In a brand new interview with Charlotte, North Carolina’s WCNC, JUDAS PRIEST singer Rob Halford opened up about his religion. He stated (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “I got here to some extent in my life that I speak about in my autobiography, ‘Confess’, the place, once you’re an alcoholic and once you’re a drug addict, you’re left with a alternative. You both sort of hand it throughout to anyone higher than your self, and you then begin to work every day to keep up your sobriety, together with the non secular connection. That’s actually vital.
“I’ve all the time been an individual of religion, ever since I used to be a little bit child,” Halford continued. “However once I grew to become clear and sober 38, 39 years in the past, that grew to become actually, actually very important to me. It is a part of my every day affirmations. I begin the day with prayer and I finish the day with prayer. And this imagery of the way you select the next energy is left fully into your personal palms. That is what I really like in regards to the work that we do in supporting one another on a day-to-day, 24-hour cycle. Your non secular object might be something. If you’d like a bodily, tangible object, it may be something. For me, it is my heavy metallic cactus by the swimming pool. I do not go in entrance of the cactus and pray, however once I have a look at it, that makes a connection for me. And that is only a actually vital a part of my life on a day-to-day foundation for each day of sustaining my sobriety. I can not do it on my own. I do know I’ve one thing that is there with me proper now, that there is a presence that is there with me.”
Rob added: “I simply love the concept of prayer. Some folks sort of have a look at it and [wonder], ‘Effectively, what does it do?’ Effectively, attempt it. What have you ever obtained to lose? Prayer and praying can carry stunning peace to your life. It can work miracles. So, that is simply one other aspect of what retains me on this steadiness and concord, whereas earlier than I used to be very fractual and disjointed and disconnected, and damaged glass in all places. Now I see far more clearly — my aware stream is extra fluid. There’s nothing interrupting that from a substance or a chemical. The readability is nice for me as a artistic particular person. And so all of that mixed makes my day-to-day dwelling a superb factor to really feel and to be part of.”
Again in Could 2024, Halford was requested by Kat Mykals of the 103 GBF radio station, JUDAS PRIEST singer Rob Halford in regards to the lyrics to the band’s track “Crown Of Horns”, which seems on PRIEST‘s newest album, “Invincible Defend”. He stated: “I really like love. It is the most effective four-letter phrase within the historical past of phrases. Love is all the things. Love is all you want. We actually want love greater than ever proper now. Let’s not get into that.
“I believe I did numerous reflecting as I’ve moved on by these many years,” he defined. “You are likely to replicate a little bit bit extra. You simply achieve knowledge, opinions. However I simply considered this factor, significantly about love. Love does not come simple. You need to battle for love. And you’ll’t simply let it sit and you may’t simply let it’s there. You’ve got gotta work it on a regular basis. You’ve got always gotta be reinforcing no matter love you will have in your life, whether or not it is with a associate. Me and [my partner] Thomas have been collectively for a thousand years, and each night time I say, ‘I really like you.’ You inform folks that you just love them. Simply say these phrases. Simply say, ‘I really like you.’ It is simply such a strong, easy assertion. So you have obtained that. And it’s true. I discovered the laborious approach — I did discover the laborious approach, ‘trigger it took me perpetually to seek out anyone that I fell head over heels in love with. And I believe that’s for many of us. Love does not come simple. That is a track, is not it? ‘Love Do not Come Straightforward’. So, that is only a reference. All of us put on one thing like a little bit of a crown of horns to get to the place that we must be in a relationship specifically. So it is a love track. It sounds loopy, however ‘Crown Of Horns’ is a love track.”
Halford, who celebrated the thirty ninth anniversary of his getting sober this previous January, was additionally requested by Mykals how he stays humble as a way to keep his sobriety when he’s actually identified to the world as a Metallic God. He responded: “Very first thing within the morning, I say prayers. Final thing at night time, I say prayers. I’ve to — that is a part of the sober routine, staying sober.
