—by Cathy A. Campagna, November 30, 2009

Halford III, Winter Songs has had legions of fans bracing themselves for the worst. The Metal God invoking the yuletide spirit is a curveball straight out of @#!&. A posting on Blabbermouth.net exclaimed that this was Rob Halford jumping the shark, a reference to the farfetched and declining year of the once acclaimed Happy Days TV show. Well, Arthur Fonzarelli also wore a leather jacket and rode a motorcycle, but the parallels between Halford and the poorly constructed reference to the episode end there.

Timeless classics like “We Three Kings,” “Oh Holy Night,” and “Come All Ye Faithful,” ring more poignantly then their over commercialized and contrite renditions from other artists that simply don’t possess Rob Halford’s penetrating range.

There are also three Halford originals, including the exhilarating “Get Into The Spirit,” which would delight any Judas Priest enthusiast. However, “Winter Song,” first penned by Sara Bareilles, is a ballad that just astounds with its rich imagery and authentic sentiment. In sum, metalheads can rest assured that their idol just wants them to be counted among those who find happiness at this time of year. Moreover, musically speaking, the seven holiday standards have been given a pristinely crisp metallic makeover. Halford III really reinforces that fact that great artists have been deemed as such only by taking great risk.

As if he wasn’t busy enough with Judas Priest and his solo recordings, Halford has also launched a clothing line, Metal God Apparel, that boldly proclaims metal with a screaming vengeance. Rob Halford spoke to the Aquarian Weekly about his undertakings and the intentions behind them shortly after finishing the Priest world tour in Japan.

‘Winter Song’ is beautiful and sad all at the same time.

I love Sara Bareilles, she is a wonderful songwriter. I will tell you how I found that song. We were putting the record together and I just felt that there were some things missing—musically, emotionally. So I went onto iTunes, because I am a Mac-head and I put the word ‘winter’ in the search and a bunch of this came up. Then I saw this ‘Winter Song’ by Sara and I thought, ‘That name rings a bell.’ So I played that 30 second advance snippet you get and I was just bowled over, I thought ‘Oh my God, here is the opportunity to cover this wonderful song that she has written.’ So I downloaded it, legally. Paid for it legally. I sat there with my headphones on, and thought, ‘I can’t wait to start on this.’ It’s so powerful, so I quickly called my producer Roy Z and told him. We got together a couple of days later in San Diego and mapped out the arrangement, so all the credit goes to her, she is absolutely fantastic. She is an absolute genius. You can’t do full justice to a song unless it’s a wonderful arrangement and composition in the first place, so she composed something very special.

Funnily enough, it was a bit of a challenge, because I sang it in a lower register. Roy was urging me to try a different key, and I go, ‘Yeah, I just feel like it’s going to turn into this kind of screaming metal thing.’ He goes, ‘No, I know you well enough, you can find a key that’s comfortable to sing in, but it’s conveying the emotions in a stronger way.’ The words are absolutely mind-blowing. So just experimentation, but I instantly felt that was the best way to convey the emotion. That song is very sad song, very poignant, but it also has a lot of hope, it also has some wonderful, elevated feelings of hope in the lyrics. So I had a blast doing that track.

What was the springboard for making a holiday album?

When I was working in Amsterdam with Andy Horn who engineered and mixed the Fight records with me, we were working together, this is around ‘93, ‘95. We were working around Christmas time, and I have an apartment in Amsterdam, and I just felt like doing a Christmas song, and so I said to Andy, ‘Do you mind if I just have a couple of hours to put together on a Christmas song? I want to do it, for my family and my friends.’ He goes, ‘Yeah, okay,’ and I ended up doing ‘Silent Night.’ We put it together in a couple of hours, it sounded great, and I made copies for my family and my friends and they loved it. So 2009, I have really gotten the opportunity to really fulfill the feelings that I got from that session into a more complete CD release. It’s been a long time coming really, it was a just a question of finding the right moment in the calendar to get it all together. It means a lot to me share these songs with the metalheads all over the world, but I hope that it will crossover and maybe reach into a newer audience as well.

It’s nice because metalheads walk around thinking they have to be tough all the time. This is like a chance to breathe.

