Kenneth "K. K." Downing Jr. (born 27 October 1951) is an English guitarist and songwriter, and one of the founding members of the British heavy metal band Judas Priest.
Early life and career
Profile: Judas Priest guitarist K. K. Downing - We recently spent time with Judas Priest guitarist K. K. Downing at The Astbury, where he spoke to us about his love of the game and how he got the golfing bug.
Downing was born in West Bromwich. He was kicked out of his home at 15 and dropped out of school soon afterward.In the late 1960s, Downing discovered rock music and the guitar. He is a mostly self-taught guitarist. "He was heavily influenced by Jimi Hendrix, after whom he modelled his playing style." He was also influenced by John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers and Eric Clapton. Downing played on every Judas Priest album from Rocka Rolla to A Touch of Evil: Live.
Downing started his first band between the age of 17 and 18 with his second cousin Brian Badhams on bass guitar (now with The Elkie Brooks Band) and drummer Martin Philips. The trio "mainly jammed a few Cream songs and a few 12-bar blues". Downing played guitar with the band after winning a coin toss with his cousin Brian "in his bedroom to see who would play guitar or bass".
Prior to joining Judas Priest, Downing went to catering college and worked as trainee chef at the Lyttelton Arms in Hagley.
Playing style and technique
Downing has an aggressive, rock-influenced guitar style featuring solos and dual leads with fellow Judas Priest guitarist Glenn Tipton. His solos remained of this style for most of his career, but he incorporated various techniques into his playing over the years. As opposed to Tipton, his solos tended to incorporate a more raw, rough-edged sound, making use of techniques such as pinch harmonics, dive bombs, and tremolo picking, and often focus on speed, technical accuracy and melody. From Stained Class onward, Tipton came to be increasingly dominant in Judas Priest's songwriting, particularly on the more commercial tracks while Downing's role in the band started to diminish, especially as the former's songs comprised the vast majority of live setlists after 1980. In 1978, Tipton began to incorporate tapping into his playing, which Downing began to use as well. By 1990, both guitarists started to use the complex technique of sweep-picking, which can be notably heard on the title track of their 1990 album Painkiller. Both have continuously used these techniques ever since.
In Judas Priest's early years, Downing made common use of the wah-wah pedal, but began to limit his use of it in the late '70s. He had abandoned use of it by the mid-'80s, but saved it for live performances of the songs that originally featured it. The only time since then that he renewed use of it was in 1996, when vocalist Tim "Ripper" Owens joined the band, and they began to experiment with their music more than before. One of these experimentations was the renewal of wah-wah in Downing's playing, which can be heard on their 1997 album Jugulator. This experimentation was taken further on their next album with Owens, 2001's Demolition, but was once more abandoned when the band's former vocalist, Rob Halford, returned to the band. However, Downing used a wah-wah pedal on his last few tours with the band.
Leaving Judas Priest
Downing officially left Judas Priest on 20 April 2011. An official press release was issued by the band. In an interview with online music publication Guitarhoo!, Downing spoke about his leaving the band: "There had been an on-going breakdown in working relationships between myself, elements of the band and management for some time." Downing stated that there were at least "21 reasons" why he decided to quit but refused to go into specific detail about them. In a 2016 interview, Downing elaborated on his decision to leave Judas Priest: "I had lots and lots of reasons for not continuing, as I wasn't content with things as they were. I wasn't happy with the band's live performance. I thought it could have been better; not that the fans would notice. To me, [Judas Priest] was always a stealth machine and that's what I liked about it. Even though you get older, you still need to be able to deliver the goods. People came a long way and paid a lot of money to see us, so you've got to make sure you still give 110 percent. I thought that should be inherent and what it should always be." The band had since continued with Richie Faulkner as Downing's replacement.