“I do not assume that is ever been misplaced on me as a result of I understand how laborious it’s for any band to remain collectively,” he continued. “Bands are so advanced and so fragile. The hardest bands on the planet are like made from glass — they will simply shatter and break aside for the craziest of causes. So to have the ability to do that work, this job for over 50 years, I’m honored and I’m humbled by it. I can not consider it, and I am eternally grateful — I am grateful each day that I get up that I am on this band, JUDAS PRIEST. What a band, what a life, what a narrative. So, reflection, gratitude, being sort. And it is powerful, significantly on the planet that we reside in. We’re surrounded by a relentless screaming muddle. And I am positive being sober has been a giant a part of my understanding of this. You’ve got gotta try to discover your personal inside peace and concord. And that is powerful. It is laborious work. You possibly can’t let it go. You are working at it on a regular basis. So it is numerous that. However actually, I am simply so, like I stated, grateful and honored to be on this band doing the work that I like to do, understanding the facility of metallic, understanding the facility of rock and roll.
“I am positive folks have instructed you time and time and time once more that they have been listening to your present and you have helped them get by a tough a part of the day otherwise you performed a track that made them cry otherwise you performed a track that made them really feel good. So that is the facility of music that unites us and retains us all on this connectivity. We name ourselves the metallic group in PRIEST, and this inclusiveness, all people’s welcome. And I believe once more, it is making all people really feel part of your life.
“After we’re up there on stage, once I’m up there being the Metallic God and doing my stuff, we’re doing this collectively,” Rob added. “It is not simply me. Firstly, I can not try this with out you guys. I might be silly doing that to an empty room. So, that is by no means misplaced on me. Each single present is particular in that respect, and each single present works its magic for me as an individual.
“Earlier than I am going on stage, I say my serenity prayer. After I come off stage, I say my serenity prayer. I am a prayer freak. Nevertheless it helps me. It is only a stunning factor. And a few of my associates, they are saying, ‘Why are you all the time praying?’ ‘I am not all the time praying.’ I stated, ‘Do you pray?’ I [go], ‘Simply attempt it. What have you ever obtained to lose? You’ve got obtained nothing to lose. You’ve got obtained all the things to realize by simply discovering simply even one second within the day, similar to 30 seconds of your day, simply shut your eyes and say a serenity prayer, and finally it’s going to work. Issues will begin occurring. You have to work at it. It is like love. You possibly can’t anticipate this stuff to return to you. You possibly can’t [go], ‘Let me win the lottery. Let me get this. Let me do it.’ You possibly can’t try this. You’ve got gotta work, you have gotta work. And once you work, once you put within the work, you get the rewards. So all of that’s wrapped up on this staying in a smart, life like place.”
In 2022, Halford spoke to Spain’s Mariskal Rock about how he has managed and prevented the urge to relapse since 1986. “I give it some thought on a regular basis,” he stated about consuming alcohol. “It is an dependancy. After I’m watching the Phoenix Cardinals play on TV the opposite day, there’s always adverts for beer and for alcohol and stuff. And I do know it is there. And it is a temptation. So it’s important to have all the psychological instruments able to get you thru that occasion. ‘Trigger it is all about cases. And I reside sooner or later at a time. I’ve lived sooner or later at a time for [almost 40] years now. And that is all that issues. It is the second. You reside within the second — not yesterday, not tomorrow; it is now. And it’s important to be prepared for when that little beer satan comes in your shoulder and goes, ‘Come on, Rob. Have a little bit drink of beer.’ ‘Fuck off.’ [Laughs] As a result of I do not wanna really feel that approach once more, man. I do not wish to be that particular person. I used to be depressing. I wasn’t completely happy. I used to be dangerous to folks. I do not wanna undergo that once more. In order that’s additionally a part of my discovering a steadiness in my day-to-day life.”
Rob beforehand spoke about how he manages to remain clear on the street in a 2020 interview with the “Throughout The Board” podcast. “It is not simple,” he stated on the time. “It’s extremely a lot a day at a time. You are given all of the instruments and sources out of your rehab expertise. I take advantage of ’em each day. A number of it is rather like psychological notes — speaking issues by. Typically I converse ’em out; numerous it’s inside. In order that’s actually very important on a day-to-day stage of sobriety.
“After I was in rehab [in 1986], there’s anonymity in rehab, however on the similar time, it’s important to inform all people your life story, so all people knew what I did. And I keep in mind we talked about the truth that I am gonna return to this world of intercourse and medicines and rock and roll and booze. I do not know the way I am gonna have the ability to cope, as a result of it will not be a gradual reimmersion into society, so to talk. I will not have the ability to go tiny steps; I am simply gonna go straight into the deep finish. I can’t go to work and say to my bandmates, ‘You possibly can’t drink. You possibly can’t do that. You possibly can’t try this,’ as a result of it is management. Settle for your powerlessness.
