JUDAS PRIEST’s IAN HILL Weighs In On Use Of Artificial Intelligence In Music

In a new interview with Elena Rosberg of Radiocast BG, JUDAS PRIEST bassist Ian Hill was asked how he thinks heavy metal music and the metal community can combat the negative effects of artificial intelligence in music, particularly as it relates to the creative process. Hill responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “I don’t know. You’d know, wouldn’t you? If something was put together — they’re not gonna be able to play the instruments for a start, so they’re gonna have to use some kind of music stem, some sort of source. And you’d know. I’d know, I’d know if something was put together. You can listen to — I don’t know — even now songs, pop songs in particular, and you think, ‘That’s not a bass guitar. Some guy’s playing that on a keyboard.’ You know it. It might fool some of the public, because, obviously, I go into things a little bit more deeply. I drive my wife mad. She won’t let me anywhere near… If she’s going to a concert, I don’t go, basically because I start picking it apart. But that’s what we do. A welder would do the same thing. He’d look at something [and go], “That’s a load of rubbish.’ That’s what you do.”

He continued: “But I don’t know. I just think that artificial intelligence can’t really perform live. I mean, this is what it’s coming down to. A lot of music, especially in the pop world these days, is a little bit on the false side — people mime to it and what have you. And A.I. can’t even do that. You can’t have artificial intelligence standing on stage. That ain’t gonna work. So, from a recording point of view, yeah, they might fool people — they might fool a hell of a lot of people — but, actually, when they say there’s a band playing live, that’s gonna be the acid test, isn’t it? And I can’t see, really, unless they’re all holograms standing up there. — which has been done. What am I saying? ABBA have just done it, haven’t they? But it’s there. It is advertised. You know it ain’t ABBA. It’s trickery. But it’s in the live performance where it’ll fall down and it won’t stand up to scrutiny, I don’t think.”

JUDAS PRIEST kicked off the U.S. leg of the “Invincible Shield” world tour on April 18 at Toyota Oakdale Theatre in Wallingford, Connecticut.

Hill is the sole remaining original member of PRIEST, which formed in 1969. Singer Rob Halford joined the group in 1973 and guitarist Glenn Tipton signed on in 1974. Rob left PRIEST in the early 1990s to form his own band, then came back to PRIEST in 2003. Original guitarist K.K. Downing parted ways with the band in 2011, and was replaced by Richie Faulkner.

PRIEST‘s latest album, “Invincible Shield”, entered the U.K. chart at No. 2, just behind Ariana Grande‘s “Eternal Sunshine”.

Prior to “Invincible Shield”‘s arrival, PRIEST‘s highest U.K. chart achievement was with 1980’s “British Steel”, which reached No. 4.

PRIEST‘s 2018 album “Firepower” entered the chart at No. 5.

“Invincible Shield” was JUDAS PRIEST‘s fifth Top 10 album, after the aforementioned “British Steel” and “Firepower”, as well as 2014’s “Redeemer Of Souls” (No. 6) and the 1979 live album “Unleashed In The East” (No. 10).

“Invincible Shield” landed at No. 1 in Germany, Finland, Sweden and Switzerland, as well as No. 5 in France, No. 8 in Italy and No. 16 in Australia.