By STEVE MASCORD
HE was famously sacked via fax by Judas Priest – and singer Tim “Ripper” Owens admits these days he’d probably fire a band member by text.
Owens, visiting Australia next month for the Metal Gods Tour, told us about receiving a fax in 2003 telling him his services were no longer required by the genre pioneers.
“The world is very impersonal now,” said Owens, whose story inspired the 2001 movie Rock Star with Mark Wahlberg.
“But there was faxing when I got let go.
“Back in the day, I can’t imagine a business sending a letter or whatever. When you went into the office, you went into the boss’s office and they let you go.
“And listen, I totally agreed with being let go of by Judas Priest. I was totally for it and everything was great. I’m not even complaining about the way they did it, to be honest.
“My falling out with Judas Priest was very good.
“Even though it was a fax, it was handled good still.
“Nowadays, it’s a text message or whatever. Maybe some kind of meme, it’s like ‘you’re fired!’.
“It’s a different era now.
“And listen: if I’m going to fire a band member, I’m probably going to text him too!”
The Metal Gods Tour kicks off in Pooraka, South Australia.
