On several occasions I have been asked to compile a story of the early years of my playing with JUDAS PRIEST Having formed the band and gone through various changes over the four years I was with them, I have decided to write it down and also re-record some of the early songs and influence" I hope this piece of musical history will be interesting to any of the PRIEST fans, my fans and anyone else who reads and listens to it

In September 1969, Bruno Stapenhill and myself, who were close friends and musicians, lived in a town just outside Birmingham called West Bromwich and were auditioning guitarists to replace another of our friends John Perry who had been tragically killed in a road accident. The line up was Bruno, bass guitar, John Partridge, drums, and myself, vocals. One young guitarist who turned up was KK Downing, but he lacked the experience at the time to come up to scratch. The guy who got the job was 17 year old Earnest Chataway, who was a natural musician who could play guitar, keyboards, harmonica, and who hailed from Birmingham. He had previously been playing with a band called EARTH later be BLACK SABBATH, also from Birmingham. We liked their name and so searched for something in the same vain. Bruno came up with JUDAS PRIEST (taken from one of his Bob Dylan albums, the song was The Ballad of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest

We started rehearsing and writing some of our own songs, classing ourselves as a progressive rock band. We also played covers of bands like SPIRIT and QUICK SILVER MESSENGER SERVICE. We advertised for work in a local newspaper, and a guy called Alan Eade from Ace Management came to our rescue. He put some gigs our way and took us into the studios to record some of my songs. We recorded two songs, GOOD TIME WOMAN and WE'LL STAY TOGETHER and sent them off to several record companies
We had interest from Harvest and Immediate Record companies so we did a live showcase for them at a local venue in Walsall, The George Hotel

Among the audience that night was another singer called Robert Plant(Led Zeppelin later)who we were introduced to. Immediate Records liked the sound of us and gave us a deal. We signed a three year contract (our manager gave us a champange party at his house) and starting putting songs together for the first album

Two months later the bubble burst when our manager Alan gave us the bad news that the record company had folded. This was a bitter blow for us. Back to the drawing board and back on the road touring.... We carried on touring into 1970, but started to drift apart musically, I wanted to explore the rock side and break away from the bluesy feel the band had developed. So, midway through 1970, we decided to split and go our separate ways. Bruno went to work in Denmark, Ernie went to London and John moved out of town to live in Stourbridge. John ‘Magnet’ Ward, our roadie, teamed up with Ian Paice from DEEP PURPLE and I got married and settled down for a while to gain a little sanity

Towards the end of 1970 I started looking for a new band. One night at a local rehearsal room called Holy Joe’s in Wednesbury (run by a Vicar called "Farther Husband"), I heard a band I liked the sound of, I put my head round the door to see three young head banging crazy long haired guys, amps full up. Great’ I thought. One was KK Downing who I’d auditioned a year earlier. The two other guys were Ian ‘Skull’ Hill on bass and John Ellis on drums Also present was their friend and roadie Trevor Lunn I asked them if they needed a vocalist, and they said yes, so we teamed up together and started rehearsing. I didn’t like the name they were going to call themselves, FREIGHT so I suggested they use my old bands name JUDAS PRIEST

They all agreed and after a few months we started gigging. We opened up our set with "Spanish Castle" music by HENDRIX and did covers by bands like QUATERMASS One track I remember well was "Black Sheep Of The Family". We were also writing some of our songs and opening for bands like SLADE, BUDGIE,WARHORSE and GARY MOORE One of my earliest songs was MIND CONCEPTION and our friend and manager David Corke decided it was time to go into the studios and cut a demo. We recorded two songs at Zella Records, HOLY IS THE MAN and MIND CONCEPTION in July 1971, but never listened to the advice of sound engineers, recording them live with no overdubs and loads of overspill. Having a sore throat and being stoned out of my head didn’t help either.’

We kept gigging until the end of 1971 when we saw the departure of drummer John Ellis His last gig was an opener for SLADE at the Yeoman in Derby. his replacement was Alan Moore

During 1972 we wrote tracks which feature on PRIEST's early album ROCKA ROLLA on Gull Records and included WINTER, NEVER SATISFIED and CAVIAR & METHS. CAVIAR was our big finale when we played live, but was a cut short on the album, so only a small section was ever heard until now

SETLIST 1972 - 1973

Spanish Castle Magic
Winter
Holy Is The Man
Voodoo Rag
Black Sheep
Never Satisfied
Whiskey Woman
Joey
Mind Conception
Caviar And Meths

We continued to tour up and down the country. Alan Moore left us for Birmingham recording band SUNDANCE he later rejoined to play on PRIEST’s second album SAD WINGS OF DESTINY, also on Gull Records. In the meantime, his replacement was Chris ‘Congo’ Campbell, also from Birmingham. We were now opening for many top bands like STATUS QUO, UFO, FAMILY and THIN LIZZY and also topping the bill ourselves over up-and-coming bands like MAGNUM We were working for an agency and management company, I.M.A. from Birmingham, run by Norman Hood and Tony Iommi of SABBATH. David Corke also worked there. Other bands on their books were BULLION (which featured my old friend and bass man, Bruno). FLYING HAT BAND(which featured Glenn Tipton), NECROMANDUS from Carlisle and THE STEVE GIBBONS BAND

Although there was plenty of work, the bigger we got the more overheads there were, and we were still without that exclusive record deal. Soon the financial situation became a problem - I had a baby daughter to support - so I said goodbye to PRIEST in 1973 and took a normal 9-to-5 job. "Congo" also left the band at this time, and our roadie Keith Evans left to join AC/DC as personal roadie and technician to Angus Young. Everyone thought this was the end of the band, but KK and Ian decided to carry on with new members Before leaving I wrote WHISKEY WOMAN which became a PRIEST Classic. The guy who replaced me, Rob Halford wrote a song called RED LIGHT LADY, and the band put the two songs together and titled it VICTIM OF CHANGES.

Within a couple of months in an office I was going crazy, so I quit my job and teamed up with my old pal Bruno and drummer Pete Boot from BUDGIE to form another rock band called LION We toured hard till' 78 before splitting.

KK and Ian teamed up with Rob Halford and his drummer John Hinch from HIROSHIMA and Glenn Tipton from the FLYING HAT BAND and turned PRIEST into a five piece band