The Ballad of Judas Priest, which just had its Canadian premiere at Toronto’s Hot Docs Festival on Sunday and screens again on the afternoon of May 1, weaves together the story of the pioneering metal band, its influence and its biggest secret.
Co-directed by Toronto’s Sam Dunn, whose Banger Films has done docs on Rush, Iron Maiden, Triumph, Alice Cooper and ZZ Top, with American rock musician Tom Morello (Rage Against The Machine, Audioslave, Prophets of Rage), the two crystallize Judas Priest’s importance over almost sixty years, one that transcends music to that of fashion and community for self-described societal misfits.
The Ballad of Judas Priest covers the band’s working-class beginnings in England’s West Midland’s “Black Country” in 1969 — before the genre “heavy metal” was even coined — to the 1990 lawsuit claiming subliminal messages in their music caused two young men to shoot themselves, as well as frontman Rob Halford’s agreement to keep his sexuality closeted for the sake of the band, until a spontaneous revelation in 1998 and the beautiful fallout: spoiler: no one cared.
“We knew going in that there were really important archival moments that we needed to anchor the story, which was not always a place you’re in at the beginning of a film like this, like the US Festival, “Breaking The Law,’ the trial, Rob coming out on MTV,” said Dunn after the screening. “There were very key and clear archival moments, and we just had to pay the money.”
Providing insight also plenty of interviews, archival and present, from guitarists K.K. Downing and Glenn Tipton and Richie Faulkner, bassist Ian Hill and drummer Scott Travis.
In between biographical information is commentary from the late Ozzy Osbourne, mega fans Kirk Hammett of Metallica, actor comedian Jack Black and Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl, as well as a roundtable Morello assembled with Run-DMC’s Darryl McDaniels, Smashing Pumpkins’ Billy Corgan, Halestorm’s Lzzy Hale and Scott Ian of Anthrax.
In a Q&A after the screening, Dunn revealed some other tidbits Priest fans might want to know.
On getting Downing — who left Judas Priest in 2011 — to be in the film:
“The big one for Tom was getting K.K. Downing involved. It was tricky at first attempt because obviously he’s not in the band. There’s still some animosity there, and, genuinely, it took some work to get K.K. on board. Frankly, I don’t know if Morello, if he hadn’t have been there, it might have been a much, much bigger challenge. Tom Morello’s a massive fan of the band, a big fan of K.K.’s playing, so he really connected with K.K. and got him over the line. So, that’s a whole other story that wasn’t in the film… There’s still outstanding legal issues with KK and the band. This is the honest answer. And, so there’s a lot of caution exercised on both sides around what got said. We had to move through it without digging into all the details because it’s still fresh, still raw.”
On why it took so long to make the documentary after suggesting it to management:
“It didn’t take 12 years to get it going. Boring answer is it’s timing. Bands like Judas Priest are so well managed and there’s a lot of strategy involved in thinking about ‘When are we going to tell the big story? What’s the right time?; So, that’s really what it is. We’d have to have Jayne [Andrews, manager] here to ask her because she’s the mastermind behind the band, but I think they had reached a point in their career when they realized it was time. Rob and Ian, Glenn, they’re in their mid-70s now. They’re making one more record, I think, right? So, they’re thinking about the legacy, entering the legacy years.”
On landing one the defence lawyers:
“The depth to which we were able to explore the trial, especially with Bill Peterson, one of the defense lawyers, was the opportunity to peel away a couple more layers of the onion on what actually happened. I was 15, or whatever, when that trial happened. You hear about it back in those days through magazines, and there was that original documentary, but, for me, sitting down with Bill, what a remarkable memory and mind, that guy, so sharp. He just walked us through the entire case, and he gave me the judge’s written ruling, which was this stack of paper. For me, it was the depth to which we got into the trial was one of the treats of making the film, for sure…Suellen Fulstone, she was the lead defense lawyer for Judas Priest, and Bill was secondary. Interestingly, they ended up falling in love, and they’re a couple, so there’s a romance in there…Suellen, she didn’t want to do it, I’m not exactly sure why. I really wanted to talk to her because she was leading the charge for the defense, but, anyway, Bill was amazing.”
On if they reached out to Tim “Ripper” Owens, the singer who replaced Halford from 1996 to 2003:
“No. Controversial response, Judas Priest fans. Again, so much story. We wanted to obviously reference Tim, but it’s tricky. Not to get in the weeds, but in a story of this scale, when you’re into the second, third, or third quarter of the story, it’s like what to do and what not to do become big questions. The exploding heart, Richie Faulkner’s heart exploded on stage, and he almost died. We were like, ‘Okay, that’s pretty interesting, pretty dramatic, but no.’”
On the Ozzy Osbourne interview (he died last summer):
“Really emotional. I’d never met Ozzy until this interview, and we’d interviewed all the other original members of Black Sabbath for other films that we’ve done. So, came together. It was the year before. I can’t put my finger on the specific time, but really emotional, especially what he says about Parkinson’s, telling Glenn that he needs to keep fighting, and how tragic it is that Ozzy’s the one that’s no longer with us. That’s become a very emotional part of the film to watch for me. And the fact that he’s telling Glenn to keep fighting, and he’s not here. But, what a treat to actually have him there. He’s so funny, and he brings a lot of laughs and a lot of heart to the film. I’m just grateful that he’s there to tell the story.”
