(Reading Rob's lyrics) "Saviour: There can only be one. I'm the master past and future." People look up to you, Rob. "Heavy Metal Parking Lot." You were out in the parking lot just earlier. What do you think about the movie "Heavy Metal Parking Lot?"
That's a semblance of everything that we do. The people out there are what make everything that we do happen.

The one from '86. The movie from '86. Do you remember that? Did you ever go in the parking lot?
Yeah, (laughs) I've been going to parking lots ever since I got into rock'n'roll. And that's a good place to see and meet the real people. Meet the real fans. They're out there right now here in Vancouver in the parking lot. I was just hanging out with them, signing stuff, talking to 'em. You know, wherever we go, that's where it's at.

Well, it's a good thing you didn't go there in '86, that lady wanted to "jump your bones" and you wouldn't have been able to go up on stage.
Well... didn't you know yet? (laughs)

Rob, what came first S&M fashion like in "Cruisin'" or S&M fashion in Heavy Metal? Like who stole from who?
Way before. That whole S&M thing was way before even heavy metal. I got this vintage collection of all that stuff and it goes way back to the '50s and '60s. I mean, I took that as a way of expressing the music that I was a part of because metal when I began had no visual connection. So when I started to put on the leather jacket and the whips and the chains and everything, it was absolutely perfect. Here was a look, here was a image that completely tied in to the sound and the power and the drama of the heavy metal itself.

And you completely influenced people. One of the times you played in this very arena here, the Pacific Coliseum, in Vancouver, in 1984 ... this is a picture, Rob, of all the stuff that was confiscated at the door of that concert!
(Looking at photo) Yeah, and I've got this one... That's in the wardrobe case... I've used these chains.

This was all your fans'. All the stuff that was taken away from your fans. That's pretty heavy. And then also this (showing Rob another Priest picture by Bev Davies) was from the same gig as well that night. Do you remember that night, Rob? Y'know 1984, Vancouver.
Nothing more that the night. (Rob then eyes at a huge spiked wristband he was wearing in the photo.) Look at that.

Did you ever get into trouble with having spikes sticking out like that...
Yeah, I'd try to get on airplanes, commercial flights with stuff like this in my bag. I remember on more than one occasion when I'd get to the security and they'd go through my bag and find whips and chains and cuffs. And I would actually have to give them to the pilot. And they'd say "we'll give you this when you're getting off the plane." So I guess there was a pilot at thirty five thousand feet having fun in the cockpit while I was stuck in the back with my peanuts and warm coffee. (laughs)

Pansy Division. How did you meet Pansy Division? You sang "Breaking The Law" with them with changed lyrics up on stage. That was amazing. How did you meet them, Rob?
I met them because I was at the San Diego Gay and Lesbian Pride event... No that's not true... Rewind!... I was playing a show in San Francisco and I went to this club which was just like this cool kind of jazz blues rock club and Chris the bass player from Pansy Division came up and introduced himself. And that was years and years ago. And we became instant friends. When they came to play San Diego, I went on stage and joined "Breaking The Law". And they actually did a version on one of their records which is really cool 'cause it's like...

Metallica's was also on their record too! Kirk Hammett playing guitar.
All that kinda stuff. I mean that's a validation for it. They're a wonderful band and they write incredibly good songs. And they're extremely underground, but if you want to check them out... I mean, they're by no stretch of the imagination a metal band. But for the musicianship, they've got this kinda edgy punky rock thing going for them. I think they're really cool guys.

Sebastian Bach ex of Skid Row, didn't he give the name 'Halford' to one of his kids as a middle name?
Yeah, it's his kid called something like 'Ludwig Von Beethoven Halford Tchaikovsky Sibelius Van Boten.'

