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Judas Priest are gearing up for their Epitaph, which is being billed as the band’s final world tour.

Priest were in Los Angeles on Tuesday for a press conference to talk about the tour, and to introduce new guitarist Richie Faulkner, who replaces the recently retired K.K. Downing.

All five members of Priest - Rob Halford, Glenn Tipton, Ian Hill, Scott Travis and Faulkner – were on hand Tuesday to take questions from the media.

The band is thrilled with Faulkner. “It's amazing, really,” said guitarist Tipton. “When Ken [Kenneth 'K.K.' Downing] told us and said he leaving Priest, we had two choices — we either carry on and do the farewell tour, or we could have ended the band. So, obviously, we had to find the right guy, and honestly, we couldn't have had any better than this guy. The most amazing thing is he satisfies everybody's needs for how Priest should sound, but he does it in his own way. It's pretty unbelievable; he blended into the band straight away. And, as Rob said earlier on, honestly, if we hadn't found Richie, I don't think we would be going out [on tour] now, so it's just worked out really, really well for us."

At the event, the band announced the first series of dates for the North American leg of the tour; things kick off on October 12 in San Antonio, Texas and run for about 6 weeks, wrapping up in East Rutherford, New Jersey on November 18.

Thin Lizzy and Black Label Society will share the bill with Priest.

Judas Priest – press conference (part 1)
Los Angeles, CA – May 24, 2011