Tim "Ripper" Owens Ups His Horns with KK's Priest

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There, as he played records and cassettes over and over again and pored through magazine s (no internet yet, kids) they stared down at him like friends: Accept. Saxon. KISS. Savatage. Ronnie James Dio. And most of all, Judas Priest. "It's cool to be a fan of musicians all your life, and then you become friends with them and work with them. It's surreal," the now 57-year-old Tim "Ripper" Owens says today. "I've played and made records with everyone I loved growing up. All those guys on the posters." The vocalist is speaking via Zoom on his tour bus parked in Austin. That's where his current group, KK's Priest, is in the final dates of a tour with Accept. KK's Priest will headline their own show in Houston at Warehouse Live on October 10. And he's certainly on brand, sporting both a KK's Priest T-shirt ballcap. If there is one consistent thread in the professional and personal life of Owens, it seems to be his beloved Judas Priest. After all, his nickname comes from "The Ripper," a track off the band's sophomore album, 1976's . Then in the early '90s while pursuing a career in original metal music with Winter's Bane, the vocalist fronted a side project called British Steel, a Priest cover band. Then, something amazing happened. In 1992, Priest lead screamer Rob Halford quit the band, a lineup change that seemed to spell the death of the group. But when they emerged four years later, it was Owens now at the mic on tour and in the studio for . His story also directly inspired the 2001 Mark Wahlberg film vehicle, . Halford returned in 2003 and remains in the lineup today, while Owens continued a career in other bands and as a solo artist. Meanwhile, Priest co-founding guitarist KK Downing quit in 2011, because—as he wrote in his autobiography—of simmering tensions with Halford, guitarist Glenn Tipton, and band management. He stayed pretty much dormant until a brief festival stage appearance in 2019 whetted his appetite for performing again. Downing further explored putting together tentative band with Owens on vocals in late 2019. Then the next year, he founded KK's Priest with Owens, A.J. Mills (guitar), Tony Newton (bass) and Sean Elg (drums). "Ken and I had always kept in touch, and whenever I was performing in the area, he'd come out. And make my band nervous. It was like ," Owens says, using Downing's given name. "And after that show, he figured he wasn't going to be going back to Judas Priest, he wanted to do something, and he asked me to be the singer." Downing began writing furiously, and appeared at a show where Owens was performing with one of his several still-active side bands, the Three Tremors. The pair had some coffee, then sat in Downing's car in a hotel parking lot and listened to some of the demos he put together. "It was really funny we were like two kids! Like back when you used to go out to your car to hear music and go 'Check this out!' Though there was more going on in the car back then than just the music!" Owens laughs. "The hotel was near the venue, and people were walking by and doing double takes after seeing the two of us!" KK's Priest debuted with in 2021, followed by last year's . And while the former sounds very much like a '70s-era Judas Priest record, the latter is darker and more forceful, carrying on the lyrical and imagery themes of swords and sorcerers, demons, chanting, mysterious religious orders, hellfire, and doom. of doom. "The first one I recorded my vocals in England with Ken in his home studio. For the second, I did it in my house taking the time, and I was able to put more of my style on it," he says, noting that Mills had a hand on writing some of that material. "I put a lot of layers on this record with multiple vocals lines and more choruses. Everybody put more of themselves in it. And it's heavier." Both albums share recurring characters of "The Sinner" and "The Sentinel," and Owens relishes being able to disappear into the more literary masks in those songs. He's always felt The Sinner is something of a version of Downing himself (as well as a nod to the 1977 Judas Priest song, "Sinner"). "I have to embody those [characters] and feel them. And a lot of the singers I admired growing up did that as well," he says. As for the future, Owens says KK's Priest definitely "takes precedence" among his other project and bands (which also include the Leviathan Project and Charred Walls of the Damned). But he expects to start work on a new solo record, as well as a third effort from KK's Priest, and more touring. He likes to keep busy. And even the pandemic couldn't stop him. "When COVID hit, I thought 'What am I going to do? This is how I make my .' So, I started guesting on a lot of records—maybe five or six full length—and hundreds of guest vocal appearances," he says. "I post on social media that I'm available!" Interestingly, Owens says that he and Rob Halford actually have become friends over the years. "I always check out what he's doing. He's singing fantastic, he's on top of his game, and we get along great. Though I know sometimes that has upset the press," Owens says. "They always find something that one of us had said and then twist it around. But I love Rob." Finally, the last time that the spoke with Owens was in 2011 a preview a gig in town with the Dio Disciples. Coincidentally, Downing had just left Judas Priest as we asked Owens about it. "I wish Ken success. He's probably got some other things he wants to do," he offered at the time. Reminded of his words almost exactly 14 years later, Owens lets out a laugh. ". Well there you go! It took him a while!"