Dressed head to toe in leather, Rob Halford stretches out a hand adorned with rings shaped like skulls.

This tall figure with bald head, beard and dark shades is the man they call Metal God, the frontman of Midland rock icons Judas Priest and I admit I have some degree of trepidation as we meet.

He is joined by bassist and long term pal Ian Hill and the band’s newest recruit, guitarist Richie Faulkner, whose eyes are shielded by his mirrored sunglasses.

Forty minutes earlier, I had been ushered into a room at Sony Records in London to listen to the band’s new album (their 17th), Redeemer of Souls with its pounding guitars, thumping bassline and Rob’s piercing, operatic vocals.

The music is typically Judas Priest – that heavy metal sound which first emerged out of the Black Country in the 1970s as the band began to carve out a career and came to be seen as the pioneers of their genre alongside Black Sabbath.

For a man who has toured the world and spent years living in America I am surprised to hear such a broad and typically friendly Walsall accent and that image of a gruff rocker disappears immediately.

“I love walking around Walsall, it is where I am from, there are lots of memories,” he says fondly as he reveals he pops home regularly and still has a house there.

“As you move on in life you do refer to your roots. What makes you tick, your upbringing, your school, your jobs – you think about it when walking around a place you were born and bred in.”

The 62 year-old says his home town has had a great influence on the band’s music over the past 40 years.

“I think any band’s chemistry is made up of the beer that you drink, the water you drink, the fish and chips that you eat,” he explains.

“It is home and the Midlands is a wonderful place, rich in many cultural ideas and inventions.

“When I used to go to school I would walk past the metal foundries, before metal (music) was invented. I would see the molten metal coming out of the vats.

“I remember sitting at my school desk across from a stamping press factory and you would have these big steam hammers going ‘‘putchung, putchung’’ and the desk would be bouncing a bit.

“I always thought that was absolutely brilliant because we say, don’t we, that metal was invented in the West Midlands so we were living and breathing it before a note was played.”

Despite his rock star appearance, Rob has a wonderful down to earth demeanour and jokes about embracing his OAP status and all the benefits it brings from a fuel allowance to a bus pass – “I will take it all,” he says with a smile.

These days he is more likely to go home and enjoy a cup of tea than be out partying, although he says he stays in touch with fellow metal bands on the scene.

“None of us party that much, as partying goes,” he says. “I saw Sabs (Black Sabbath) at Christmas at the NIA, I saw Metallica recently and Lemmy. There is a great affection for each other as we have all been in the business a long time.”

Judas Priest singer Rob Halford at his Walsall home in 1979
Judas Priest singer Rob Halford at his Walsall home in 1979

And although Rob did leave the band for a period of time, he says it is their heritage which has kept them together for so long.

“Ian hasn’t changed, Glen (Tipton) hasn’t changed,” he says.

“We are still all 12 at heart,” Ian chips in.

“We still have roots in the Midlands, the families who brought us up, the mates we have. It is in our character, body chemistry and even though we have been slogging at it for 40 years and we have been successful, it hasn’t changed us. We still have our Midlands accents,” adds Rob.

Along with bands like Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin, Judas Priest have helped Birmingham and the Black Country to earn the title of the ‘‘Home of Heavy Metal’’.

Although we have yet to see a plaque to champion this remarkable feat, the achievement was marked by heritage project Home of Metal with a series of exhibitions in 2011.

“We have always said we are a British heavy metal band, whose core comes from the Midlands and further afield now. You have got this thing now called the Home of Metal that is one of the greatest statements ever,” says Rob.

Unlike Sabbath, Judas Priest are perhaps often overlooked as a Midland band.

It is this lack of local recognition which slightly annoys an affable Ian.

“You know the local station WM?” he asks.

“Whenever there is reference on there to a local band we are never mentioned. UB40 is mentioned, obviously Percy Plant (Robert Plant) is mentioned, Sabbath obviously and Dexys Midnight Runners but we never get a mention. We are still going for a start, a lot of them aren’t.”

Ian now lives in Lichfield but grew up on the Yew Tree Estate in West Bromwich.

As a West Bromwich Albion supporter, he pops home when he can to cheer on his team but says he barely recognises the town anymore.

“The West Bromwich I knew has completely vanished,” he says. “The big difference is the amount of places to play music.

“When we were growing up just in West Brom you had Babalu club, Three Mile Oak, George IV, Adelphi Ballroom, Gala Baths, Town Hall, amongst others. You could earn a meagre living just on that little circuit.

‘‘There are a hell of a lot fewer places to play. I cannot think of anywhere in West Brom these days.”

For Ian, seeing the band’s first record, Rocka Rolla, in the shops was a big moment in his career.

