Metal Gods are coming to Australia!
Comprising im 'Ripper' Owens from Judas Priest (and many others) and Simon Wright (AC/DC, Dio), Metal Gods isn't a tribute so much as a celebration of music from one of the best periods of music.
Ever.
Playing songs from Judas Priest, Dio, Rainbow and Black Sabbath, Metal Gods takes yu on a journey through some of the absolute hightlights of heavy metal, presented by two of the gentlemen who were heavily involved with bringing it to life.
With the tour starting on October 14, Ripper Owens sat down for a one on one with HEAVY to explain the concept and we started by asking how pumped he is as the opening show in Brisbane looms large.
"I'm ready for it!" he practically yelled at me. "I haven't played a show with Simon for a while, so it's gonna be a lot of fun. I haven't been to Australia in a few years now either. It's always fun to celebrate Ronnie Dio and it's always a good time. It's always a challenge and it's a good time. Singing the Judas Prist stuff is right up my wheel house, right up my alley, but the Dio stuff is... it's a fun night of music. We've got so many great songs and the fans are gonna love it."
Strangely enough the idea to bring something like Metal Gods to life was not sparked by either Owens or Wright, but rather by a bass playing lateral thinker from Australia.
"James did it. We did a tour a while back with an orchestra and we celebrated AC/DC and we did a one off show at the end. We did it and it was a great time, so James ever since has been trying to get it going. It was the same lineup with Joel and James and it was really good and they were such great players. I think the wheels turned then to try and get this thing done. We were getting close to doing it and COVID hit so it threw it off for a few years. James is spearheading this whole thing."
In the full interview, Ripper tells us about the other members of Metal Gods, how they chose what songs from each artist to play, the basic structure of the night, tapping into different vocal ranges for different singers, his own project and new music, why everyone should come out to see Metal Gods and more.