Rob Halford is metal incarnate. It's as simple as that. From helping to define the genre's sound and feel multiple times over with Judas Priest to establishing studs and leather as the quintessential heavy metal uniform, he's the ultimate metal ambassador. He was also a dear friend of fellow legend Ozzy Osbourne: both mainstays of metal since the 70s, both working class midlands lads who made it against the odds.
Earlier this year, as Priest were midway through a blockbuster tour with Alice Cooper, we caught up with the man they call the Metal God for a candid conversation about his decades-long friendship with Ozzy, Priest's raucous Black Sabbath cover and what they have planned for a special anniversary next year.
Hey Rob, how are ya?
“Really good. This tour with Alice has been sensational. The London show was magical, but also bittersweet because just a few days prior Ozzy had passed. But otherwise, the tour has been really good; Alice is so phenomenal to watch, you can’t take your eyes off him.
"We went out and had dinner about a week into the tour and ended up having a gab-fest. The things he’s been through in his life and the stories he can tell you… it’s just remarkable. He’s the first and last of his kind. It’s a bit like us yam-yams [slang term for people from the Black Country] I suppose; it doesn’t matter how many gongs he’s got, he’s still just this kid from Detroit."
Priest have had Black Sabbath's War Pigs as their intro tape for years – what made you actually cover it?
“It’s well-known that Priest couldn’t do the [Back To The Beginning] show because we’d committed to playing with Scorpions in Hannover that same night. It felt like the best offering we could make, seeing as we couldn’t be there in the flesh. It made absolute sense to do that one – it’s our version of Metallica doing The Good, The Bad And The Ugly [Ennio Morricone’s Ecstasy Of Gold] before their gigs. It’s a rallying cry – ‘Get in, they’re coming on!’ So that’s part of our philosophy on using that song.”
What did covering that song mean to Judas Priest?
“It’s a beautiful connection between both bands. Everybody knows Priest and Sabbath are from the same part of the West Midlands, but it’s a glorious moment to think about how we celebrate heavy metal, particularly because between the two of us we basically invented the whole thing. It’s magical – you can’t beat a singalong. It’s an easy song to latch onto, so as soon as ‘Generals gathered in their masses’ comes in, people lose it. There’s a respect and acknowledgement we share for each other.”
It's a deceptively hard track to cover, not least because it’s unmistakably Black Sabbath.
“Absolutely, but Andy [Sneap, producer and Judas Priest touring guitarist] did a magnificent job in the studio. These classic songs, you can’t faff around with them – you have to stay true to cause. You can’t be yodelling away or having 48 bars of lead break, it’s all about staying to the traditional experience. Ultimately, as much as we want to keep it as close to the original as we feel, we need to give it that Judas Priest style heavy metal in there too.”
Did you get any feedback?
“Oh yeah, we sent it to Sharon [Osbourne] and she came back straight away, ‘This is fantastic. We knew you guys would do the job. We’re so knocked out with it, it’d be amazing if maybe we could work something out to get Ozzy on the track.'”
So that wasn’t always the plan?
“No, completely unexpected. We had no idea it was going to happen, at all. So when Jayne [Andrews, Priest's manager] told us, we thought, ‘This is going to go off like a bottle rocket on bonfire night.’ Andy was able to do his metal magic with the Ozzy takes we were provided. We made it all happen and it’s a thrill for yours truly because I’ve never done a song with Ozzy in my life. I’ve known him forever, sung for him on a couple of occasions, but to actually be on a song with him was indescribable, as both a singer and a friend of his.”
What made Ozzy so special?
“Ozzy was always Ozzy, to me. I think that’s what we all love about him. I think it happens to all musicians, no matter what moniker is attached to your name, you physically and mentally change when you go on-stage and become a different person. I don’t think it matters who it is – I reckon even the Gallaghers feel different going out onstage than they do having a fag and a pint.
"You’ve got to be aware that you need to knock it into the back of the net, every single night. That was always the same with Ozzy – we toured with him and something just happened when he was about to go on, he becomes Ozzy Osbourne.”
When did you first meet him?
“I reckon there’s probably a few nights where I met Ozzy, but didn’t know I’d actually met him. I wish I could tell you for certain the first time we actually spoke, it felt like I always knew him.”
What did you talk about when you first spent time together?
“Our first chat was, ‘Are you sleeping alright?’ We’d both been on the road a few years by that point, and both of us had terrible insomnia. Then we’d be talking about our voices – usually complaining! ‘I don’t know how I’m gonna do this tonight,’ just very casual, genuine banter between the two of us.
I’m just grateful that we had a friendship.
"I have to stress I wasn’t in the inner circle like Zakk [Wylde] was. That’s just the way that life went for us. We had a very close relationship when it came to music, our love for metal and how we supported and respected each other. I’m still grieving the loss of him, I can’t really accept it because like a lot of people I don’t want to think about him not being here.
"I’m just grateful that we had a friendship. Fans and everybody understand that it’s the music more than anything that we thrived on, that gave us strong emotions. That’s enough for me – I’m content and happy with the time I spent with him. The opportunity to sing with him on War Pigs is kind of like a complete circle. It must’ve been destined to happen. It’s also amazing that the first thing you’ll hear of Ozzy, after he passed, is him singing with Judas Priest. That’s mad.”
What kind of person was he?
“He had a very short attention fan. If you’d got his attention for more than 30 seconds, it was a win. I went to see him when we toured together on a Sabbath tour, and I went in to say hello and took off my in-ears and he’s like, ‘What the fuck is that in your ear?’
"So I explained to him that I needed to use them to hear myself, and as I’m explaining he starts chucking stuff at me – ‘Try these, they’ll make you sleep.’ I’m trying to get the name of them from him and he just wanders off. Like I say, very short attention span. He had to keep himself occupied from the moment he woke up until he went to sleep."
Did you get to see Back To The Beginning in the end?
“I’ve seen some clips online. We didn’t get to talk after that gig, either. I was really moved by his performance, but I’ll have to wait until I’m off tour to sit down and see the whole thing. I need to do it in a personal and private space, it’s not something I can do with a bunch of mates around me.
I'm still in a bit of a mist about Ozzy not being here.
"It’ll be profound. I’m looking forward to it, but I’m still in a bit of a mist about him not being here. Some of those other performers were great too – Yungblud, wow. He actually really reminds me of Ozzy, in terms of personality and how he comes across.”
What does Ozzy mean to you now?
“Ozzy is still a mate, albeit one in a different place. He’s part of my extended family, if you will. He was a very prolific man, in terms of art. He was always doodling and filling up notebooks, so I reckon we’ll see more of that when time goes on. Ozzy and Sharon were pioneers, especially with stuff like Ozzfest and doing reality TV. They did so many unique, creative things.”
Judas Priest headline Bloodstock Open Air in August
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