like a scene out of a movie.

[Tatosh Guitar]

I am up to the defenders of the faith era now. It does indeed get better. He sure was heavily into the image thing, which I supose makes sense from a commercial standpoint.


And boy, he really didn’t like the Maiden guys, did he?


I still think they made some editing mistakes. At the end of one chapter he makes a big point on the fact he proposed getting drummer Alan Moore for Sad Wings of Destiny, then he never gets a mention again, and the next time he mentions drummers they already have Les Binks. At least he makes a passing comment on basically session drummer Simon Phillips, but I thought he made a big deal of getting Moore and that such thing was so big to finish a chapter with it deserved further mention. First rule of story telling: if you are gonna show something, make sure to show resolution later!!

[Snoogans]

Just finished reading it - there was a sale on Amazon Kindle books over the Black Friday thing and I scored it for less than a quid!


It's a fun read, better than I was led to expect from some reviews. There are a few niggling editing issues, as Tatosh mentions above, but it rolls along pretty well.

It is quite an eye-opener to find out about the friction between him and GT, and I must admit, it was refreshing to see someone talking about Maiden in less-than-reverential terms for a change! (I don't dislike them, I'm just not a rabid fan)

My hometown even gets a namecheck - the cliffs that he gets himself stuck on are about 1/4 mile from where I live, although I would have been about 4 years old at the time...

[Tatosh Guitar]

Snoogans said:


Just finished reading it - there was a sale on Amazon Kindle books over the Black Friday thing and I scored it for less than a quid!


It's a fun read, better than I was led to expect from some reviews. There are a few niggling editing issues, as Tatosh mentions above, but it rolls along pretty well.

It is quite an eye-opener to find out about the friction between him and GT, and I must admit, it was refreshing to see someone talking about Maiden in less-than-reverential terms for a change! (I don't dislike them, I'm just not a rabid fan)

My hometown even gets a namecheck - the cliffs that he gets himself stuck on are about 1/4 mile from where I live, although I would have been about 4 years old at the time...






[/quote]
I never posted my opinions after I finished it, and they are very similar to yours. I found it interesting because, as Dickinson's, it paints a good picture of a region and time frame I didn't live (the post war England) in the early part and then the hassles of being in a professional touring band. I liked it aside of the minor editing screw ups.


I have yet to read Halford's book, which just got released a few weeks ago, but I believe he addresses the friction between Glenn and KK, and how both had very specific ideas on the direction for the band. I think Glenn won in the end.


His stance on Maiden seems to be a bug on his shoulder to this day. He feels they sorta stole their thunder, to a point, I suppose.

[Snoogans]

In truth, before reading the book I was always under the impression that Priest was Glenn's band, and KK was "the other guitarist". Probably because there were very few Priest interviews in any of the multitude of guitar/music magazines that I read.

In fact, can anyone remember ever seeing them featured in any of the guitar mags back in the day? I don't, and I had mountains of 'em!

[Tatosh Guitar]

Snoogans said:


In truth, before reading the book I was always under the impression that Priest was Glenn's band, and KK was "the other guitarist". Probably because there were very few Priest interviews in any of the multitude of guitar/music magazines that I read.

In fact, can anyone remember ever seeing them featured in any of the guitar mags back in the day? I don't, and I had mountains of 'em!




[/quote]
Priest might not have been Glenn's band at first, but it definitely became it after a while. Even the songwriting credits were usually labeled as Tipton, Halford and Downing, in that strict order.


As for them being featured in guitar mags, there were a few. I just read this one a few days ago.


https://www.guitarworld.com/gw-archive/kk-downing-and-glenn-tipton-judas-priest-talk-gear-1984-guitar-world-interview


I personally read a couple more back in the 90's. I still have those. What always pissed me is how they would ask them about specific songs and the like and they would always answer in their rock star persona. The interviewer would ask about a riff and Glenn would say something like "when Priest attacks with a riff you can'y ignore it!". That got old quick.

[Bent out of shape]

Snoogans said:


In truth, before reading the book I was always under the impression that Priest was Glenn's band, and KK was "the other guitarist". Probably because there were very few Priest interviews in any of the multitude of guitar/music magazines that I read.

In fact, can anyone remember ever seeing them featured in any of the guitar mags back in the day? I don't, and I had mountains of 'em!




[/quote]
Guitar player magazine had an in depth interview with both of them around 79/80. Interesting how Maiden become so much bigger than Priest. They both reformed their classic line up, both had a number of hit singles, similar look and image, initially anyhow. Suspect better management and branding.

[Snoogans]

Bent out of shape said:



Guitar player magazine had an in depth interview with both of them around 79/80. Interesting how Maiden become so much bigger than Priest. They both reformed their classic line up, both had a number of hit singles, similar look and image, initially anyhow. Suspect better management and branding.


[/quote]


I didn't start reading the US guitar mags until the mid '80s. - In fact, they weren't readily available over here before that - so that's why I must have missed them, It's strange that even during that "guitar madness" period around the turn of the '90s, there was never much magazine coverage of the Priest guys.