The singer says the band’s continuity is the thing he defends most, and is clear-eyed about why other bands cannot manage it.
John Bush has been asked plenty of times how Armored Saint have kept the same five men together for the better part of four decades. His answer starts by refusing the easy version of it.
Speaking to Stevie J of “TotalRock“, the singer said the band are not immune to the things that break other groups up.
“Well, I’m not gonna say that it’s always wine and roses for us because we’re human beings that don’t always agree on things. But at the end of the day, it’s pretty remarkable that, other than [guitarist] Dave Prichard, who died back in 1990, it’s the same guys. It really is the same guys. The two Sandoval brothers — Gonzo [drums] and Phil [guitar] — Jeff Duncan [guitar], who came in when Dave was still alive and started writing songs with us that became [1991’s] Symbol Of Salvation [album]. Jeff wrote [the song] ‘Last Train Home‘. And then, of course, me and Joey [Vera, bass],” he said (as transcribed by Blabbermouth).
Prichard, a founding guitarist, died on February 27, 1990 from leukaemia. Duncan had already joined and was writing with the band before his death, and Symbol Of Salvation became the record that carried his memory.
Bush named the handful of bands he thinks have managed the same thing.
“A lot of bands, there’s different versions of them, but it’s pretty safe to say there’s not a lot of bands like Armored Saint where the majority of the people are still in the band,” Bush continued. “I mean, Metallica‘s one. Anthrax, actually, is one. There are some exceptions. Some people have died. What are you gonna do? Dave died back in, like I said, 1990. But I really champion that kind of thing that Armored Saint is the same guys. You’re not coming to see John Bush and four other dudes that you don’t know, or Joey Vera and three other guys that you just don’t know.
He was not scoring points off anyone: “I know, like I said, other bands sometimes have to make those kind of sacrifices because people pass away or people just don’t wanna be in the same room with somebody. And I get it. But, yeah, it’s a cool aspect of Armored Saint, for sure.”
The Anthrax reference is not incidental. Bush fronted that band from 1992 until 2005, a period during which Armored Saint were largely inactive, and the lineup he is describing waited for him. Phil Sandoval had also left in the mid-1980s before returning to the fold around the Symbol Of Salvation sessions.
That album, their ninth since 1984’s March Of The Saint and the follow-up to 2020’s Punching The Sky, came out on May 22 through Metal Blade Records. Vera produced it, as he has the previous four, and Jay Ruston mixed it. It was tracked across five studios, 606 Studios, Secret Hand Studios, Skullseven Studios, Constantine Studios and Bridge Recording, with engineering by Oliver Roman, Bill Metoyer, Vera and Jason Constantine, and cover art by DDKing.
A European edition of the CD digipak carries “One Chain (Don’t Make No Prison)“, previously available only as a download. Written by Dennis Lambert and Brian Potter, it was first recorded by People! in 1970 and later covered by The Four Tops in 1974, Santana in 1978 and The Doobie Brothers in 1989.
Armored Saint close out the year on “The Metal Saint Tour 2026“, a co-headlining North American run with Metal Church that opens on November 2 in San Juan Capistrano, California and finishes on November 21 in Agoura Hills. Livekill open every date.
There is a neat contrast in that billing. Metal Church arrive having replaced three of their five members last November, while Armored Saint arrive with the same lineup they have had since the start of the nineties.
