Al Atkins, founder and original vocalist of Judas Priest, is currently working on a new album of old songs covering 4 decades of his singing career. The album is yet untitled and a release date hasn’t been confirmed but a long list of musicians have already committed themselves to helping Al make this project a reality.
After leaving Judas Priest, Atkins sang with bands such as Lion, Holy Rage and, more recently, the Atkins/May Project. He has played with musicians such as Dennis Stratton (Iron Maiden), Bernie Torme’ (Ozzy, Gillan) and Jess Cox (Tygers Of Pan Tang). I asked Al Atkins for some comments on his forthcoming album…….
How did the idea for this album come about?
Hello Chris..the idea came about after Paul May and myself was asked to record a ‘best of’ album by our record company and so we recorded the Atkins /May/Project ‘’Anthology’’….it then got me thinking about recording my own solo ‘best of’ album but set about re- recording all of my fave songs from the last four decades and using guest players…we still have three tracks still to record before it is all finished but it is sounding absolutely killer….
Who will be playing with you in the album?
My first guest player was my old buddy Ian Hill (bass) of Judas Priest and he played on two tracks….then John McCoy (bass) ex Gillan . German vocalist Ralf Scheepers (Primal Fear) had previously asked me to do a duet with him so he was a brilliant choice to have him on board. Also i have Paul May (guitar),Stu Marshall (guitar) from Australian band ‘Death Dealer’. Tsuyoshi Ikedo (guitar) from Japanese band ‘Unveil Raze’ and also three more who i will not mention yet until they have played their parts…really looking forward to this album and i hope everyone else who buys it will enjoy it too… thanks ..AL.
Fooking excellent song