In a new interview with Brazil’s Heavy Talk, former Judas Priest and current KK’s Priest vocalist Tim “Ripper” Owens was asked whether he has to be more careful with his voice as he ages to keep hitting the high notes live. He responded (transcribed by Blabbermouth): “It’s still there. I think I sing as good now [as], if not better than, I ever have. I know I said in the press a while ago, and they ran with it, that I’ve been struggling with my voice. But when I say I’ve been struggling, that’s probably 75% for me, and it’s probably better than a lot of other people at 100%.
“But I try really hard. Every night, you just hope you can sing. But my high notes have been really great. And I just hope I can get up there and sing.”
Owens explained what he means when he says his voice has been struggling: “Today, I’ve been doing these warmups because my… When I said my voice is struggling, what I mean is I actually have to warm up for shows. I’ve never warmed up in my life, ever. Like Ronnie [James] Dio, he never warmed up. I didn’t warm up, but then I started struggling where it wasn’t warmed up, and that’s when I said that.
“Today I said, ‘You know what? I’m gonna not warm up. I’m just gonna go up and sing.’ So it worked out today. You guys were watching, so that’s scary. I could’ve sung like crap, and then you would’ve been there, filming it, probably.”
Speaking to Chile’s iRock.cl late last month about the importance of physical stamina on the road, Owens said: “Health-wise, I’m probably in the… Well, I haven’t been to the gym in a while ‘cause I’ve been on the road. But I go to the gym every day, and I lost weight and work out, and I’m probably healthier. But I just got some vocal issues. And as a singer, that happens. I mean, you can do any kind of remedy you want, but when you have vocal issues, you have vocal issues. So I’ve been trying to figure out how to sing with vocal issues, which is maybe not a bad thing.”
Owens continued: “Because I don’t cheat when I sing, I sing everything how I’m supposed to sing it. I don’t change the versions. I don’t dodge high notes. But now that I’ve had some vocal issues, I’m trying to learn how to not do that. I don’t do it that often because I just… Sometimes I go for that note, and something might not come out, but God, gosh darn it, I’m trying to hit that note. But I’m learning how to maybe tame it back a little bit. Maybe I can find ways to save myself ‘cause [I’m] not getting any younger.”
Asked if the pre-show excitement remains the same now as earlier in his career, Owens told iRock.cl: “Well, I still do. I still get a little nervous. Not nervous to step on stage, but nervous ‘cause I wanna sing good. I get quiet, and I pace. I never used to warm up — ever in my life, I never warmed up — but I have to warm up since my voice has been doing this. And I get nervous thinking I’m not gonna sing good. I’ve always been like that.
“But I still look forward to the show, and I love to walk out on the stage. I love to see the facial reactions of the people. That’s why I can’t stop singing the high notes. I don’t even love singing high notes and high stuff, but I love to watch the people’s reaction [and see them] smile. I watch guys and girls smile during the show when I sing, when I hit notes and I sing, and they just smile, and that’s what makes you excited about going out there.”
Owens added: “I’m a pretty quiet guy off the stage, but when I walk on stage… People used to call me ‘Clark Kent’ because I would be off the stage and be quiet, and I used to wear a suit at work, and I’d be normal, and then they watched me go on stage, and, like, ‘What the heck is this? What is this guy?’
“But you feed off the fans. When the fans aren’t very good, and they’re sitting down on their butts, and they’re eating food, it’s hard to get into the show. But when they’re just [going crazy], it’s great.”
In an October 2023 interview with The Metal Mixtape, Owens addressed the importance of reproducing studio vocals live — remarks that Blabbermouth published under the headline “TIM ‘RIPPER’ OWENS Is ‘Sick’ Of Watching Singers Who Change Their Songs To Accommodate Their Aging Voices.” Owens had said: “Everything you hear on this record I can sing live. I’m so sick of watching singers — I know they can do it, but they change their songs; they lower it, they make new melodies, and they hit a high note for a second. And it’s, like, ‘Dude, sing what you wrote. Sing what you wrote.’ I understand it gets tougher. But I can sing ‘Sermons Of The Sinner’. And these KK’s Priest songs are harder to sing than the classic Priest songs, except maybe ‘Metal Meltdown.’”
Owens elaborated: “I pride myself on whatever I did in the studio, I can do live. I mean, listen, we open out of the gate with ‘Hellfire Thunderbolt’, and if anybody’s heard it from these concerts, it goes ‘Hellfire Thunderbolt’ into ‘One More Shot At Glory’, and they sound like the record — I mean, close to the record. And that’s the other thing about doing these vocals — one minute I want it to be aggressive, one minute I want it to be high and clean, I want it to be soft and beautiful, but I can do all that live.”
Reflecting on the difference in difficulty between his solo material and the KK’s Priest catalog, Owens said: “I record everything at the top of my ability, and I always struggle with my material. Like when I tour solo, it’s pretty easy. But when my rest comes [is] when I get to sing the classic Priest songs, and I imagine it’s the same even with Rob [Halford], when he gets to sing ‘Breaking The Law’ and ‘Metal Gods’. I mean, those things are — anybody could sing them, it’s so easy and it’s a break. But this tour, you open up with ‘Hellfire Thunderbolt’, ‘One More Shot At Glory’, ‘The Ripper’… I mean, man, they sound great live.”
After Blabbermouth published those October 2023 comments, Owens took to social media to clarify that his remarks were directed at all singers who fail to reproduce what they record live, regardless of age. He wrote: “Actually it was all singers who can’t sing what they record! That’s what I don’t like. Any age [,] any singer.”
Owens joined Judas Priest in 1996 and recorded two studio albums with the band — 1997’s Jugulator and 2001’s Demolition — before the band reunited with Rob Halford in 2003. He has since fronted KK’s Priest, the project led by co-founding Judas Priest guitarist K.K. Downing, with whom he recorded Sermons Of The Sinner (2021) and The Sinner Rides Again (2023).