Also it's kinda sad that your connection to Canada is hitting the ground in Toronto. What can you explain to people about that? You were on your motorbike and there was a bit of a spill, Rob. It seemed horrible.
It's ironic isn't it? Because I've had some of my high points and low points in Canada. And the low point was when I came off the bike at the last show with Priest in Toronto. And uh, somebody sent me a snippet of that actually just a few weeks ago on videotape. It was the first time I've seen it. But I came out under the drum riser and hit the bottom ring of the ladder. Knocked me backwards off the bike. Totally knocked me out for three minutes. And it was the first time "Hell Bent For Leather" was done as an instrumental. But that was kind of a low point. But my high point's that I've started this great tour with a new "Resurrection" cd with the Halford band. We began here in Canada. We've been all the way through.

Why do you think, Rob Halford, that the hard rock world is so homophobic and super macho?
I don't think it is. I think that that's a misconception. I think that that's just the way that it's been presented year after year after year by the press.

But what about Sebastian Bach's t-shirt, remember, "AIDS Kills Fags Dead?"
I spoke to Sebastian about that and he admitted that he screwed up. And he was man enough to admit his mistake. I mean, everybody goes through learning process and Sebastian was one of the guys who was cool enough to see that. But I really feel that now more than ever, there's just more of an openmindedness, there's just more of an acceptance, there's more tolerance. And that things are way better than they used to be. I mean, I admit in the late '70s all through the '80s it was a different world altogether. But I think you know people today just have a way more intelligent way of perceiving things. And when it comes to what I do and what I am, it's all about my music. My music is all that matters.

The Judas Priest song, "Raw Deal". Is the song "Raw Deal" about cruising a gay bar?
"Raw Deal" was a very open song for me. Yeah, that was like really a moment that I thought people might grasp onto, but it just went vvvrrrrrooomm right over the top of people's heads. But i mean I've never cheapened the music in so much as using it as a platform for my own personal gain. A lot of my lyrics are subjective. A lot of my lyrics don't have a gender placed on them. It's never 'he and she', because I've always felt that that way it just opens up the listener's possibility to accept it from whatever they want to take it from. But that's just a side issue of a lot of things of who I am and what I am as a person.

(Reading Rob's lyrics) "Temptation: don't lead me into temptation." Now were you lead into any temptation by Trent Reznor, Rob? The 'two' inch nails?
Two inch?! No, I'm totally temptation-free. But I'm constantly being drawn onto that path, and I avoid it like the plague. It leads you down the straight and narrow which is exactly what I'm not. (laughs)

What about the e-mail that you've had on the back of your record? It actually says your actual e-Mail on the back of the record. It has your website but it also has your email, have you checked that? Can fans actually check out halfordrob@aol.com. Are you checking that?
Yeah, I mean that's what it's there for. If you want to write me and say whatever's on your mind, just go ahead and send it in. We've got this great website called robhalford.com which is a combination of biographies, discographies, all the tour dates, you can buy tickets for the shows from there. You can find everything you want to find out about Halford. Where we're going to go next. What we're going to do next. And that where I would urge everybody to go first robhalford.com. If you want to get personal, send it to my own personal aol account.

Two quick questions here winding up here with Rob Halford. Thanks for the time, I appreciate it. Right now is an election year. George 'Dubya!' George 'Dubya' could get in!
Daddy's boy! Daddy's boy! George 'Dubya'!

And he's the one who authorised Operation Desert Storm. What do you think about that? 'Dublya' getting in?
He won't. It'll be Gore. Gore baby. But I just hope Tipper keeps her mouth shut. Tipper you tried to crush us and you failed! Miserably. (Rob flashes the 'Satan' hand sign!)

And finally here, Rob Halford. We have Paul Stanley in the Phantom Of The...
Opera.

We have Sebastian Bach in Jekyll and...
Hyde.

And we have Rob Halford in Oli...
The what?!

Oliver?
Oliver!?!

Rob Halford in Oliver?
I see myself in 'The Sound Of Music' actually. You know, doing that twirling bit at the start that Julie Andrews used to do with the helicopter shot. That's me. (laughs) The hills are alive with the sound of the metal god.

Thank you metal god! And doot doola doot doot...
Doot... doo?

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