JOHN BUSH Says ARMORED SAINT Focused On Writing 'Shorter Songs' For Upcoming Album

In a new interview with Meltdown of Detroit's WRIF radio station, ARMORED SAINT singer John Bush spoke about the progress of the recording sessions for the band's long-awaited ninth studio album, due next year through Metal Blade Records. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "It is done. It's mastered and completed. I don't know what our protocol is here regarding telling people what the title is and the songtitles. I'm still kind of trying to figure out, can we do that? What's going on with that? But it'll be soon enough. We'll probably announce it in the new year, realistically. But, yeah, the record's great. It sounds awesome. And we just kind of keep thinking steps up as far as our style and just our whole trip.

"I'm really proud of what ARMORED SAINT has done for the last couple of records," he continued. "We made some really killer albums. [2015's] 'Win Hands Down' was the second-to-the-last record, and then the last one was [2020's] 'Punching The Sky', which is a great album, and this new one, it just kind of keeps building on that. So, yeah, I'm looking forward to being able to talk about that, doing interviews, talking about the record and going out there and playing some shows."

Pressed for some details about the upcoming ARMORED SAINT LP, Bush said:  "Believe me, I wanna talk about it. I'm still kind of confused as to when we're gonna put out a release date on it. We should do a press release very soon… But whatever — when it comes out, it comes out. But, yeah, there's 11 tunes on it, which was something we were struggling with, because sometimes ARMORED SAINT has a tendency to write songs a little too long. And then our label was saying, like, 'Come on, man. Shorter tunes. Shorter tunes.' And we were, like, 'Okay, okay. We're gonna focus on shorter songs,' which is just come in with a slug in the face and make it brief, which we did, actually."

John continued: "Metal Blade, our label, is always great about putting out vinyl on every album. And they just do a great job with the packaging. And at one point Joey [Vera, ARMORED SAINT bassist] was saying, 'Well, we might only have certain amount of songs 'cause of vinyl.' I was, like, 'No way. We haven't put out a record in six years. We cannot put out nine songs. Our fans will kill us if we do that. We need to have all the songs that we wrote and that we finished.' And we ended up doing that. So it's gonna be at least 11 tunes. And the artwork's great."

As for a possible release date for the new ARMORED SAINT album, Bush said: "We were supposed to have a date of April 8th or [April] 9th, but I don't know if that's still in play. So I'm probably still saying way more than I'm supposed to. And I wanna talk about it. Believe me, I wanna send you cuts off the record, so you can hit 'listen' to them. And I will do that when I can."

On the topic of ARMORED SAINT's touring plans in support of the upcoming LP, John said: "We have some stuff booked in Europe for next summer, some festivals, and we're doing some dates with SAVATAGE, which is gonna be really cool. That's a band from our era that we played the Dynamo festival in 1989. And the first time we ever went to Europe was with SAVATAGE on the 'Hall Of The Mountain King' record, which is a killer album. So I'm really excited to go out there and play a couple shows with those guys. And they've always had a huge vibe in Europe. And so, yeah, it's gonna be great. We're gonna be busy."

Two months ago, Bush told Metal Kaoz that ARMORED SAINT's new album was being mixed by Jay Ruston, who previously worked on "Punching The Sky" and "Win Hands Down".

Bush also seemingly ruled out the possibility of ARMORED SAINT performing any of the band's new songs live before next year, explaining: "You could do whatever you want as a band, of course, but usually the label kind of frowns on playing new tunes before the record's released, because with YouTube and everything, people got it, and it's, like, you don't wanna release that until the actual record, or at least the first couple videos come out. I'm sure we'll make a couple videos, and certainly a couple songs will be singles that will come out prior to the actual record release. So, realistically, I would say something like February, you'll probably hear a new ARMORED SAINT song."