“I do not assume we ever within the band had a sit-down dialog about this, however I believe that there was caring and understanding — as there nonetheless is,” Halford continued. “However I might be the final particular person to say that I’ve to set a algorithm, as a result of then this entire enterprise of dwelling my life on my phrases [turns into something] you push on to different folks: ‘Effectively, now, you possibly can’t do that,’ ‘You possibly can’t try this.’ That is simply hypocrisy on the very best stage.
“Even now, after we’re flying after a present, and the blokes are having a beer or a cocktail or no matter, man, I might love that chilly beer. I might love a slug of Jack and Coke. I can scent it, ‘trigger we’re in a aircraft collectively. It is like this little angel on one aspect and the satan on the opposite aspect. My on the spot thought is I by no means wanna be sick once more. I by no means, ever wanna really feel that dangerous ever once more. I by no means wish to be in that horrible, darkish, lonely place ever once more. So it is fleeting. However, once more, it is all the time there.
“After I’m residence, particularly [during] this COVID factor, [my longtime partner] Thomas does not drink. After I first met Thomas, he stop consuming. In order that’s a help to me. I am by no means actually round alcohol that a lot, or medicine, once I’m not working. However, yeah, when my followers, or when PRIEST followers come to see us, yeah, they’re gonna have some drinks; they may have a few spliffs [and] do no matter else recreationally. They’re entitled to. And they’re dwelling their lives and they’re partying and they’re having the time of their lives, as they need to. They do not have an alcohol downside; they do not have a drug dependancy. There are folks that may take pleasure in this stuff in life and it [has] no impact on them, in a bodily sense and in a psychological sense.
“So, it is an absolute miracle,” Halford added. “I can solely say it is a miracle that I’ve obtained that removed from January the sixth, 1986 with out slipping as soon as. And I am not boasting, as a result of it is all of the previous — that is the previous; it is gone. I reside within the second. I do not take into consideration yesterday or tomorrow; I am dwelling now. However I am grateful that I have been capable of get this far with out failing. Not failing — that is the fallacious phrase. With no slip off the wagon — regardless of the time period is. I am grateful that I have been capable of get this far and keep clear and sober. As a result of if I did not, who is aware of the place I might have gone and the place I might have ended up?”
Halford credited his perception in the next energy for serving to him in his restoration. “After I obtained clear and sober, that was a serious change in my life,” he stated throughout an look on HATEBREED frontman Jamey Jasta‘s official podcast, “The Jasta Present”. “And a part of my restoration is simply having this higher-power perception. And it really works. It really works, man. It actually, actually is vital.”
Halford added: “There most likely might be folks listening to [this] podcast who haven’t got something like that of their life, and that is nice; it is all about acceptance. However I all the time say to folks, should you’re occupied with it, the only factor I do is I pray. I pray fairly a bit, really. And even should you do not consider in prayer, simply have a go. Pray for a superb day, or simply pray in your pal, or no matter it is perhaps. And it is wonderful, man, ‘trigger it completely works. I assure, it genuinely does work. And now I am sounding like [American evangelical Christian evangelist] Billy Graham, however I am simply making an attempt to specific among the issues which are vital to me on a day-to-day foundation that make me capable of stroll out on that stage every night time and do my work.”
In an interview with Basic Rock Revisited, Halford stated that he stop utilizing substances as a result of he “was sick and uninterested in feeling sick and drained. I’ll all the time keep in mind the primary present I did clear and sober… It was in New Mexico, in Albuquerque,” he recalled. “I actually felt elevated, as all the things was coming with such readability. I used to be capable of actually… benefit from the efficiency of JUDAS PRIEST with out having all the different issues in entrance of it. Since that day, it has been a miracle.”
Halford added, “All people has to face issues of their lives sooner or later. It [doesn’t have to] be booze and medicines. You possibly can eat an excessive amount of, or you cannot train, or no matter… It isn’t simple staying clear and sober in rock and roll. There are temptations galore from the second you wake up to date you fall asleep, particularly once you’re on the street. [But] I believe we’re among the strongest folks, my associates and my sober brothers in metallic.”
Rob‘s autobiography, “Confess”, by which he discusses his journey to sobriety, arrived in September 2020 by way of Hachette Books. It was written with Ian Gittins, co-writer of “The Heroin Diaries” by Nikki Sixx.