Within the wake of Glenn Tipton's announcement of his Parkinson's disease diagnosis and his dismissal from touring in February 2018, Downing had hoped that Judas Priest would come in contact with him on possibly rejoining the band, but was never the case. He issued a statement saying, "I have to state with great sadness also that I am shocked and stunned that I wasn't approached to step into my original role as guitarist for Judas Priest. Whether I could have stepped back into the band or not, the potential for this situation arising never entered my head when I departed â€" although I too am officially and legally still a member of Judas Priest. However, I know now more clearly than ever that I did the right thing by leaving the band when I did â€" as it seems that my time spent in the band, and my value in terms of crafting its huge legacy, was and is unappreciated by more than one member. I sincerely hope, for the fans' sake, that the decision not to approach me was not a financial one."
Bassist Ian Hill responded to Downing's statement, explaining why the band didn't ask him back, "Well, I don't know where Ken is coming from, to be honest. He retired seven years ago and he made it clear at the time that he didn't wanna come back. So I'm surprised that he's saying that he was surprised that he wasn't asked. I think we all thought he probably would have been surprised if we had asked him. So I don't know. It's a bit like your quarterback retiring, you replace the guy, and then two or three years down the line, he gets injured, you're not gonna come back to the guy that just retired. You'll find somebody else. And it's pretty much the same thing."
Musical side projects
In 2012, Downing was approached by Cleopatra Records to partake on the album, Who Are You? An All Star Tribute to the Who, a tribute album to the band The Who. Downing accepted the offer and performed guitar on the opening track, "Eminence Front", along with musicians John Wetton and Derek Sherinian. The album was released on 2 October 2012. Downing on participating on the record, "(I) feel honoured to pay tribute to such a great band". In addition, Downing has also guested on albums by other bands including Queensryche and Violent Storm. K.K. Downing's Steel Mill is his personal artistic website, formed late 2006 www.KKDowning.net.
Homes
Downing's first own house was a "tiny semi in Bloxwich". He has lived in Los Angeles and Florida and still owns a home in Spain, but his main abode since 1985 remains Astbury Hall in Shropshire, England. It is in a very secluded area so he can (as stated in a 2007 interview) "really turn up [his] Marshalls really loud". Astbury Hall is also home to "one of England's finest championship golf courses", a course created by Downing himself and where he has held publicized charity events. Sarah Lissimore, his former girlfriend, mounted a legal challenge for half of Downing's Shropshire estate. This was based on his assertion, "I'd bet you'd love to be lady of this Manor, wouldn't you?" The High Court rejected the notion that this assertion could give rise to proprietary estoppel in favour of Lissimore.
In December 2013, it was announced that Downing would be teaming up with property development finance provider Regentsmead, and golfer Darren Clarke, to help build luxury residential developments on Downing's Astbury estate.
Recognition and honors
Downing was ranked 23 on rock magazine Hit Parader's list of 100 greatest metal guitarists.
Gear
Downing has many guitars, among them:
- 1964 Gibson Flying V Limited Edition with Gibson PAF pickups (one out of 200)
- 1970 Gibson Flying V with Maestro vibrato bar (number 233 out of 500)
- 1969 Fender Stratocaster (White) with left-handed neck
- 1970â€"71 Fender Stratocaster (Sunburst)
- Custom Hamer Vector, Vector KK and KK Mini V guitars
- Hamer Flying V: Issued to KK during the World Vengeance Tour, Hamer would release the KK Downing Flying V for public sale in 1984, ending in 1985. KK's V featured a Floyd Rose Tremolo and a single Dimarzio humbucker.
- Hamer Mini V: KK owned a number of mini v's beginning in 1986 with a red and white one. He would go on to acquire a blue and black one in the tours to follow. Loosely based on the Hamer Scepter V, the Mini V sported a single dimarzio pickup and a Kahler Tremolo.
- ESP Custom V guitar
- Judas Priest Special V Handmade by Daniel R. Johnson (K. K.'s former touring guitar tech).
- KxK Custom Shop V K. K. Downing Model 2 guitar.
- Ovation Elite series Acoustic
Amplifiers and effects
- Digitech 1101 Preamp
- Marshall 9100 Power Amplifier.
- Marshall JMP-1 Preamp
- Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier
- Rocktron Piranha Preamp
- Scholz Rockman Sustainer
- Marshall JMP Non master volume heads
- [MXR] Distortion +
References
External links
- Official website