Judas Priests’ Rob Halford Recollects His Darkest Moment, And How It Almost Killed Him

 Good thing he turned his life around!

Rob Halford and Judas Priest have announced that they will reissue their 10th studio album Turbo. The British metal legends will commemorate the 30 year anniversary of the LP, and it is set to include two bonus discs with audio from a performance in Kansas City at Kemper City.

With the upcoming release, Rob has been on a small press tour in promotion of the upcoming material. Rob dropped by a podcast titled “The Rock Brigade,” and spilled details on his dark past when he was dealing with drug addiction. This time period actually took place during the recording and release of Turbo back in 1986.

“There was a period in the early ’80s when Priest was literally banging out a record every year and a world tour every year. How did we do that, I don’t know. It was just that we were running on fire, we were having the times of our lives, we had deadlines to meet, we had an incredible thing going with the label.”– Halford said.

The pressure of recording and meeting these high demands got to Rob and other members of Priest, and he succumbed to drugs as an outlet.

“So here’s the deal. ‘Turbo’, the middle of the 1980s, right? We had a little bit of time to kind of pull back and take our time to make this record. So we were in a different place. I mean, I was in a different place, because I had so much coke up my nose, I don’t know how I got through every day of the week, because I was raging at that point, personally. What I’m trying to say is, America in 1986 and the mid-’80s was… wherever you went, there was incredible things happening in rock and metal. I always kind of reflect as the ’80s, particularly in America, as being one of the greatest decades for our kind of music. So we were wrapped up in all that, we were wrapped up in all that excitement and good times and party-party-party. And I think that we were just… we were making the record.”– Halford said.

Luckily Rob was able to get clean, and survived this crazy time! It was the 80’s, so drugs were a common thing, especially for rockstars! We can’t wait to hear this reissue, which is set to release February 3rd!