In September, Bush told Chel Evah of Art Paparazza & Chel Shock Photography that ARMORED SAINT recorded 11 songs for the upcoming LP. Referencing what will be a six-year gap between "Punching The Sky" and ARMORED SAINT's next album, John said: "It's a long time coming, but I blame COVID, because it pushed everyone back a little bit, 'cause 'Punching The Sky' came out in 2020. Plus we've toured a lot in the last couple years. So, to do some writing in conjunction with touring, it's not easy. Everyone aspires to write on the road, but it's difficult. But we have a bunch of great tunes. We're really excited. The record sounds awesome. And I'm real fired up and I can't wait to go out in '26 and play a bunch of new tunes."

Bush previously talked about ARMORED SAINT's upcoming LP earlier in September in an interview with Pete Pardo of Sea Of Tranquility. He said at the time: "We went out and toured a lot [in support of 'Punching The Sky']. So, we were able to do that, and did a couple of more tours, and we were really not planning on it. But getting out there and playing was great. And we actually sold so many records and CDs on the road, it was crazy. We actually re-charted because we sold so many records out there. So, kudos to all the fanbase who bought records and CDs and shirts, of course. But it kind of did push things back a little bit. We don't work that quick as it is, quite frankly, but I always said it for years: the quality of the tunes is contrary to the amount, because that's the fact for us. But the new record will be out next year. And I think it's great. It's gonna just kind of build on everything we've been doing."

Circling back to ARMORED SAINT's increased touring activity and how it affected the making of the band's new album, John said: "We toured a lot. We actually put out four videos on the last record. So we've been on the public side maybe more than ever. And really I say this and it's really kind of the truth is ARMORED SAINT's probably bigger than we've ever been. Maybe there was a stretch in 1984 that we were maybe more popular, but honestly we're probably bigger than we ever were. So, we're just riding it. And the new record will be great, and I think people will dig it. And it really kind of shows sophistication in the songwriting, and we really believe in that. We try to kind of bring in all our different influences and styles and use some different instrumentation and take chances with arrangement a little bit. And I'm really proud of it. I think the songwriting is just — yeah, it's built on everything we've done. The origins of the band, our hard rock heavy metal band, but we really kind of feel like we just keep pushing the boundaries. And it's always gonna sound like SAINT. And this one does too. But I don't know. That's my pitch. I mean, of course it comes down to what the fans think."

After Pardo noted that ARMORED SAINT's musical output has been remarkably "consistent" over the group's four-decade career, Bush concurred. "When your band's been around as long as we have, and that goes for all the bands who have a four-decade career, is that usually new music means the opportunity to go take a piss or go get a couple of beers," he said. "But I really feel like people really think our last couple records have been great. And I think for us to keep building on that and keep writing new material that sounds very legit, I think is important. And not everybody can say that. Everybody kind of says it, but how much do you really believe it? And I really believe [it in our case]. I mean, again, it comes down to what the press and what the fanbase says, and they're the ones that make the final decision, really, on it. But at the end of the day, they've been saying ARMORED SAINT's making really great, modern music, so I'm stoked."

At the end of September, the band joined W.A.S.P. for a trio of U.K. shows before returning to the States to support legendary guitarist Michael Schenker on his "My Years With UFO" U.S. tour. ARMORED SAINT was celebrating the 40th anniversary of its second album, "Delirious Nomad", with a five-song micro set of songs from the record throughout the tour.

Last November, ARMORED SAINT bassist Joey Vera told Metal Kaoz about the musical and lyrical direction of the band's new material: "Every record we've made has been a little bit different than the one prior to it, and this one will be the same case where it will be a little different than 'Punching'. But our number one thing is just writing really great songs. We're not so concerned about trying to outdo the last record or do as good as it is or do the same thing. I always think that it's cool to just see where you are at that moment. And these songs that we've written, just like the last three or four records we've made, they all represent a particular time and place for us. So this these batch of songs, they're a reflection of where we are at a time and place right now. We're in post-COVID, we're coming back out of it, back into the world, and different things are influencing me personally than they were in 2014 when I was writing for [2015's] 'Win Hands Down'. So all those things are at play again. I'm trying to take a few chances as well on this, which we always try to do a little bit."

In June 2024, 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 Vera, mixed by Jay Ruston and mastered by Maor Applebaum.

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.

Photo by Stephanie Cabral