ARMORED SAINT Is Taking Time Working On Next Studio Album: We 'Just Want It To Be Really Good'

In a new interview with RadioRadioX's Justin Smulison, ARMORED SAINT frontman John Bush was asked if the band's recent touring activity affects the scheduling of the next ARMORED SAINT album. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Yeah, it will. It'll postpone it a bit, because it's harder — at least I find that it's hard — to completely write and make demos and stuff on the road, of course. You try to write, and we'll make an effort, a conscious effort to do that. Sometimes it's hard. For me personally, sometimes I don't even wanna listen to any music, much less work on music. So, a lot of it is just taking a brain break and an ear break. But bands did it — all the great bands in the '70s would tour and make records. And I don't know how they did it. They were just better. But, yeah, it's a challenge. It's not easy. So we wanna do that. We've been told by our label it's been so long for a record, but it's not like we're dormant and not doing anything. We're obviously out there and playing and performing. So we're very visible still."

Regarding the progress of the songwriting sessions for the next ARMORED SAINT LP, John said: "I was just working on another [song] right here… Well, I had to kind of rewrite some stuff because I wasn't happy with it. But, yeah, [we're] trying to do this. We have a tendency to kind of move slowly and we need to step that up, according to Tracy Vera, who is Joey's [Vera, ARMORED SAINT bassist] wife and the president of the [Metal Blade Records] label. But, yeah, we're trying, and you just want it to be really good. So, I mean, quite frankly, five years, six years, it really doesn't matter that much because it's already been five years. But like I said, it's not like we went away and haven't done anything. We've been touring, we've been visible. And on the road, we sell lots of records, which are really cool. People buy a lot of LPs, CDs and we sign 'em. Yeah, we sell a lot on the road. So we are still moving product and doing our due diligence there."

This past June, ARMORED SAINT released a rendition of "One Chain (Don't Make No Prison)". The classic track was originally written by Dennis Lambert and Brian Potter and was first released by PEOPLE in 1970. Additional covers include THE FOUR TOPS (1974),SANTANA (1978) and THE DOOBIE BROTHERS (1989).

"One Chain (Don't Make No Prison)" was produced by Joey Vera, mixed by Jay Ruston and mastered by Maor Applebaum.

ARMORED SAINT's eighth full-length album, "Punching The Sky", came out in October 2020 via Metal Blade Records.

ARMORED SAINT released the "Symbol Of Salvation Live" CD/DVD in 2021 via Metal Blade Records. The release came in celebration of the seminal album's 30th anniversary. "Symbol Of Salvation Live" was a combination live album and video of the band playing the album in its entirety at New York City's famed Gramercy Theatre during its 2018 tour.

In July 2023, ARMORED SAINT was inducted into the Metal Hall Of Fame at the legendary Whisky A Go Go in West Hollywood, California.

In May 2023, ARMORED SAINT's long-awaited documentary, Armored Saint: Band Of Brothers", had its world premiere in the band's hometown at the Harmony Gold Theatre in Hollywood, California.

Earlier in the year, ARMORED SAINT wrapped up a successful North American tour with QUEENSRŸCHE.

Photo credit: Stephanie Cabral