Judas Priest’s Rob Halford – I Hate the Sound of My Voice
Did you know Judas Priest’s Rob Halford hates the sound of his own voice? That’s just one tidbit you’ll find in the Metal God’s second book, Biblical. We caught up with Halford to chat about the book, along with over 50 heavy metal years of Priest.
Early on into Biblical, Halford describes his discomfort with hearing his own singing voice, and he elaborated to Loudwire in our exclusive new interview. “I don’t think it’s that peculiar,” Halford says. “Because musicians, we’re always trying to reach nirvana… nirvana is unreachable. We’re always, ‘I wish I could have done that bit better or held that scream a bit longer, and that’s part of the joy of what we do.”
He continues, “Is it weird? I don’t know, I just can’t stand the sound of my own voice. I listen to it, obviously, in playback when I’m with Andy ‘do it again’ Sneap. I have no choice. I wait for him to say, ‘Got it. Next!’ It’s a peculiar foible, but I learned to live with it. It’s what I do, it’s my life, my life is a metal singer. All that matters to me is what comes out of my mouth when I’m onstage, first and foremost. The biggest struggle for all musicians is when you validate who you are and what you’re about and what you’re achieving with your fans. That’s when it all makes sense. That’s probably the only time I can cope with listening to myself, because I’ve got it coming in at 11 in my ears anyway.”
Rob also got candid about his past substance abuse issues, saying in hindsight that he never once had fun while wasted. “Whenever I drank or whenever I drugged, it was to get completely obliterated out of my mind,” Halford explains. “There’s nothing cool or fun or enjoyable about that. I used my drugs and booze to fight against my sexual identity. That was part of my being drawn into that world. It was like a crutch, a mental crutch to what was going on. That was my way of escape, you escape into the oblivion of alcohol and drugs.”
“When I look back, that’s my touchstone to whenever the temptation arises… when I’m watching a football game and the beer commercial comes on. It never leaves you, it absolutely never leaves you. It really is one day at a time.”
Check out the full interview with Rob Halford below and click here to grab a copy of Biblical, which is available now.