Tim ‘Ripper’ Owens Comments On The Worldwide Touring Industry And Its Challenges
In a recent interview with Australian organization Sense Music Media, the current KK's Priest and former Judas Priest vocalist Tim ‘Ripper’ Owens shared some of his thoughts on the current state of the touring industry globally, more specifically the part concerning heavy metal bands and consequent difficulties that musicians have to face. Owens, who will be touring in Australia with his solo band in February 2025, mentioned: “Well, it's tough… I think one reason is there's a lot of people touring. I mean, in America it's just non-stop. Our KK'S Priest tours did pretty good in America, but it's expensive for big bands. We can't come to Australia — KK'S Priest. We tried. We're hopefully gonna do it. We tried to get there, but the guarantees and expenses, it wasn't adding up, so KK's not doing it. We're not a new band that goes and loses or breaks even or whatever. But it's tough out there.”
He went on commenting on the concert tickets pricing: “I mean, there's bands who cancel a lot now because of low ticket sales. I've seen 'em cancel coming to Australia. I think that Judas Priest girls tribute band was coming there and had to cancel. And it's because of the expense. I'm fortunate that my [solo] band's there, so I'm lucky. And that's how I tour a lot. I tour all over the world solo and I have bands that I have in different parts of the world so I can go tour. 'Cause I couldn't afford to tour on my own with my band here. But it's tough all over the world. It's pretty good in America right now, I think, but I think it's just the same as everywhere. But there's still a metal scene — it's still there — I think it's just saturated with a lot of stuff. I mean, when we toured with KK'S Priest this last time, Iron Maiden was touring on the West Coast when we were touring, Judas Priest was touring, Megadeth was touring. Judas Priest, I think they might have made their tour just to play the next city when we were there on purpose, because we would play Canada, in Toronto, and then the next day they were playing in Niagara Falls, which is right down the street. But that's how it is. So I think it's really tough and it's expensive. So what happens is everybody spends their 300 dollars on an Iron Maiden ticket and 150 or whatever Judas Priest is in America — Maiden’s probably 100 and something and Priest is probably 50 or something like that in America, I'm guessing — 50 or 60. But that becomes a lot of money. So it becomes expensive.”
In a separate interview with Silver Tiger Media, Owens spoke about KK'S Priest and their decision to avoid doing meet-and-greets on their recent tours: “It's just very costly to tour nowadays. We don't do VIP meet-and-greets, and to be honest, it's probably about impossible to do any touring nowadays without doing 'em. And if you don't do 'em, you can't expect to tour. I know bands that have made hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars on just a meet-and-greet, which actually goes to expenses of the tour. Judas Priest does meet-and-greets and they charge four or five hundred dollars a person and they don't even meet the band half the time. What people realize is doing these [meet-and-greets] is how you tour. If you don't do 'em, you probably won't be able to tour. Ken [KK'S Priest guitarist and leader Kenneth 'K.K.' Downing] doesn't like 'em, and I understand that — he's old school — but I think what people have to realize is you're not going to meet Ken anyways [without meet-and-greets], so you're not going to meet him anywhere else.”
Kenneth 'K.K.' Downing formed heavy metal band KK's Priest in 2019, after leaving Judas Priest back in 2011 amid claims of poor management, band conflicts and a declining quality of performance. He was later replaced by nearly three decades his junior Richie Faulkner.
At his turn, Owens recorded two studio albums with Judas Priest: Jugulator (1997) and Demolition (2001).
Sources:
Bravewords.com - TIM “RIPPER” OWENS Announces Australian Tour, November 20, 2024
