Elegant Weapons: From Here To Eternity
Distorted Sound and Richie Faulkner are taking a whimsical trip down memory lane, specifically to July 5th, 2008. That day saw IRON MAIDEN play, to date, their only UK stadium show at Twickenham with a star-studded support of AVENGED SEVENFOLD and WITHIN TEMPTATION. Opening proceedings was Lauren Harris, daughter of MAIDEN bassist Steve and whom Richie formed part of her backing band. Such was the guitarist’s impact on the singer’s father, Steve would tell Richie that he would have him in his band should IRON MAIDEN have lost one of their own axemen, right?
Richie smiles, “well, the internet has done it’s magical work there; just after I got the JUDAS PRIEST gig, Steve said he’d love to have me in his band didn’t actually say which band he was referring to, so I didn’t know if he meant IRON MAIDEN or BRITISH LION! But the internet’s run with it, as it does!”
Ah yes, the JUDAS PRIEST gig – if you’re not going to be in IRON MAIDEN, the self-proclaimed ‘Gods of Metal’ isn’t a bad consolation. Richie has been with JUDAS PRIEST since 2011, following K.K. Downing’s acrimonious departure. He’s had a distinguished run with the band since, but we’re not here to talk about PRIEST (who, incidentally, were days away from announcing their 2024 UK tour when this took place). No, the main topic here is ELEGANT WEAPONS, the brand-new supergroup from Richie that’s not only given him a chance to spread his own wings, but also looks ahead to securing his long-term musical future.
“It’s always been on my mind since I joined JUDAS PRIEST, ‘what am I going to do when they’re no longer around?’, especially as I joined during the Epitaph World Tour which was supposed to be their farewell run. It was the time to consolidate whatever ideas I had and see what was going on.”
JUDAS PRIEST of course, have continued since, but Richie kept writing and recording his own ideas and finally got the chance to move things on further in 2020. Three guesses as to why that came about. “Yeah, I had time during the pandemic,” he laughs. “I had a look at what I had, whether it was an EP, an album, if I had a band, maybe even one to take on the road, all of that. Hopefully, this album will lay the groundwork to carry on when JUDAS PRIEST don’t.”
Said album is Horns For A Halo, which was recorded during the pandemic by Richie, PRIEST drummer Scott Travis, RAINBOW and LORDS OF BLACK singer Ronnie Romero and PANTERA bassist Rex Brown. A huge slab of traditional, heavy metal glory, it’s a perfect modern release for those who love their battle jackets and studwork, from the swagger of lead single Blind Leading The Blind to the BLACK SABBATH-esque Downfall Rising; there’s even a glittering cover of UFO’s Lights Out nestled among the tracks as well. That said, with so many sub-genres of metal out there, a lot of which are pushing boundaries in ways the classic sound simply can’t, is there a slight fear from Richie that, if bands like ELEGANT WEAPONS didn’t have an ethos of flying the flag for this brand of metal, it would just die out?
“No, I think there’ll always be people for it,” he says. “Whether it would be on the same commercial scale or not, I don’t know – it certainly isn’t now than it was in the 80s – but when you’ve got bands like OVERKILL, METALLICA and us releasing new albums, along with the new JUDAS PRIEST one next year, it’s still potent. And, as long as I’m around, I’ll always love this music and play it.”
Indeed, just having Richie around today is a blessing in itself – it’s been less than two years since he suffered an aortic aneurysm onstage with JUDAS PRIEST, requiring ten hours of emergency surgery immediately afterwards. There were, naturally, a number of things that helped him through his recovery, but getting ELEGANT WEAPONS complete was certainly one and, now that it’s done, Richie is looking forward to taking the album on the road (with URIAH HEEP bassist Dave Rimmer and ACCEPT drummer Chris Williams in place of Scott and Rex) and then resume PRIEST duties in the new year, especially after staring his own mortality in the face.
“Some of my nearest and dearest think I’m doing too much, but there’s a drive in me, rightly or wrongly, that just wants to do everything. I never know what is or isn’t around the corner, but I’m enjoying every day for all it’s worth. As I like to say, if you’ve got a book to write, an album to record or something you want to get out and do, do it, because you just don’t know what life will throw at you next.”
Horns For A Halo is out now via Nuclear Blast Records.
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