Phil X , current guitarist for Bon Jovi , introduced himself to Rob Halford in an unusual way after playing with the Judas Priest at an event.
During the 2016 edition of the Rock 'n Roll Fantasy Camp , Phil was present as part of the organizing team and played with Judas Priest, yet he wasn't recognized. “It was really wonderful. It's kind of funny, because Rob arrives and doesn't know who's part of the team and doesn't know who's paying to be there,” he recounted in an interview with Side Jams With Bryan Reesman (via Ultimate Guitar ).
On stage with the band, Phil already knew Richie Faulkner . “We’re going to play ‘Hell Bent For Leather’ and [Faulkner] says, ‘Why don’t you start?’ I reply, ‘Yes, but let’s do the solo together, that would be wonderful’”.
When he started playing, Phil caught Halford's attention, who looked at the event organizer and praised the unknown musician's performance. After hearing this praise, Phil decided to introduce himself in a curious way. “I said, 'Hi Rob, it's really great to meet you. By the way, do you know how Richie Faulkner kind of replaced KK Downing ?'” he commented about the lineup change in Priest in 2011. “'I'm in the same situation, I kind of replaced Richie Sambora in Bon Jovi.' And he says, 'Yeah, that makes sense.'”
During a visit to Brazil in 2019, Phil X spoke with Wikimetal about his sudden arrival in Bon Jovi , invited at the last minute to fill in as guitarist during an extensive tour. “People still occasionally say, ‘I miss Richie,’ and as a fan of the band, I miss him too,” he said at the time. “I didn’t have time to be scared (laughs). I was just thrown into the fire.”
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