Devin Townsend revealed that he turned down the opportunity to audition to replace Rob Halford in Judas Priest when the vocalist left the band in 1992.
After the release of the album Painkiller (1990), the group found themselves free of any contract with the record label, which led Halford to leave the group to explore new opportunities. The musician was away until 2003, and during this period Judas Priest searched for a vocalist.
The group eventually found Tim 'Ripper' Owens, who joined in 1996 and was a hit with the fans. However, before finding Owens, Judas Priest called in several other vocalists for an audition.
During an interview with The SDR Show – which you can check out in full at the end of this article – Townsend revealed that he was one of the musicians invited to audition. “Technically it happened, but it wasn’t like they were knocking on my door. They sent invitations to several vocalists – Warrel [ Dane ], from Nevermore, myself, and other people received this letter with the logo.
When he received the letter, Townsend had already achieved success singing with guitarist Steve Vai , in addition to briefly participating in the group The Wildhearts . He also ended up participating in an extreme metal project called Strapping Young Lad and also pursued a solo career. Despite having already followed all this path, he confesses to being surprised by the invitation.
“ Unleashed In The East [Judas Priest album released in 1979] was the album for me, so to have received that was… But I also remember thinking that singing kind of happened for me because of the Steve Vai project. I learned to sing because I was a guitarist and most of the vocalists who auditioned [for Steve Vai] didn't fit.”
Townsend understood that he had limitations regarding his vocals and therefore didn't think much about the audition. "The technique I had was so bad that if I had gone into a situation with that level of expectation, to sing like Rob Halford... Man, I would have been crucified."
