Judas Priest bassist Ian Hill says he doesn’t think the band’s latest album Firepower (opens in new tab) will be their last.
Since recording the album, guitarist Glenn Tipton’s has been forced to take a step back from the majority of their live shows due to his battle with Parkinson’s disease (opens in new tab).
But Hill doesn’t think that will stop the band and reports that they’ll take stock next summer and decide on their next course of action.
Asked if Firepower and their current tour dates will be their last, Hill tells Musik Universe (opens in new tab): “We haven’t planned anything like that. There is no reason to stop doing these things.
“Glenn can play for a while, even during a bad day. It's just that he can’t play for a whole show for now – and that could change if there are some interventions that can help it.
“So there is no reason to stop writing new songs, he is quite capable of composing riffs and playing for a while to record an album. So we don’t expect Firepower to be the last album."
Hill adds: “The Firepower tour goes on until next summer and at that point we'll take a step back and think about all of this and see if we continue the Firepower run or do something else.”
Hill also hints that a live package documenting the current tour could happen at some point in the future, although nothing has been set in stone.
He says: “I think it's very possible. We have just played several European festivals and most of them are filmed, so we could turn to them.
“Our sound engineer also records most of our shows so we would have enough sound and images for someone to do something.”
Earlier this week, Priest frontman Rob Halford said the band were putting the pieces in place to celebrate their 50th anniversary in 2019 (opens in new tab).
Judas Priest recently launched the Glenn Tipton Parkinson’s Foundation, with money raised going towards pioneering new research in to the disease.
Priest are selling t-shirts through their online store and they’re also available at their Firepower shows (opens in new tab).
