ARMORED SAINT's Cover Of 'One Chain Don't Make No Prison' To Arrive In June

In a new interview with Classic Rock History, ARMORED SAINT bassist Joey Vera revealed that the band's cover version of "One Chain Don't Make No Prison" will be released in a couple of months. He said: "Currently, we have recorded a single, which will be released in June 2024 on Metal Blade Records in digital format only. It's a cover of a song recorded by the R&B group the FOUR TOPS. It's one of my favorite songs from that era, and I thought [ARMORED SAINT singer] John Bush would do it justice — which he does. He killed it. We are also writing for a new record. We're looking for a 2025 release."

Regarding the progress of the songwriting sessions for ARMORED SAINT's next LP, Vera said: "We're about seven songs in with new material. All the guys are contributing, and we're just trying to write great songs. As usual for us, we're trying to stretch out a bit and take some chances but still keeping it in the ARMORED SAINT world. It's going great."

Bush recently told the 96.7 KCAL-FM program "Wired In The Empire" that ARMORED SAINT "made a really cool video" for "One Chain Don't Make No Prison" "that's gonna be really out of the box for us. And it was just something to kind of keep our name out there and keep people thinking about ARMORED SAINT," he explained. John went on to describe "One Chain Don't Make No Prison" as "a great song."

"One Chain Don't Make No Prison" was written by Dennis Lambert and Brian Potter and was first released by PEOPLE in 1970. It was also covered by the aforementioned FOUR TOPS, as well as SANTANA and THE DOOBIE BROTHERS.

Bush told The Chill Dude On A Couch about the ARMORED SAINT songwriting process: "We write something and then we'll try to make this really good-sounding demo. I'll go and sing. I actually try to sing it like I'm singing a record, and we've kept a lot of the original vocals. This goes back to the way we wrote songs back to [2000's] 'Revelation' even. 'Cause sometimes I think you sing something that maybe you'll never sing exactly the same, and so that nuance in your voice or who knows what, your inflection, you can try to mimic it, but maybe you never will mimic it exactly that way. Same with a guitar lead — a certain bend, it may not be exactly how you play it again. So I think those are key things that you try to keep when you're making demos, and that's what we do. So I've gotta get back to doing some work. And we've got more work to do, that's for sure. We certainly don't work at a fast pace; everyone knows that about SAINT. We could try to put a little urgency into this and try to kind of move on it a little quicker without sacrificing quality. I think that's a good idea."

ARMORED SAINT was inducted into the Metal Hall Of Fame last July at the legendary Whisky A Go Go in West Hollywood, California. The event was hosted by 95.5 KLOS DJ Marci Wiser, and featured performances by WEAPONS OF ANEW, Sergio Michel and DECONSTRUCT, surprise guest appearances and an all-star jam.

Ten months ago, 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.

Armored Saint: Band Of Brothers" celebrates the 40-year career of ARMORED SAINT and the 50-year friendship the bandmembers have shared from school in El Sereno, a Los Angeles suburb. Many friends of the band gave interviews for the film, which also includes James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich from METALLICA telling tales of their early days touring, Scott Ian of ANTHRAX talking about seeing ARMORED SAINT in 1985, QUEENSRŸCHE members Eddie Jackson and Todd La Torre talking about the shared history. Key music industry figures and producers, A&R men, roadies, record label executives and family share thoughts and stories about the band's 40-year history.

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.

Photo by Stephanie Cabral