KURDT VANDERHOOF Says METAL CHURCH's First Show With New Lineup 'Went Amazing': 'It Really Did'

In a new interview with Australia's Metal Mal, METAL CHURCH guitarist Kurdt Vanderhoof offered an update on the back issues which forced the cancelation of the band's 2024 tour dates. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Well, it's getting sorted out now. It's a process. I actually finally found a good recommendation of a sports medicine guy over in Phoenix. 'Cause I live in Palm… well, Joshua Tree, so southern California. So it's like four hours away, and we were over there rehearsing. 'Cause [METAL CHURCH drummer] Ken [Mary] and [METAL CHURCH bassist] Dave Ellefson all live over in Phoenix, so we decided to rehearse over there. There was a studio, and I got recommended a doctor over there. And I went to one treatment, and I'm already feeling a lot better. I started doing a lot of stuff on my own, just taking some time off after the last show.

"Yeah, it was brutal, man," Kurdt continued. "It was brutal. I had spinal stenosis. Well, I still have it, but I'm fighting it, and in the process of all that, this doctor — finally somebody who knew what they were doing — all my muscles all over from my neck down to my feet are all in knots from trying to hold myself up when I'm all crooked. So that's why it's so hard for me to stand up for any length of time. And I'm going every week now, and he's just reefing on me, just getting my muscles loosened up. It's painful, but it's kind of like… It hurts like a mother, but you're going, 'Oh, yeah.' Your body somehow knows that's what it needs. So I'm just one big knot. So I'm doing a lot better now. I'm doing much better. And before we really start touring here at the end of next month, yeah, I should be in pretty good shape. I finally found somebody who knows what they're doing... 'Cause I've had a lot of bad advice from chiropractors and other doctors and stuff over the past 15, 20 years, which never helped anything. It actually sometimes made it worse. So taking some time off and then doing some things that I know to do. But, yeah, it's getting better. It's getting a lot better. I am very, very happy to say that.

"So many people have back issues now 'cause we sit all the time, and that's what it's from," Kurdt added. "We all sit in front of a computer all the time. And then I'm in the studio sitting again. So it's, like, it's amazing anybody can stand up at all. Anyway, enough of the old man stuff."

The new lineup of METAL CHURCH made its live debut on May 17 at the San Luis Metal Fest at Teatro del Pueblo in San Luis Potosí, Mexico. Playing alongside Kurdt in the band's current formation are longtime guitarist Rick Van Zandt, bass icon David Ellefson (MEGADETH),powerhouse drummer Ken Mary (FLOTSAM AND JETSAM, FIFTH ANGEL, ALICE COOPER, HOUSE OF LORDS, TKO, CHASTAIN) and new vocalist Brian Allen (VICIOUS RUMORS).

Regarding how the Mexico show went, Kurdt told Metal Mal: "That went amazing. It really, it really did. Other than that's when I really realized, 'Okay, I gotta go go back to Phoenix to this doctor.' 'Cause it had been a long time, so the first four or five songs I was fine. After about four or five songs, it started in again. I was, like, 'Oh, fuck.' So that's when I, like, okay. We got back from Mexico and I'm, like, 'Hey, doc, I'll be right over.' you know. So and, and after one treatment I'm doing a lot better. But the show went great. It went absolutely amazing. We didn't play perfectly 'cause it was our first show, but right out of the box to headline a festival, that was pretty cool. It was, like, 'Okay, this'll work.' Yeah, it was a lot of fun, and it was a lot of fun after not being on stage for a couple of years to be out playing again. And especially kind of watching Brian and wondering how he's gonna… Is he gonna front the band? You always wonder. He always had a great reputation. I'd never heard VICIOUS RUMORS before, so I didn't know. But he did it, man. He was selling it and he was fronting the band. And I was, like, 'Okay. Well, there we go. Looks like we got ourselves a rock and roll band,' to quote Ted Nugent. [Laughs]"

As for the setlist for the gig, Kurdt said: "Well, [we were] focusing mainly on the classics — mostly [the stuff that was originally recorded with late METAL CHURCH singer] David Wayne, first two albums. Good chunk of Mike Howe [later METAL CHURCH singer] stuff, and then two songs from the new album. We only had an hour. But we're adding more songs for our headline set. So we're adding more stuff, early stuff, and maybe one more from the new album. The new album's getting such a great response, which is great, but people still wanna hear the old stuff. You can't get away from it. I'm the same way [with my favorite bands]."

Last November, it was announced that METAL CHURCH was returning with a "revitalized" lineup consisting of Vanderhoof alongside Van Zandt, Ellefson, Mary and Allen. The announcement came nearly two years after METAL CHURCH canceled its 2024 tour dates due to "an ongoing back issue" suffered by Vanderhoof.

METAL CHURCH's new album, "Dead To Rights", was released on April 10 via Rat Pak Records. The LP was produced by Vanderhoof and mixed and mastered by Chris "Zeuss" Harris at Planet Z.

