Judas Priest’s Rob Halford Talks About Celebrating 30 Years Sober

Judas Priest is currently gearing up a for European tour, hot on the heels of the announcement that they will be returning to the studio in 2016 to record the follow up to 2014's Redeemer of Souls.  

Vocalist and self-proclaimed metal god Rob Halford, however, is more focused this month of celebrating a different kind of victory: staying sober for 30 years.

Rob has been clean and sober since suffering an overdose from painkillers in 1986.  Thereafter, he entered rehab and says that he slowly but surely kicked a brutal habit of opiates and alcohol; one which had plagued him throughout the 1970s and well into the band's worldwide heyday in the early to mid 1980s.

Rob says he feels that he owes his long-term sobriety to his fans. He simply doesn't want to let them down by giving a lackluster performance due to being drunk or slurring his way through a haze of benzos and opiates.

"I can't go out there smashed and drugged. That's cheating my fans. That's giving them a poorer display. That's also part of my daily spiritual ritual — keeping clean and sober for my own well being, but also for my fans and everybody else," he said.

Rob also recognizes the irony crediting his sobriety to Priest fans, many of whom knock back copious amounts of booze at his shows.

"Most of the Priest fans drink, but they keep me sober. That might sound crazy. But I have to go out there night after night and do my work in the way that's expected from me. And I can't go out there drunk."

As he celebrates three decades on the wagon without a slip, he encourages others who may be struggling with addiction to not be afraid to ask for help.

"If you're facing that kind of challenge in your life, please help yourself. You hear all these silly things like, 'Rehab is for quitters,' and, 'You're a man, have a drink.' If you're going through the same difficulties that I went through, you know that it can be a matter of life or death, quite frankly.

"So be aware there's people out there, there's great organisations out there to help you start on a path to a brand new life that's full of wonderful things waiting to happen."