The original Judas Priest guitarist K.K. Downing will be part of the upcoming final Black Sabbath concert next July 5, at the Villa Park in Birmingham. That town is the hometown of both Sabbath and Judas Priest, two of the most important Heavy Metal bands of all time. In an interview with Guitar World, the musician talked about being part of that celebration and recalled how he was influenced by them and the legendary guitarist Tony Iommi. K.K. Downing talks about Black Sabbath and Tony Iommi's influence "I wasn't aware of Black Sabbath until I heard their [first] album. Somebody introduced me to it, and it was basically a sigh of relief, with me thinking, 'Thank f**k,' you know? I thought, 'There are other dudes on the planet that are thinking the same as me.' And I thought, 'Behold! They're not far away from where we live and operate from.'" "Those guys were doing what we were doing, which was metal, though we didn't know that at the time; we only knew it wasn't a progression on a blues song. It was just the atmosphere, the mood, the heaviness of the riffs, the darkness and a lot of other words I could think of to describe the kind of similarities, which was really cool. They're just really nice guys, and I wouldn't say that if it weren't absolutely true. I know the guys were from a similar sort of area, and they're just typical guys from there, sort of salt-of-the-earth people, very kind, very warm and good guys to be around." "Everybody says the same thing about all the guys from Black Sabbath; they're lovely people. (Judas Priest) were fortunate; we went out and did Ozzfest with the guys and had some good times. True to form, with those guys, it's all about a sense of humor. Everything's got an element of humor. It's what gets us through the day; it's great to be around guys like that. There's only one Tony Iommi. He can't be replicated. I wouldn't anticipate that would be the case, so I'll do justice the best I can," K.K. Downing said. Judas Priest won't be part of Sabbath's final show https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJn8P2cCo2k&list=RDFJn8P2cCo2k&start_radio=1&pp=ygUKa2tzIHByaWVzdKAHAQ%3D%3D Downing left Judas Priest in 2011 and, according to him, wasn’t allowed back a few years later when he changed his mind about retirement. He eventually formed his own band, KK’s Priest. A reunion with his former bandmates finally happened in 2022 during their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He will be the only one representing Judas Priest this time, as the band has a scheduled show and won’t be able to take part in the event. But they released a cover of "War Pigs" to honor the band.The post K.K. Downing talks about Black Sabbath and Tony Iommi’s influence appeared first on Rock and Roll Garage.