“To walk into your local record shop in those days, which was Turners in Paradise Street, West Bromwich, next to the Kings Cinema, and see your record on the shelf alongside all your favourite bands, you think you have arrived. And that’s it – whatever happens after, that will always be there, it will never go away. That was the proudest moment. Obviously bigger and greater things have happened subsequently but it is that one moment.”

The band may have played at tremendous, history defining gigs such as Live Aid, but it was a gig at Birmingham Town Hall which provokes the fondest memory for Rob.

“I can remember that like it was yesterday,” he explains.

“Was that with Thin Lizzy?,” he asks Ian.

“We played it a couple of times,” Ian replies.

“I know I went to Oasis and got a pair of clogs,” says Rob.

“I want to play Birmingham Town Hall again,” he adds.

Rob, whose fashions have become as famous as his vocal range, smiles as he recalls spending time at the independent shopping centre in Corporation Street as a teenager.

“We used to hang out in Oasis on a Sunday afternoon because they would play cool music. It was rammed at the weekend, you would have the hippy stuff and the metal stuff,” he says.

The band set out wearing typical Seventies fashion such as floral-print shirts, leather fringes and bell-bottom pants but later switched to their trademark leather and studs look.

Judas Priest singer Rob Halford on stage at the NEC Arena in 2009
Judas Priest singer Rob Halford on stage at the NEC Arena in 2009

Nowadays, Rob gets his attire from Australian tailor Ray Brown, who also makes clothes for a diverse range of pop and rock clients from Lady Gaga to Arctic Monkeys.

So what can we expect of Rob’s costumes when he heads out on tour to promote their new album?

“I shall be like Dame Enda on steroids,” he laughs.

The band’s album comes out on Monday and they are heading out to the US for an autumn tour although they hint at possible UK dates in the future.

“We start in the US and there will be more opportunities to come for Europe,” says Richie, who at the age of 34 is the youngest member of the band.

“We don’t know how long it is going to be. It can evolve and probably will and grow. And we will be the Eagles mark 2 in 10 years as we will still be out there. I will be dragging these guys out.”

Despite a few ailments (he had back surgery at Little Aston Hospital in Sutton Coldfield 12 months ago and is now waiting for treatment for an umbilical hernia) Rob hopes to continue the tradition of roaring onto the stage on a Harley Davidson motorbike.

“It’s part of a good night out with Judas Priest,” he says. “There are a lot of memories for a lot of people but we are also terribly honoured by the young metal heads, some of them barely into their teens, and they choose Judas Priest as their favourite metal band.”

Listening to their album, it is clear that after 40 years, Rob still has an incredible voice, so I ask him whether he has a secret to keeping it in tip top condition.

“It is just good luck and fortune. The voice changes obviously. It is not like a guitar where you can change the strings if you break it,” he explains.

“It is just knowing how to look after it – don’t drink, don’t smoke, don’t do drugs. That’s from personal choice but I know it has had some relevance to my voice. So I look after it and still belt it out.”

But that hasn’t always been the case? I ask.

“When I was a raging drunk and drug addict I really abused my voice and I thank God that I realised I was doing some stupid things,” he says, alluding to a murkier past before he went sober.

“Because you can damage your voice, you can do things where your voice changes its texture and you can’t do softer things in your music. If you have got a voice which can be interesting and entertaining it is a blessing. And we have already had that in Priest in many different ways.

“When it is time to work, I just get up and sing but when I am performing I do drink boiling hot water, honey and lemon and a thing called Throat Coat. It is an herbal tea. Ozzy (Osbourne) uses that but he has some ginger in it,” he says.

And although the band show no sign of slowing down, despite claiming their Epitaph Tour in 2011 was a farewell, they are keen to see a new generation of metal bands come out of the Midlands.

“It always interests me to think what new kind of metal will come out of Birmingham in the 2000s,” says Rob.

“There are some metal bands and there is a band called Husk and they have just won Battle of the Bands in Wolverhampton. So there is talent there and good luck to them because they will be carrying on the traditions and heritage of Birmingham with the heavy metal scene.”

Rob also reveals his huge ambition is to work with an orchestra.

“One thing we have always contemplated is that it would be incredible if a classical symphony orchestra could play the whole of Nostradamus (the band’s last album) in its entirety,” he says.

“Some bands have done it with a symphony orchestra – Metallica have done it, The Scorpions have done it. Forget the electric side of it, make it all orchestral, so the vocal melodies are on violin and it is purely orchestrated. It would be absolutely fantastic.

“It would be a dream come true to go and sit in the audience and listen to our music played that way,” he adds.

Perhaps the CBSO would be willing to take on the challenge as an orchestra in the Home of Metal?’’

* Redeemer of Souls by Judas Priest is out on Monday, July 14. For more information visit www.judaspriest.com