Allan on beat back to birth of heavy metal

"As a youngster I was in the Air Scouts and that was when I first lay my hands on a musical instrument, it was a set of drums," he says.

"I loved it and from that first taste of music I started to take it more seriously – but I had no idea that I would go on to be a co-founder of one of the country's most successful metal bands."

Allan founded Judas Priest but in 1973 the father-of-five quit the band to spend more time with his family. He then watched from the sidelines as his band went on to achieve multi-million pound success while he was working in a garage in Birmingham.

Now a book, that he has spent four years writing, has been published. It reveals how Allen came to create Judas Priest and where life took him after leaving the band.

"After school I got into a band called The Medallions and we started off playing in pubs and clubs," says Allen, who grew up in Stone Cross and was a pupil at Charlemont School.

"I was in the band with Bruno Stapenhill, who joined me in setting up Judas Priest and even came up with the band's name.

"We joined another group called the Bitta Sweet and we started doing the Plaza circuit – which included concert halls based in Old Hill, Handsworth and other parts of Birmingham.

"We also played at the YMCA in Walsall, The Ritz in Kingsheath and The 64 Club in Stone Cross." Allan had the chance to work with people such as David Bowie, Elton John and Rod Stewart before they became famous.

"I would talk to Rod Stewart the way I would chat to anyone," says Allan. "One day I saw him in a magazine and then on television and I thought 'I know him'. After a recording contract fell through, the Bitta Sweet folded and that was when I set up Judas Priest."

Allan's book, called Dawn Of The Metal Gods, talks about the drugs, the poverty, the arguments and his final split with Judas Priest in May 1973.

"I was the only one in the group married and with a child, but money was a struggle," says Allen, aged 61. "We had signed a recording contract and were playing with groups such as Black Sabbath, Status Quo, Supertramp and Thin Lizzy.

"We were getting bigger, but so were our overheads and we were not making any money – some of the band members were not eating much as they couldn't afford the food."

Allan decided to quit the band for a nine-to-five job which paid a regular income. His children are Sharon, aged 38, Joe, 19, Laura, 17, Adam, 11, and Ben, five – and he is married to second wife Karen. "In 1972 Judas Priest did 150 gigs around the country, but we didn't take any money home," he says.

"Also travelling all over the country meant I hardly got to see my family and any spare time we did have was taken up with doing photos and rehearsing. I was replaced on vocals by Rob Halford, who is now called the Metal God, and I got a job at Sutton Coldfield Cost Office garage."

Allan went on to work at Guest Motors in West Bromwich and created a group called Lion, who went on to become well known in the Black Country. "Lion was the best band I have ever been in and we lasted from 1973 to 1978," he says.

"At that time Judas Priest were working really hard, going into Europe and it was fantastic to see that something I had started was doing so well.

"They had become one of these bands that we had dreamed of being. Then their album British Steel came out and they were on Top of the Pops and before I knew it they were a household name."

Allan says that he doesn't feel upset about leaving the band – he says being able to see his five children every day is compensation enough.

He now has a band called Holy Rage who will be playing at JB's in Dudley on July 25 and at the Robin 2 in Bilston on August 12.

"I had wanted to get away from the name Judas Priest and the music but somehow I couldn't as the name and its history was always at the back of my mind," says Allan.

"To this day I will continue to buy their albums, but as a fan and not for any sort of yearning to remember the past."

* Allan's book Dawn Of The Metal Gods is available now.