I agree, and I am looking around and there isn’t enough of this type of music for the metalheads. Some of this record is really strong and some it is really ballady, but that’s what metal is about anyway. The texture atmospherically and emotionally that I am performing in is no different than what I’ve done in all my work over the decades. But metalheads celebrate Christmas, it’s for people of all faiths and denominations, I am not selling something here other than the great feelings, ‘Let’s have something different.’ We love to hear the standards, and the traditional songs that come around at Christmas, but there is never enough, is there? That was another feeling, why don’t I try and do something a little bit extra.

Was there also a challenge factor for you?

Absolutely Cathy, yeah. I hate repetition, that’s just the way I am. I am always looking for something new. That’s why I love this country so much! America and everything that goes on in the American entertainment industry is—where is the next great idea? Where’s the next great adventure? That is still part of my inner feelings of what I do musically. There is always another great song to do in metal, but this was an opportunity to have a completely different set of ideas and these songs were very powerful for me. I said years ago, what I want to do in my personal solo endeavors is to display sides of me that I can’t do elsewhere. I think that’s what most solo artists do, they tend to open up a little bit more and say to the world, ‘This is what I feel about this subject, or this is what I feel about that thing that’s happened.’ So this is a very personal release for me, and I love it, because it’s all over the place.

That fantastic song by Sara has a message that means something to me, and with a song like, ‘I Don’t Care [For Christmas],’ it’s Planes, Trains And Automobiles, that’s the inspiration for that song. I love that film, I watch it every year. John Candy and Steve Martin and the drama that they go through to get home for Christmas Eve. I thought why not write a song that carries that type of message, and that was a real fun song to do. Roy had the basic song in his pocket anyway. I said, ‘Well, let’s give it this message. It’s Christmas time and the weather is rubbish and the freeway is jammed and the stores are jammed, and you’re trying to get home and your car breaks down.’ It’s a nightmare and you just get so frustrated. I thought let’s have fun with that, if you could have fun with that stuff [laughing]? With the dramas of the holidays.

So what I am trying to say is that this release has all different kind of emotional textures, from spiritual ones to fun and drama, it’s all over the place. That’s what I like to do as a musician in my solo work, to go everywhere and do anything. Whatever feels right, to just go instinctively into places that you feel comfortable with and that you want to have fun with and display.

What about touring, would you do shows for this record?

Somebody just asked me that in Poland. Like everything that we record, no matter who, you have to be able to recreate it in a live environment. I don’t have the opportunity right now, because of the time constraints to make this happen, but I want too. Next holiday season…

I love what TSO do. TSO go out every year and they make a success of that. I know Dee [Snider, Twisted Sister] is doing another Christmas thing in New York this year. So I mean the metalheads, we like that stuff just like everybody else, I am sure they are starving for this, you know? So I like to feel that people accept it for the good spirit and the good feelings that it’s been put together for.

It’s such a treasure, because it’s the complete package.

I am very glad that you’re saying that, because I am already getting a little bit of pushback from people. Those who seem to take everything I do with an incredible amount of, ‘But you’re the Metal God, and it has to be serious and it has to be screaming metal.’ And I love that passion, but I am glad that you’re taking it for what it’s worth and what it’s meant for. It’s a good time of year and it’s a good time to celebrate on all levels on a spiritual level, but importantly to me is just our family, friends and relatives, and just the good times that we have around the holidays.

I am somewhat surprised that you are getting that pushback, because vocally on ‘Get Into The Spirit,’ that’s matched anything that you’ve done with Priest. Only the Metal God could sing like that.

It was important to me to have that style of performance, because that’s what I am famous for, and this is for my metalheads that I love so much. But it is for everybody, I mean, but it’s primarily for my metalheads who look after me and support me. I know what my metalheads like and that’s what I am, and that’s what I do. I wanted to make sure that there were some strong tracks on there as well as the lighter moments. ‘I Don’t Care [If It’s Christmas]’ and ‘Christmas Is For Everyone,’ it’s universal. I travel the world, I am a very lucky guy. I’ve seen so much of the world and I have met so many wonderful people, but hopefully, this kind of music will touch everybody. Whether you’re from Japan, Peru… we’ll just have to wait and see what happens.

