“Judas Priest were doing something different. Black Sabbath gave us a real confidence boost to carry on what we were doing”: K.K. Downing on coming up with fellow metal gods Black Sabbath in Birmingham, and why no-one can play like Tony Iommi

As a fellow native of Birmingham, former Judas Priest – and current KK’s Priest – guitarist K.K. Downing remembers coming up within the same scene as Black Sabbath. Prior to hearing their music, specifically their debut album, Downing felt like an outlier who was consistently misclassified, genre-wise. But upon hearing Sabbath’s kindred spirit music, everything changed.

“There was a kind of similarity,” Downing says. “[Sabbath and Priest] were doing something that was different. It gave us a real confidence boost to carry on what we were doing. Black Sabbath was a big confidence boost to us.”

Like many greats from the metal community, Downing has been invited to participate in the Back to the Beginning farewell show. That said, it’s a bit bittersweet for Downing, who was on the ground floor of the Birmingham metal scene and still makes his home nearby. But he’s not sad, as it’s a celebration of how far they’ve come.

“It was hard,” Downing says. “It was tough. We were troopers and fought in the trenches together to survive. But we came out of it. If we never see another Ozzy or Black Sabbath show, this hits home hard. Nothing lasts forever. Nobody lasts forever. But one thing’s for sure: we’re here, and we’re going to make the best of it.”

What led to your getting the call for the Back to the Beginning show?

“I’m actually involved with quite a sizable venue here in the Midlands [of England] called KK’s Steel Mill [in Wolverhampton]. A lot of bands played there, like Michael Schenker and Wishbone Ash, and it’s a cool venue. The guys that run that facility contacted me and said Andy Copping from Live Nation has been in touch, and they did mention Sharon [Osbourne].

“I thought, ‘Oh, that’d be great.’ I hadn’t seen or spoken to Sharon for a long time, but Andy called me and said, ‘Would you be on board for doing this?’ I said, ‘Well, yeah.’ And the thing is that it’s only about an hour away from where I live; it’s not much further than that. I was thinking, ‘That’s really cool. I’m on board. Let’s do it.’”

Judas Priest came up in Birmingham around the same time as Sabbath. What was that scene like?

“Ever since I started, I was always playing this weird music that nobody could describe. At the time, it was all progressive blues bands, and Tony [Iommi] would tell me the same thing. I’m sure that when people booked Judas Priest into a venue, they’d call us a ‘progressive blues band’ because rock wasn’t really consolidated.

“It went from progressive blues to rock to progressive rock to hard rock to heavy rock to heavy metal. But in the late ’60s, none of that existed.”

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Do you remember the first time you heard Sabbath’s music?

“I wasn’t aware of Black Sabbath until I heard their [first] album. Somebody introduced me to it, and it was basically a sigh of relief, with me thinking, ‘Thank fuck,’ you know? I thought, ‘There are other dudes on the planet that are thinking the same as me.’ And I thought, ‘Behold! They’re not far away from where we live and operate from.’”

Did Tony’s playing impact yours much?

“Well, those guys were doing what we were doing, which was metal, though we didn’t know that at the time; we only knew it wasn’t a progression on a blues song. It was just the atmosphere, the mood, the heaviness of the riffs, the darkness and a lot of other words I could think of to describe the kind of similarities, which was really cool.”

I assume you’ve rubbed elbows with Tony, Ozzy and the rest of Sabbath a lot over the years?

“Oh, yeah. They’re just really nice guys, and I wouldn’t say that if it weren’t absolutely true. I know the guys were from a similar sort of area, and they’re just typical guys from there, sort of salt-of-the-earth people, very kind, very warm and good guys to be around.

“Everybody says the same thing about all the guys from Black Sabbath; they’re lovely people. [Judas Priest] were fortunate; we went out and did Ozzfest with the guys and had some good times. True to form, with those guys, it’s all about a sense of humor. Everything’s got an element of humor. It’s what gets us through the day; it’s great to be around guys like that.”

What can you say about the idiosyncratic way Tony plays guitar – especially since you’ll be trying to cover it at the show?

“There’s only one Tony Iommi. He can’t be replicated. I wouldn’t anticipate that would be the case, so I’ll do justice the best I can.”

Does he play very differently from the way you do?

“I think it’s exactly the same as myself, and I stand corrected if Tony thinks otherwise, but we were young guys, and I think it’s fair to say we had a great passion for what we were doing, what we wanted to do and what we wanted to become. I think we placed more importance on preconceived conceptions of what we were going to become than on studying music, musical notation and doing musical homework.

“I think we considered that we would go it alone and do our own things – and that’s what we did. You can hear that in our playing, we were in search of what we could do musically, whether it was right or wrong, or what anybody thought about it because it sounded good to us. For that reason, we were executing what we were doing on the guitar; it was coming from inside of us, it wasn’t from the sheets.

“Back in the day, we just saw ourselves as guys thinking, ‘We look like we should be doing this,’ whatever that means. ‘We’re going to do it. Whatever our skill set is, good, bad, we’re going to go out there, front it, show some shapes [devil’s horns] and some attitude.’ It was early days, and we thought, ‘We’re on board with it. It’s nasty and it’s different from everything else.’”

Do you have a favorite Sabbath riff, and have you decided what song you’ll play?

“They’re all good! It’s still up in the air at the moment. It’s moving fast. First, they said, ‘Can you play this song?’ I said, ‘Sure,’ but it kind of got changed, and they said, ‘What about this?’ I went, ‘Yeah, cool!’ So, whatever the guys decide to do, I’m happy with it.

“I’d like to play some KK’s Priest, and that will be happening as well. But I think the element of surprise is a good thing. I think the fans have paid for a great day, and it’s gonna be pretty spectacular. Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t this the biggest metal fest in history?”

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That’s what they say. It seems the entire metal industry will be on hand.

“I don’t know where they’re going to put us all! [Laughs] It’s a great thrill and an honor. At the same time, someone asked me, ‘Are you going to feel a bit sad and remorseful that it’s the end?’ I said, ‘No. None of that.’ This is going to be a massive party and a great celebration of metal. Maybe afterward, I might come back and think, ‘Well, you know…’”

Do you think it’s truly the end for Ozzy and Sabbath?

“Knowing this industry, and you’ll probably agree with me, you can never say never. It’s always changing. Hopefully, I’ll see Sharon and Ozzy and say, ‘Guys, that was awesome. Let’s take it here and there and see if you can drag it out a bit.’ But whatever will be, will be. It’s an incredible thing to have been on this journey from the beginning.”

• This article first appeared in Guitar World. Subscribe and save.