For Judas Priest, fact doesn’t mirror fiction

Kirk Baird

Friday, Jan. 11, 2002 | 9:39 a.m.

It's a classic case of art imitating life imitating art. Only, in this instance, art only got it half right.

The art in question is the film "Rock Star," a box-office disappointment last fall that will be given a second chance Jan. 22 when it arrives on video-store shelves nationwide.

The movie tells the story of a lead singer in a metal-tribute band who is asked to join his rock icons, and is based on a New York Times article about heavy-metal icons Judas Priest.

In 1991 Rob Halford, longtime frontman for Judas Priest, decided to go the solo route, essentially leaving the metal band without a voice.

At first Judas Priest, which performs Thursday night at House of Blues at Mandalay Bay, considered calling it a career. Still feeling the music coarsing through their veins, co-lead guitarist Glenn Tipton and the other three band members decided to find a suitable replacement.

After placing ads, listening to thousands of singers -- both known and unknown -- the band was at a loss. Then, in February 1996, a bootlegged videotape of an Akron, Ohio, singer in a Priest tribute band found its way to Tipton and the other members of Judas Priest.

After watching the tape, the band contacted the singer, Tim Owens, and asked him to fly to England from his Akron home to audition. While performing his cover of the Judas Priest song, "Victim of Change," Tipton interrupted Owens over an intercom to tell him he had the job.

Owens then performed a rousing rendition of the band's song "The Ripper," an ode to infamous serial killer Jack the Ripper, and Owens was given his new nickname, Ripper.

But that's where the simularities between the film and real life end, said Owens, 33, in an interview from Buenos Aires, Argentina.

"The only thing the New York Times article was about, was me making the band as a tribute singer," he said. "After that there wasn't anything to write about because that's all the article was about. They've taken that and then they've made their own movie after that.

Owens said the film is simply a "Hollywood story" of what actually happened, with both additions and subtractions of real-life people and events to make a better movie.

"Whatever happens after the character making the band, all the similarities before that are going to be fairly close: tribute-band singer, sang in a choir at one time -- all that stuff. Except I didn't have a girlfriend at that time," nor was Owens married. "Somebody just made a Hollywood story."

As a result of the additions to the storyline, the band decided to distance itself from any involvement with the film, Tipton said.

"They originally asked us to get involved musically, and we saw some roughs (cuts of the film) and we just felt the way they were going with the story wasn't the story of Ripper Owens or Judas Priest," Tipton said. "We felt that if we got involved with it, people would think more and more that it was.

"It probably would have been a better film if they had kept to more of the story. It's pretty amazing what actually happened. As always, they've done their own thing with it, and so we just felt it was best for us to distance ourselves from it."

The fictionalization of the story, however, didn't make it any less dramatic. In fact, Owens' story is almost the American dream -- albeit with a British metal-band twist.

"(There's) no doubt about it, with me idolizing the band as much as I did and growing up listening to them," Owens said. "I didn't do much myself to get this. I didn't have the videotape, I didn't send them the videotape. It was just a lucky break. I think it shows everybody out there that you can get lucky. I wouldn't tell anybody out there to quit your day job, though. You better keep that for a while."

In fact, Owens did just that, as a printing salesman, a job he kept for three months until the announcement of his joining Judas Priest was officially made.

"I didn't sell much after I made the band," he joked. "I just told them I was out trying to (sell) on my cellphone: 'I'm out here making some calls.' And I'd be on the porch and walk back inside the house and go back to bed."

Once word of the fan making the band got out, there was some initial backlash among some fans, who resisted an unknown taking over for Halford. But when the band's first album with the new pairing was released, 1997's "Jugulator," much of the skepticism disappeared beneath the band's energized metal onslaught.

Tipton described Owens as a "miracle," who brought "fresh blood and energy" to the band.

"We looked for a long time ... then the next thing, right from the word go, right from the very first gig on the last tour, we knew it was going to work," he said. "He's such a great character, and so appropriate for the band and has a bundle of talent ... he's been accepted totally."

Despite the success and the band's repeated claims that Owens is a permanent member of Judas Priest, rumors circulated that there was discord within the ranks -- particularly with the band's musical direction.

It was said that Owens, who's nearly 20 years younger than Tipton, wanted to continue to explore the newer and heavier sides of metal, while the other members of Judas Priest wished to return to the band's hard-rock-as-metal roots.

As the time increased between the release of the band's last record with no new album in sight, the credibility of the rumors grew.

The reality, though, was the four years off between albums had nothing to do musical direction. Rather it was that Judas Priest was in the process of switching to another record label, Atlantic, and members of the band were dealing with various personal crises, such as the ill health of Tipton's father.

One rumor that refuses to go away, though, is of a Halford-Judas Priest reunion, which the band's former singer has publicly stated is in the works. As far as Tipton's concerned, however, there's no possibility of a reunion.

"People forget that we put so much initially to keep the band alive, and then tour and proving ourselves," he said. "This is our second studio album, and we're just looking forward, and from our point of view, anyway, (a Halford reunion) would be a step backwards. We get along great as the band stands, and we're playing better than ever. There's no thought of a reunion, at least for me, anyway."