ARMORED SAINT Frontman: 'Many People Dream Of This, And I Was Able To Live It'

Simon Milburn of Australia's The Metal Forge recently conducted an interview with ARMORED SAINT/ex-ANTHRAX singer John Bush. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

On his career to date:

"I think that I was really lucky to be able to make a lot of music. I mean, I've made a lot of records in my career, I've played tons of shows throughout the world. I've seen the world. I always tell people that heavy metal was my college education. It really was. It really gave me… it really opened my eyes up to lots of culture and different ways that people live and I travelled everywhere and experienced many different types of food, and lots of people — so, it's been great. It's been awesome. Many people dream of this, and I was able to live it."

On his career highlights:

“Tons of them! I could say seeing my first album cover that I made or even the EP of ARMORED SAINT… just seeing that on vinyl was like, 'Wow!' Obviously countless shows throughout both bands that I've been in … fuck… even doing interviews with somebody from Australia like yourself who lives thousands of miles from me … it solidifies that I'm not just some chump from the coffee house down the street. Some people care, y'know? Y'know, they always measure their success by numbers — y'know, record sales and all that — and in the end I understand that it's a business, but y'know, it's funny. I tell the guys in ARMORED SAINT that 'when we land in Australia, you should go up to the promoter and you should give him a big fat kiss because you're so lucky that you get to come and play here.' You know what I mean? I still take that attitude with it because it kind of humbles me and that's how I like to live my life, so…"

On errors that were made along the way:

"There were obviously things that we did that were mistakes. You know, when we look back, it's like, 'Oh my God! That was a fuckup!' or 'That was really lame,' or 'That was dumb.' But, I'm also the kind of person that it's not going to do me any good to do that now and I surely don't like to live with too many regrets in my life because it's not who I am. This is the road that my life took, and believe me, my life is great and I'm really happy. As a matter of fact, most of the time when I get grumpy, I had a two-month stretch recently where I was grumpy, and my wife was like, 'Dude, what's up with you?' and I'm like, 'I don't know. But what the fuck?' I've nothing to be grumpy about. I've got a great family and this and that and it pisses me off when I'm like that. I'd hit myself in the head and was like, 'C'mon!! Snap out of it.' Everybody goes through a little stretch where they get frustrated. But when it comes to music, there are things that I would have done differently but I don't have too many things where I they would keep me up at night."

On just where ARMORED SAINT is at right now:

"When it comes to playing live, I think that our approach is that we have a really cool catalogue of material for a live show. I think that anybody who is like, whether they are a big fan of the band or a person who is familiar with the band or an eight-year-old kid who doesn't even know the band but knows the name, I think that we would be a real fun band to see live. I can say the same thing for DEATH ANGEL because I've seen them live and they're great too and they've been around as long as we have. I think that's the thing. We try to be as sincere as possible with what we do and we have some great songs and when you hear them live, it's like, 'Wow!' — they come through. That's the thing — try to play as best as you can and be physically fit. When it comes to writing, me and Joey [Vera, bass] have been writing a bunch of material and it's actually turning out sounding great. I'd love it to be released one day but I'm not sure of exactly how or when or in what capacity it will come out, but I do believe that the material that we've been writing is great. I'm really proud of it."

On whether there is a chance that ARMORED SAINT will premiere new material when it finally hits Australian shores in March:

"Well, it's… I don't know because we did talk about playing a new song… we'll see. I don't know. What I do want to do is that I do want to mix up our set a bit every night. One of my biggest pet peeves is when a band plays the same set every night — I hate that. These days, with the Internet and obviously with people being able to see what the setlist was… Look, I'm guilty as well; I've done it numerous times — I've actually decided on whether or not I'm gonna see a band based on what they did. I do want to mix it up a little bit. Obviously we are gonna play the more popular ARMORED SAINT songs. We will do that but I would like to throw in a couple of curve balls every night and have everyone go, 'Oh, I can't believe they played that song!' and I think that'll be really fun and fun for us. As I've said, I'd rather have a song being loose than play the same shit every night and go, 'Ahh, that's boring.' Of course, I don't want it to be bad. A little loose, but, if we could make one of those songs one of the new songs in there as well, that'd be neat, so maybe we will. You never know. Maybe one of the five shows we'll play a new song."

Read the entire interview from The Metal Forge.

ARMORED SAINT's current lineup is the same as the one on 2000's "Revelation" and 1992's "Symbol of Salvation" LPs:

John Bush (vocals)
Jeff Duncan (guitar)
Phil Sandoval (guitar)
Joey Vera (bass)
Gonzo (drums)

Working songtitles set to appear on ARMORED SAINT's new album include "Loose Cannon", "Chilled", "La Raza" and "Black Feet".

SAINT will headline one show in Los Angeles at the Key Club on March 6. Aside from the co-headline tour in Australia in March with DEATH ANGEL and a headlining appearance at the Keep it True festival in Germany in April, the band has no further shows booked at this time.

Reality Check TV has posted interview and performance footage of ARMORED SAINT filmed at last year's Rocklahoma festival, which was held July 9-13 in Pryor, Oklahoma. The two-and-a-half-minute clip can be viewed below.