During a December 2025 appearance on "The David Ellefson Show" podcast, Vanderhoof stated about how the latest version of METAL CHURCH came to be: "Well, it was a couple years ago, after we just did our Australia run. And when we came back, things just really fell apart. Stet [Howland, former METAL CHURCH drummer] quit, Stet left, 'cause he wasn't happy with the way business was going. The other two guys kind of felt the same. I felt the same for different reasons, and for me, it was, like, 'This isn't any fun and this is no good.' And at my age, at this many years of doing this, if it's not fun. I'm out. If there's just drama and stuff like that, I'm just not interested. So I let everyone know, 'Hey, I'm shutting this down. Sorry. I'm done with this. This is not working.' And, basically, I thought we were done. And then about a year and a half later, just out of the blue, these opportunities [came up] with people that were interested that would be a good fit if I was to resurrect the band, and it kind of resurrected itself. We ended up getting Brian Allen, the singer, who came through his friend, and our friend as well, Todd La Tore from QUEENSRŸCHE. He had pushed Brian to send some kind of audition tapes or something to me and to Joe [O'Brien] at Rat Pak [Records, METAL CHURCH's record label]. And he did, but I didn't know it at the time. And all of a sudden Joe sends me a couple of MP3 files. He goes, 'Hey, check this out.' And it was 'Start The Fire' and a song off 'The Human Factor'. And I started playing 'Start The Fire', and I was, like, 'Is this an unreleased vocal track of David Wayne?' I was, like, 'Wow. All right.' And then I listened to the other one, and it's, like, 'Well, he's singing the Mike Howe stuff too.' Again, at this point, I really hadn't made any decisions on what was gonna happen. Again, I thought we were done. And so that was very inspiring. That was kind of, like, 'All right. Well, okay. That just came out of nowhere to me. What are you trying to tell me?' And then after that, it was through Rat Pak — Dave was in contact with Rat Pak because of the ELLEFSON-SOTO record. And the discussion just kind of started."

Kurdt continued: "So, I guess to make a long story endless, I had really no intentions of starting up the band again, but the band resurrected itself through those kind of channels, and it was just something that just kept going step by step. Again, very similar to what happened a few years ago with the 'Congregation Of Annihilation' [2023] lineup. Again, I didn't really plan on it. It's the band that wouldn't die. So I'm embracing it, and it's really great. And to have somebody like Dave, and then also to bring Ken Mary on, and then to have Brian, who's just really nailing the METAL CHURCH sound. It's, like, 'Well, this is definitely worth doing.' And with the new song and the reaction to the new video, it seems to be a good thing to do. So that's kind of the long and short of it, basically. Again, it just kind of happened."

Elaborating on how the material for the new METAL CHURCH album came together, Kurdt said: "Like I said, I'm sitting here and all of a sudden these great people just became available and were interested in doing this. And I had to literally stop, 'cause I was, like, 'Wait. What? I hadn't planned on this.' I wrote a bunch of metal stuff and a bunch of riffs and stuff, which I do anyway.

"When everything fell apart, I went on to make other records," he explained. "I did the HALL AFLAME record, the new PRESTO BALLET record, which are different styles, but I'm always writing something. So there was this pile of stuff, and it was already kind of right there. So as this thing kind of fell into place, it was definitely ready to go. And also [former METAL CHURCH drummer] Jeff Plate was initially gonna be involved [with the new METAL CHURCH lineup] when we decided to go forward, and he started, but then as the thing started, the SAVATAGE reunion just took off, and I couldn't be happier for him. So he wasn't able to really see it through. But kudos to Jeff… 'Cause they're [SAVATAGE] kicking ass right now and it's doing great. So he couldn't be involved. And then Ken Mary became available. And Ken and I have a history, 'cause we're both from Seattle and we did shows together way back in the day, in the mid-'80s, with TKO. And while we were in the studio with [producer] Terry Date, he was in the studio with FIFTH ANGEL, with Terry Date. Terry was playing our stuff to him and he was playing [their] stuff to us, and so there's this big incestuous kind of thing. So Ken Mary being available and interested in doing it just made perfect sense."

Born out of the explosive West Coast metal scene of the early '80s, METAL CHURCH quickly established themselves as one of the genre's most formidable and musically sophisticated bands. After signing with Elektra Records, the group released two landmark albums — their self-titled debut "Metal Church" and its follow-up "The Dark" — both of which remain essential listening in the heavy metal canon. As the U.S. metal wave surged, METAL CHURCH hit the road with labelmates METALLICA, further solidifying their reputation for precision, power, and uncompromising intensity.

The band continued to evolve into the late '80s and early '90s, tackling political and social themes with vocalist Mike Howe on the acclaimed albums "Blessing In Disguise" and "The Human Factor". While many peers shifted toward the era's commercial trends, METAL CHURCH stayed true to their heavy roots — a commitment that earned them a loyal global following.

In 2016, the band reunited with Howe for their eleventh studio album "XI", which debuted at No. 57 on the Billboard Top 200 and charted internationally, marking one of the strongest comebacks in modern metal. Its 2018 successor, "Damned If You Do", continued that momentum with additional worldwide chart success and reaffirmed the band's enduring relevance.

Singer Marc Lopes joined METAL CHURCH in the summer of 2022 as the replacement for Howe, who tragically passed away in July of 2021. Lopes's first and only studio album with METAL CHURCH, "Congregation Of Annihilation", came out in May 2023 via Rat Pak Records (America) and Reaper Entertainment (Europe). The LP was produced by Vanderhoof.

METAL CHURCH made its live debut with Lopes on June 3, 2023 at the Legions Of Metal festival at Reggies in Chicago, Illinois.