K.K. Downing

The former Judas Priest guitarist honors his fellow Brummies

-  - Andrew Daly

AS A FELLOW native of Birmingham, former Judas Priest - and current KK's Priest guitarist K.K. Downing remembers coming up within the same scene as Black Sabbath.

Prior to hearing their music, specifically their debut album, Downing felt like an outlier who was consistently misclassified, genre-wise. But upon hearing Sabbath's kindred spirit music, everything changed.

"There was a kind of similarity," Downing says. "[Sabbath and Priest] were doing something that was different. It gave us a real confidence boost to carry on what we were doing. Black Sabbath was a big confidence boost to us." Like many greats from the metal community, Downing has been invited to participate in the Back to the Beginning show. That said, it's a bit bittersweet for Downing, who was on the ground floor of the Birmingham metal scene and still makes his home nearby. But he's not sad, as it's a celebration of how far they've come.

"It was hard," Downing says. "It was tough. We were troopers and fought in the trenches together to survive. But we came out of it. If we never see another Ozzy or Black Sabbath show, this hits home hard.

Nothing lasts forever. Nobody lasts forever.

But one thing's for sure: we're here, and we're going to make the best of it."

What led to your getting the call for the Back to the Beginning show?

I'm actually involved with quite a sizable venue here in the Midlands [of England] called KK's Steel Mill [in Wolverhampton].