Well all the props have to go to Mark Sasso from New York, quite a famous graphic illustrator. He has worked for me on all my solo endeavors and he’s just got a very fertile imagination. He knows everything about who I am and what I do. I think he just sits there and thinks of these great styles and ideas, and emails are just going back and forth. He listens to the songs and he gets inspired about what that song might be about and how he might convey everything about the Metal God and the world that I live in musically. So it all goes to him really. It’s an extension of what we’ve launched almost two years ago with Metal God Entertainment, it’s a broad-based platform of different productions. We’re a still a young company, but I think we are showing we can deliver the goods so to speak.

We obviously did some reissues of some of my previous material just to put the foundation for Metal God Records out there: To show that we can make great looking products, great sounding products. Same with the movies, the DVDs, the clothing line was just in the pipeline along with everything else you know. That launched just a few weeks ago, and from the looks of it, everyone is really interested so we’ll see where that goes. We are going to be at the Magic convention in January in Las Vegas. We’ll probably have about 30 designs ready by then, and we are hoping to get retail, which is very, very important. I am just getting a tremendous amount of support and goodwill for all the metalheads around the world, and that just encourages me.

It makes you realize how unifying clothing really is.

That was another reasoning—I mean, I open my closet doors and I can’t see anything, because it’s full of black t-shirts. I thought, ‘Well, it would be nice if you could have a little bit of color in there.’ These are by no means psychedelic, but they certainly have a different vibe about them. I think if you walk around with a Metal God t-shirt, people know you’re a metalhead, and that’s what it’s all about.

Are you a workaholic?

I suppose I am, yeah [laughing]. I don’t really think about that. I have been doing what I love to do for nearly 40 years now. The one good thing about myself is this; I haven’t turned into a grumpy old man. As I turn 59 next year, you expect that to happen, don’t you? But I am not. I am not cynical, I am not bitter. I absolutely love, live, think, breath, eat, dream heavy metal music and everything associated with it. It’s my passion; it’s my life. Whereas most people are ramping up for retirement, I am speeding up, it’s mad! I love it, but it’s not all me. I am surrounded by wonderful people who feel the same way. The final accomplishment is achieved by fantastic people who feel the same as you do, and all strive to get the same creative spark.

Firstly, it takes an incredible amount of humility to say that it isn’t all you, but the question is how have you chosen who you have brought into that team?

It’s instinctive, isn’t really? Let’s face it, the business that we’re in is extremely competitive and there’s a lot of things going on that you don’t particularly like to face up to. You can certainly not afford to be passive, and again, it’s the great spirit of American capitalism. I say that not in a mean way, it’s a matter of fact way. Unfortunately, we’ve seen some of the really nasty side effects of that with Wall Street greed, but the principles of creativity, it has to be based around the right kind of ideals and virtues, so you just instinctively know if somebody is in it for the wrong reason. I mean, this isn’t about money for me, this is just about creative satisfaction. If there is a payoff that’s great, but there’s never a guaranteed payoff, let’s face it in rock and roll.

I think you can feel good about yourself at the end of the day when you have made something, whether it’s a t-shirt, or a record or a show, and you go, ‘That felt great, people had a great time with it! Now, what’s next to do?’ So you surround yourself with people of the same basic feelings. I am definitely a believer in karma, you work with good people, good things can happen back to you. It’s not part of my personality; I don’t want to be known in a different light. There are some people that are very successful in life, but they leave a trail of bad feelings and bad vibes behind them and I don’t want that. I don’t want to leave that. I mean, I am not a wuss, I think you can do great things in rock and roll and just leave good times and good memories.

Will there be a video for the Christmas record?

I was talking about this to John Baxter last night, my solo manager. We’ve got everything here, everyone is loving this release. We got a great looking record and the artwork, but we need a visual. When I fly back to Arizona, I am going to jump into my car and drive up to the high country with a high-def camera and hope it’s snowing out there. Stand by a tree and sing into the mic, but yes, we are going to try to put a couple of things together just for the actual December period.

Halford III, Winter Songs is available now. For more on Metal God Apparel, visit metalgodapparel.com.