In 1992, longtime Judas Priest vocalist Rob Halford exited the band and would not return until 2003. In his stead was vocalist Tim "Ripper" Owens, whose name you might know from bands like Iced Earth and Charred Walls of the Damned. Now in a new interview with Metal-Rules, Ugly Kid Joe vocalist Whitfield Crane says there could've been another vocalist change in the absence of Halford.
Crane says he initially hook his drummer Shannon Larkin up with Judas Priest guitarist Glenn Tipton for his then-solo record. Tipton at one point apparently asked both Crane and Larkin to join Judas Priest.
“It was when Glenn Tipton was doing his [1997] ‘Baptizm of Fire’ record,’ and I got Shannon Larkin, our then-drummer to play on it. He played two songs and replaced some badass drummers on that because it was click tracked. Glenn pulled Shannon and me aside and said, ‘You boys can have the Priest gig if you want it,’ and Shannon and I were pretty much into Priest. I mean, we loved Priest.
“All I said was this, ‘Say it again.’ And Glenn’s pretty fucking brilliant – I mean, he goes, ‘What do you fucking mean, ‘Say it again’?’ And I’m all, ‘Just say it one time?’ And he’s like, ‘You can have the fucking Priest gig mate.'”
Crane says he turned the offer down because "you can’t be Rob Halford" and it "would have been cool to do it, but not really. It’s not a good move." Which of course that's the reason, because replacing Halford as a vocalist is entirely impossible. This is also the same year Owens' debut with Judas Priest came out, titled Jugulator, so who knows how much that had to do with their potential search.
It's also worth noting that nobody from Judas Priest has yet commented on this story and it's truth.
