Judas Priest is considered one of the most influential bands in Heavy Metal. But what is it that really inspires the members of the band? Which bands do they listen to in their free time and which role models do they have? Find out all this in our interview with Richie Faulkner from Judas Priest!
We prepared some tough questions for Judas Priest guitarist Richie Faulkner. And even though decisions are always hard to make, especially when it comes to your favorite metal bands, he gave us loads of great answers! You can watch the entire video of the interview on our YouTube channel (linked down below) or read it right here, right away:
Top Three - An Interview with Richie Faulkner
Richie: Hi there metal maniacs, this is Richie Faulkner from Judas Priest and you’re watching Impericon.
[Intro]
Richie: I’m the worst when it comes to favorites. There’s so many good things out there, it’s so hard to commit to one or three or five.
Top Three Records
Richie: Just off the top of my head, it’s always Master of Puppets, UFO’s Strangers In The Night and Jimi Hendrix’ Electric Ladyland. That will change in about three minutes time if you give it any more thought. But maybe those ones that come first are the real ones, you know what I mean, so we’re gonna go with those three.
Top Three Party Songs
Richie: [laughs] Dancing? I like to dance to, let me think, well, if it’s kind of like a rock party there are certain songs that just gets everyone rocking, you know? Always AC/DC, always AC/DC, you know, whether it’s “Highway to Hell” or “Problem Child” or anything like that. You know, anything with such a groove, you know, with the AC/DC stuff. [mumbles] Uh, “Riff Raff” from AC/DC, that’s a rocking tune to party to. Jimi Hendrix’ “A Mermaid I Should Turn To Be” I think is the name of the track. It’s off Electric Ladyland, it’s proper trippy and cool and cool sounds. And “Planet Caravan” by Black Sabbath, for the comedown of the party.
Top Three Bands
Richie: Top three artists of all time, I mean, it’s such a tough one. If we’re gonna go with metal and rock, I mean, I’ll have to say Metallica are always a favorite. Black Sabbath and uh, I think a little band called Judas Priest has got to be up there for obvious reasons. Absolutely.
Top Three (Metal) Drinks
Richie: Top three metal drinks. It’s gotta be a Jack and Coke, innit, it’s gotta be a Lemmy. That’s a thing that’s like a standard, Jack and Coke, Bourbon and Coke, whatever. You can’t beat a beer. I think wherever you go in the world, especially here in Germany, ‘is some killer beer over here, wherever you go: Belgium or as I said Germany. Something, you know, some killer beer. So you’ve got to go with a straightforward ‘beer’. I spend a lot of time down in the Caribbean and there’s a beach bar there that has a cocktail called “The Painkiller”, which I saw: “I know I gotta get one of those”. I can’t remember what was in it, it was like a, again, it’s like a strawberry daiquiri, which is as far away from metal as you can get. But it was called “The Painkiller”, so I’ll go with that one.
Top Three Movies
Richie: This is easy. Well, I have this conversation a lot and - I got a Top 5, roughly. And it always turns into a debate, because like, the original Star Wars trilogy to me is one choice. If all three movies are great, I think you can class them as a trilogy. Jurassic Park not so much. I love Jurassic Park I, II is a bit s***, III I love, but you know, the entire Star Wars trilogy - the original Star Wars trilogy - is one choice. Blade Runner. Jaws. Jurassic Park I and Alien. That’s five. I’m good, I’m good at that, I’ve got another five as well, but they’re definitely my top five.
Top Three Inspiring People
Richie: I think number One is Glenn Tipton. I think Glenn Tipton is a huge inspiration for not only me but millions of people on varying levels as well, you know. Obviously musically, as a writer, as a guitar player, and as a brother, you know. As someone who I look up to, not only for what he does within music, but how he handles life and how he is as a human being, you know, is a huge inspiration. Obviously Hendrix, I always go back to Hendrix as, you know, he was unique, he stepped out of the norm and obviously I didn’t know the guy, but he was so unique and distinctive; that can only be inspiring, you know. I find people inspiring like Peter Cushing, you know, the old Hammer horror movies. You listen to those guys, Peter Cushing and Alec Guinness and those sort of people. They were from a different time, you know. Even Sir Christopher Lee, you know, I worked with Sir Christopher Lee not so long ago and uh, this guy is from a different time. Guys from different times have different ideas, different ways of dealing with things. They’re always inspirational to listen to, definitely.
Top Three Own Songs
Richie: That is a tough one, because they’re all, like, your children, you know. You like them for different reasons. “Sword of Damocles” from Redeemer of Souls. I’m a big fan of that one. “Traitors Gate” from Firepower. I like “Rising from Ruins” as well from Firepower. We’ve been playing that recently on the tour and it’s been really connecting with people. They seem to know it, they sing it; for being a new song we got a good reaction for that, so that kinda makes it special and loved. Loved even more, so I’ll say those three, definitely.
