Ben Tyree of ModernGuitars.com recently conducted an interview with JUDAS PRIEST guitarist Glenn Tipton. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow:

ModernGuitars.com: JUDAS PRIEST is taking a hiatus from touring this year after two years. What do you consider the highlights of the tour?

Glenn Tipton: "Well, yeah, it was really good for us. We were out for like 18 months and we played areas that we've never played before. Particularly parts of South America like Chile. Russia was really interesting for me because, you know, we'd never played Russia before. Actually, heavy metal kids over there are just fantastic! They really are."

ModernGuitars.com: Recently in Japan, JUDAS PRIEST captured "Best Group of the Year", "Best Album of the Year", "Best Live Performance in Japan", and Rob Halford named "Best Vocalist".

Glenn Tipton: "Japan has always been a real stronghold for PRIEST right from the word 'go.' We went there many years ago and we were just astounded at the band's popularity. So, right from the word 'go' we've loved it over there and this time we recorded the live show at the Budukon. We feel it's a special place for us and that's one of the reasons we chose it, and, of course, we were knocked out with all of the awards by champions of Burrn! magazine, [laughs] the second time!"

ModernGuitars.com: The Japanese poll also ranked your album cover for "Angel of Retribution" number one.

Glenn Tipton: "Well, Mark Wilkinson designs most of our album covers so, you know, we've got a lot of faith in him. He's one of these guys that will come up with an idea and if you don't like it, he comes up with another idea and another idea, until he eventually comes up with the right one. So we've got a lot of confidence in him."

ModernGuitars.com: The band is scheduled to play the Royal Albert Hall, your only gig for 2006. What's the occasion?

Glenn Tipton: "It's in aid of the Teenage Cancer Trust and a guy called Tommy Vance who is; you may or may not know; he was an English disc jockey who championed a lot of bands and helped a lot of us. He was very instrumental in helping a lot of the younger bands. He was very much into metal and rock. So, it's a tribute to him, but it's also in aid of the Teenage Cancer Trust, which is a great charity. What it does is it supplies wards or it helps to generate money to build wards for teenage kids that are suffering from cancer. There's Internet there too. They they all speak the same language, the same music, so it's a really good thing, you know. These youngsters are trying to fight a potentially life-threatening disease in a negative environment full of ill people, but they've got all people their own age around them, and it's a good thing."

ModernGuitars.com: So, what's next for you? Do you have any project or ideas in gestation?

Glenn Tipton: "Really, my full attentions are on JUDAS PRIEST. We're reunited and there's a great deal of energy and enthusiasm there. We're all excited. I spoke to Rob the other day and he's coming over and we're going to start writing, so we're excited. I don't think anybody out there would want myself or K.K. to be involved in anything else, for the moment, other than, you know, creating the next JUDAS PRIEST album and then we can go out an tour extensively.

"We were thinking of changing the set thoroughly next year, so that means we're going to do some rehearsing which we don't like to do very often, and we like the audience to feed off it. My full attention really will be on PRIEST and writing the next album."

Read the entire interview at ModernGuitars.com.