Judas Priest guitarist Glenn Tipton recently talked about his former bandmate KK Downing’s statements during a conversation with Guitar World. The musician stated that Downing made all those interviews to upset his former bandmates, and his words don’t reflect the truth.

KK Downing officially left Judas Priest on 20 April 2011, citing the relationship issues between the band members as the main issue. At the time, he stated that there were many reasons why he left the band but refused to go into detail.

The tension between former bandmates never disappeared in the following years, mainly due to Downing’s public statements about his ex-band. From expressing his discontent with not being asked to rejoin the band to giving numerous interviews about why he left, Downing has stirred the pot quite a few times in the past.

Throughout this entire feud, Judas Priest members tried to stay as less aggressive as possible by not responding to Downing’s statements. The band members tried to explain their side of these stories without blaming their former bandmate and avoid a potential conflict.

However, Glenn Tipton recently reflected on this matter during an interview to make things clear for their fans. The guitarist had remained silent no matter what Downing had said, but it’s time to talk about the incident since the rocker’s words aren’t fair.

Tipton touched on Downing’s remark about being the driving force behind the band, which isn’t true since Judas Priest is a band of five guys working together. If you ask the guitarist, their former bandmate purposely gave those interviews to upset them, but enough is enough.

The Judas Priest guitarist also talked about Downing’s accusations of being drunk before shows which held them back. The musician directly labeled those allegations as silly and stressed the fact that every fan saw his work ethic whenever he was on stage.

Tipton’s statement about Downing follows:

“I never wanted to get into a public argument after KK left. I never said a word, and I stuck to my guns for over ten years, but there comes a point when you read things that have been said that are just crazy. It’s time to say something, really, because he’s saying things that he really shouldn’t be saying. They aren’t fair.

He’s insinuated that he was the driving force of the band. It just isn’t true. Priest is made up of five guys working together. There’s not just one person driving the band. He’s said all these things that, I think, are meant to upset us and get us to say something in response, and for a long time, we didn’t. But I’ve got a lot to say, and enough’s enough.”

He added:

“Everyone knows it’s not true. As I said, the fans aren’t stupid, and they’ve seen me for fifty years playing around the world. I may have had a couple of beers on stage, but that’s all. It’s never affected the concert or my performance whatsoever, and he knows that.

I would never have talked about Ken that way. It’s just that his accusations have gotten sillier and sillier, and I deserve to respond. He left the band. We couldn’t convince him to stay. And then he accused me of taking six years off to write two solo albums. I only did the solo albums because we were inactive at the time while Rob was doing his solo things.”

It appears that Judas Priest members got tired of seeing one of their former bandmates continue coming for them during numerous interviews. However, their fans will never know which side is telling the truth as most of the accusations have been about the relationship between band members.