Tim Ripper Owens On Tour…

With a handful of shows left, join us to witness the power, the presence, and the uninhibited, inhuman vocal range of the one and only Tim ‘RIPPER’ Owens. We know you are all eagerly awaiting the return of Ripper, as he brings some of the wildest moments in Metal to life, all-across Australia.

Joined by the Metallic luminary of brothers Joel & Jordan McDonald, Andrew Hudson and Voya Mulitinovic, Ripper’s live assault will be molten as hell… And if you crave anything less – You’ve Got Another Thing Coming…

Ripper’s unique skills tore open a fairytale career, fronting iconic acts including Judas Priest, Iced Earth, Yngwie Malmsteen, Dio’s Disciples, The Three Tremors, and the incredibly ferocious RIPPER – a collaborative project spearheaded by Hatebreed’s Jamey Jasta. And most recently powering KK’s PRIEST across the biggest stages in the world. This run of shows will showcase the absolute, toughest cuts from Ripper’s world of Heavy Metal. Expect huge hits, deep dives, virtuosic shred, and a heap of fists in the air, full cavalry style, head-banging glory! Tim speaks to Hi Fi Way about the tour.

Must be an awesome way to kick off 2025 with a tour here in Australia.
Yeah, I’m excited. I get there a lot. My girlfriend lives in Katoomba, which is in the Blue Mountains near Sydney. So, I can’t wait to do these shows. The band I have is so good, we did two shows last year, Sydney and Melbourne and man, they’re good. It’s a great band. I’m excited for these shows.

For those who’ve never seen you live before, particularly here in Adelaide, what can fans expect to hear?
Well, it’s a great set list, even for the people who saw me last year in those other places, we’ve changed the set list. It’s a great one because it’s even got some KK Priest in it, some classic Priest, my era Priest, Beyond Fear, I’m going to do Scream Machine on this one plus some really cool songs like Beyond Realms of Death from Juda Priest, Ice Earth song When the Eagle Cries and probably do a couple Black Sabbath songs to give my nod to the best singer ever, Ronnie James Dio. So, it’s a really good fun and it’s a fun show. We’re really good, but it’s fun as well, you know, I mean, we’re not too serious. I like to smile and have fun with the crowd and then melt their faces off with some heavy metal.

Are enjoying the touring side of life a lot more now than you ever have before?
I enjoy it, I’ve toured a lot this past year and it does get tiresome, but I’ve always enjoyed touring. I don’t mind the travel even though it gets kind of tough. I enjoy doing the shows.

When you look at your career, you’ve done so many things. What are some of the stories or moments that stand out for you that people should know about but probably don’t?
A lot of people know everything about me with the internet. Show wise, there’s two shows that really stand out. One was playing Greece at a big festival, Judas Priest, and I was there with Sabotage. We were in Olympic Stadium, so it was really cool to do that, but probably my first show local at the Cleveland Agora, MTV was there, my family’s out in the crowd. That was a standout. Sometimes people don’t understand the grinding of the road, it might not be doing physical labour all day long, but just that hour and a half, hour and forty five minutes on stage feels like you worked all day, but it’s the whole different hotel, or you’re in the tour bus, no hotel, different hotels flying, driving, this and that, it is a grind. The best part of it’s walking on stage and doing the show. When you walk out there, it’s like alright. I like to travel, I don’t sightsee, I stay in my hotel room, I don’t hang out with people, my girlfriend will go on this tour with me and so there’ll be someone with me, but usually I just sit in my room and don’t even go to dinner with anybody and I just hang out there.

When you look at your career, do you feel blessed in so many ways to be being able to be a part of so many different things?
Oh God, absolutely. I mean, you can’t get any bigger and crazier and better than getting a call and singing for Judas Priest. Judas Priest was my college I always say. I’m just lucky that everybody I’ve worked with going from Priest to Ice Earth to all the records, my solo records and my buddies in Beyond Fear and all the bands I’ve done throughout the years, but all the musicians I’ve become friends with and jammed with I’m pretty lucky.

If you had your time over would there be anything that you would do differently?
Um, no, I don’t think so. I know a lot of people, Judas Priest included, didn’t want me to join Ice Earth. They thought I could have done something else. Everything I’ve done has been fantastic and fun, great records and I’ve met so many great fans with everything. So, there’s really nothing at all. I wouldn’t redo anything.

Interview By Rob Lyon

Catch Tim Ripper Owens on the following dates, tickets from OzTix…