A week after Judas Priest bassist Ian Hill stepped down, the band’s former guitarist has weighed in. Speaking on SiriusXM’s Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk on Oct. 14, K.K. Downing said of the Ian Hill retirement, “I wish him well, and all the best for the future.” He also brought up an old wound: Hill, he said, “didn’t accept me [back] in the band a few years ago.”
Here’s a catch-up on the Ian Hill retirement: why he left, who replaces him, and what Downing said.
Ian Hill Retirement: Arthritis and a Snapped Tendon
Hill announced his retirement, effective immediately, in a personal letter posted on JudasPriest.com on Friday, Oct. 9. The band introduced it by calling him “the backbone of Judas Priest for so long.”
Hill wrote that he had always said he would keep going “until my performances suffer,” and “that time has come.” He described arthritis “now in an advanced state in my left shoulder and right hand, established in my right shoulder, and present in both knees,” treated with painkillers, gels and cortisone shots.
The breaking point came on the European tour. Hill said he snapped a tendon in his left shoulder “just before the encores during the Brussels show,” two days before London, leaving him unable to “lift my arm enough to reach the neck of my bass.” Billboard dates those shows as Sept. 18 in Brussels and Sept. 21 at London’s Eventim Apollo.
Specialists told him he might avoid surgery, he wrote, but there was “no guarantee either way” he’d have the strength for a full show. Citing “fifty seven years” of neglected family life, he said he wants to spend time with his family “before it involves one of ’em pushing me around in a wheelchair.”
Davey Rimmer Takes Over
Before the Ian Hill retirement was official, the band had already asked Davey Rimmer of Uriah Heep and Elegant Weapons to learn the set as a standby. He covered the London show “at such short notice,” and Hill called him “the obvious choice for my replacement… a great bassist, and a genuinely nice bloke.”
Per Billboard, Uriah Heep responded to the Ian Hill retirement by saying Rimmer will keep playing with them in 2026 and on 2027 shows “where schedules permit,” with a fill-in to be named for any conflicts.
Hill Played on the Next Priest Album
The Ian Hill retirement doesn’t mean he’s missing from the next record. “I was able to put bass lines to the songs for the new album,” he wrote. Billboard calls it an as-yet-untitled follow-up to 2024’s Invincible Shield, which SDMETAL reviewed here, and says Hill is the only member to play on all 19 Priest albums, back to 1974’s Rocka Rolla.
Not yet announced: the new album’s title, release date and first single.
What K.K. Downing Said
Downing’s comments come from Blabbermouth’s transcript, published Oct. 16. He opened gracefully, calling Hill’s run “a long, good career, and very successful career,” then added:
“Yeah, obviously, it’s a bit awkward for me because it’s a pity that Ian didn’t accept me [back] in the band a few years ago. I would be there now, even though he isn’t. But I wish him well, and all the best for the future.”
The bracketed word is Blabbermouth’s. Downing was referring to 2018, when Glenn Tipton retired from touring and Downing was not brought back. He has blamed Hill before, long before the Ian Hill retirement: in a 2023 interview quoted by Blabbermouth, he said “Ian has denied me the opportunity to step back into the band.”
Downing also said he feels more responsible now for keeping the classic songs alive with KK’s Priest, which is currently opening for W.A.S.P. in North America. San Diego fans saw that band when KK’s Priest and Accept came through in 2024. Fellow British veterans are already booked locally for 2027: Iron Maiden return to Chula Vista.
Who Founded Judas Priest? Accounts Differ
Coverage of the Ian Hill retirement has described his role in different ways, and the details don’t fully line up:
- Asked on Trunk Nation if he and Hill started Judas Priest, Downing said, “Yes, it was.” He said he invited Hill into his trio, Al Atkins then joined as singer, and the band took the name from Atkins’ earlier, disbanded group called Judas Priest.
- Billboard says Hill joined with childhood friend Downing in 1970, “a year after original vocalist Al Atkins founded” the band.
Both sources agree on a few things: Hill is the band’s longest-serving member, and Rob Halford was not part of the very first lineup. That means “last original member besides Halford” is not an accurate way to describe Hill.
What Happens Next
Billboard says Priest’s next shows are a pair of festivals in Norway and Denmark in June 2027. After the Ian Hill retirement, no North American dates with Rimmer, and none in San Diego or Southern California, have been announced. SDMETAL will update this post if that changes.
SDMETAL