Guitarist and metal godfather K.K. Downing left the legendary Judas Priest back in 2011 for several reasons involving the strenuous effort it requires to keep up with a band of that magnitude and the toll it was taking on his personal life. While Downing has been fairly happy with what his departure did to his life, it seems like he doesn’t rule out entirely the possibility of returning to Priest.

BlastEcho sat down with the guitarist to elaborate more on the subject by saying the following:

“Obviously, they have Richie there. MAIDEN has done the three-guitar player [thing], but I don’t think there’s room for an extra guitar player in PRIEST. PRIEST has always been a two-guitar band so I can’t see that working. We’ll have to see what happens next.”

Based on that answer, he still seems hesitant about the idea, but when asked if a massive opportunity was presented to him to rejoin, like being part of an epic tour with Black Sabbath and Iron Maiden, Downing said:

“It would be something I would have to be part of, only because I’d like to see the greatest heavy-metal tour happen because it’s never happened. And it’s never gonna happen. Unfortunately, that chapter of history won’t be there forever, which is kind of sad.”

On the same lines, he said he would be happy to join Priest if they were ever inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, he said that “he’d be fine with anything like that,” as anyone with common sense would do. Sadly, the scenario presented before is very unlikely to happen if Black Sabbath keep their word and go away after their farewell tour this year, unlike what Priest did back in 2011 with their Epitaph tour.

[via loudwire]