ARMORED SAINT's JOHN BUSH Praises BRUCE DICKINSON: 'Not Only Does He Still Sound Great, His Energy Level Is Just Ridiculous'

In a new interview with Ruben Mosqueda of We Go To 11, ARMORED SAINT vocalist John Bush spoke about going to see his former bandmates in ANTHRAX when they opened for IRON MAIDEN at the BMO Stadium in Los Angeles in late September. Asked if he had a chance to say hello to the guys in ANTHRAX at the gig, John said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): " I did, actually. They were nice enough to say come into their… Well, they had like a box — kind of like a box at BMO Stadium. So, Pearl, Scott's [Ian, ANTHRAX guitarist] wife, she was nice enough to kind of come rescue us and bring us down there, which was great. And so we hung out, actually watched the whole show with MAIDEN and [other support act] MEGADETH, and just hung out with Scott and Frankie [Bello, ANTHRAX bassist], and I saw Charlie [Benante, ANTHRAX drummer] as well. And I didn't really see Joey [Belladonna, current ANTHRAX singer], but we saw Joey's wife. And it was a lot of fun... I saw Jon [Donais], the [ANTHRAX] guitar player, and, yeah, it was cool. It was cool to watch from that perspective. It was, like, down on the field. The view was perfect, and MAIDEN was off the charts. [MAIDEN singer] Bruce Dickinson, he's insane. He's so good. So it was a lot of fun."

After Mosqueda noted that Dickinson is "kind of the benchmark" for other heavy metal singers in terms of his live performance and vocal delivery, Bush concurred. "Well, Bruce is — not only does he still sound great, his energy level is just ridiculous," he said. "I can't even... I marvel at it, 'cause I know what it takes, and I'm not running around on a stadium stage. So, he is quite the impressive person, as far as being an awesome rock singer all these years later. You got [JUDAS PRIEST's Rob] Halford who's still going too, and Rob still sounds amazing, and that's a high barometer. So, yeah, these people are an inspiration to me to keep going and to keep singing well. I mean, Biff Byford from SAXON is still awesome. He's in his, I think, mid-70s, so if I could... I'm 63, and that's pretty old there for a metal singer, but these guys are, I know, older than I am, so they're kind of something to shoot for."

Asked about his pre-show rituals and vocal warm-ups, John said: "What I've learned to do for me is I kind of sing the first few songs of the set. I feel like that's a good warm-up. So I'll be backstage — [I'll] start prepping around 30 minutes or so before, and just start singing the first five songs. And by the time I actually go on stage to sing the first five songs, I'm pretty warm.

"I'm not a huge fan of doing the [vocal] warm-ups," John admitted. "I don't know. There's some warm-ups that are really good. I've taken new vocal lessons over the last year from a teacher named Rickie Gole. She's awesome. She's an opera singer, but she has some really cool suggestions, and I have applied those to some things I do. But sometimes, for me, it's just about getting ready to sing in an aggressive fashion, 'cause that's what I'm gonna be doing. So, I do a little warm-up, but then by the time I'm getting ready to actually hit the stage, I'm belting stuff out."

As previously reported, ARMORED SAINT will join METAL CHURCH for a North American co-headlining tour this fall. "The Metal Saint Tour 2026" will commence on November 2 in San Juan Capistrano, California and run through November 21 in Agoura Hills, California. Additional support will be provided by LIVEKILL.

Following the fiery response ARMORED SAINT and METAL CHURCH received during their recent shows together in Europe and fans' excitement for the upcoming fall shows, a spring 2027 leg of this killer metal package has also been announced. The journey will commence on March 19 in Austin, Texas and close on April 10 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Support will be provided by ONE MACHINE.

"Emotion Factory Reset", ARMORED SAINT's ninth studio album since 1984's "March Of The Saint", was released in May via Metal Blade Records. The LP was described in a press release as "a resurrection of sorts, a tearing down and a rebuilding in eleven songs of diverse musicality and lyrical themes." Produced, as were the previous four albums, by bassist Joey Vera and mixed by Jay Ruston (ANTHRAX, STONE SOUR),the record finds the quintet challenging themselves. Songs like "Close To The Bone", "Hit A Moonshot" and "Every Man-Any Man" have ARMORED SAINT honoring their past as one of the most respected and recognizable bands in heavy music while making forward-thinking music rooted in the present.

"Emotion Factory Reset" was recorded across several studios, including 606 Studios, Secret Hand Studios, Skullseven Studios, Constantine Studios and Bridge Recording, engineered by Oliver Roman, Bill Metoyer, Joey Vera and Jason Constantine. It features cover art by DDKing.

A special European edition of the CD digipak includes the bonus track "One Chain (Don't Make No Prison)", which was previously only available digitally. 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).

ARMORED SAINT's current lineup of singer John Bush, guitarists Phil Sandoval and Jeff Duncan, drummer Gonzo Sandoval and Vera has been together since 1989 — not including a few hiatuses while Bush served as ANTHRAX's lead singer.

At various points in the 1980s, Bush and Vera each had offers to audition for spots with fellow heavy metal giants METALLICA but decided to stay with ARMORED SAINT.

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.