For a moment, it seemed like the legendary heavy metal act Metal Church was permanently closed for business. However, founding guitarist Kurdt Vanderhoof has managed to assemble a powerhouse new lineup and resurrect the band once again.
In a recent interview with Pete Pardo and Lynne Versaci of “Sea Of Tranquility,” Vanderhoof detailed the messy fallout that led to the band’s temporary demise, and the surprising sequence of events that brought it back to life with a star-studded new roster.
According to Vanderhoof, the previous incarnation of the band—which featured vocalist Marc Lopes and drummer Stet Howland—imploded following a tour in Australia about two years ago.
“Well, about two years ago, maybe a little over two years ago now, we did a Australia run. And the shows were fine, but we got back. Things got ugly, and the whole thing was just turned into a mess. And then [there was] a whole bunch of stuff flying around. Stet [Howland, former Metal Church drummer] didn’t like the way business was going, so he left. And the other guys didn’t like it either. I didn’t like the way things were going at all. It just wasn’t any fun anymore. And a band at our level, if you’re not having any fun — that’s part of the pay. And if you’re not having any fun anymore… Nobody makes a lot of money anymore, so you gotta be able to afford to do what you’re doing and enjoy it… So I shut the band down, I was, like, ‘This isn’t worth it anymore.’ The record company lost interest in us; [they] didn’t wanna work with us anymore. Both European and American labels, they were just, like, ‘They’re done.’ And I’m, like, ‘Okay, there’s no reason to go on.’ So I shut the band down. And I made a point of saying, ‘Look, I’m not gonna say anything derogatory about anybody in the press or anything like that, and I hope you would do the same.’ But apparently some people decided not to do that. So, that’s on them, not me.”
While he remains proud of their 2023 album, Congregation Of Annihilation, the surrounding business struggles simply became too much.
“Yeah. Oh, yeah. It’s a fine album. It’s good. Yeah, it had some great moments, and it was fine. It was just a bunch of business stuff and a bunch of things like that just wasn’t working for anybody, myself included. And so it was, like, ‘Eh.’ And then when labels and people like that aren’t really [into it, I was], like, ‘Okay, I don’t think I wanna do this anymore either. There’s no point.’ So I shut the band down, and I thought it was done — again… And I keep trying to kill it. It’s like the band that won’t die… So, again, I had no intention of doing it anymore. I was done. I was, like, ‘All right. We did that. We’re not getting along. Okay, I’m done.’ And then not having interest [from] the label, there was just no point. So I shut it down.”
Even after halting the band, Vanderhoof continued working with Rat Pak Records on his other projects, Presto Ballet and Hall Aflame. The seeds for the reunion were planted when the label’s Joe O’Brien unexpectedly sent Vanderhoof audio files of singer Brian Allen performing classic Metal Church tracks.
“And Joe just said, ‘Hey, listen to these.’ And I did. And it was, like, ‘Is this like an unreleased track of [late Metal Church singer] David Wayne?’ kind of thing. When I heard ‘Start The Fire‘, I was, like, ‘Wow, who is this?'”
Impressively, Allen (Vicious Rumors) was able to channel both of the band’s iconic late singers, David Wayne and Mike Howe.
“Anyway, so that turned out to be Brian Allen, who, I didn’t know at the time, was a guy I knew from Portland. I didn’t know him, but we knew him from Portland when he was in a Judas Priest tribute band, and we did some shows with him back over the last 10, 15 years. So I was, like, ‘Wow. I had no idea.’ And he did such a great job with it, I was, like, ‘Well, if we ever decide to put the band back together, there’s our singer,’ ’cause he can do the David Wayne and Mike Howe [late Metal Church singer] stuff. And so he said, ‘Great. Okay. Isn’t that nice?’ And it was completely unsolicited. It was Todd La Torre [from Queensrÿche] who told Brian to send [Joe the files]. And I’m, like, ‘Okay, cool. That was quite impressive, to say the least.”
Around the same time, Rat Pak Records was working with Ellefson-Soto, and former Megadeth bassist David Ellefson expressed interest in joining if the band ever reformed.
“So a little time goes by and then Rat Pak‘s working with Ellefson-Soto [Ellefson‘s collaboration with Jeff Scott Soto]. So he put out their record, and so he’s in contact with Dave Ellefson and working with him. And as that comes up, Dave offered his services: ‘Oh, well, if Metal Church ever wants to get back together. I’d love to be involved. I’d love to play bass.’ … And it was, like, ‘Wait, what? Wait, Dave Ellefson would wanna… Really? Okay.’ Well, then it was starting to get interesting.”
Initially, former drummer Jeff Plate was set to return, but his commitments to the Savatage reunion forced him to step back. The vacancy was quickly filled by veteran drummer Ken Mary (Flotsam and Jetsam, Fifth Angel, Alice Cooper, House Of Lords, TKO, Chastain).
“And soon after that, or right about the same time, [former Metal Church drummer] Jeff Plate said, ‘Well, yeah, if you ever wanna do that, yeah, I’d love to get re-involved again. Sure. That’d be great.’ I’m, like, ‘Okay. Again, here I am saying this is the final tour. We’re not doing anything, the farewell tour or whatever.’ … So long story endless, suddenly there’s Brian Allen, the singer, which would be the most important part of that. Then Dave bringing a certain credibility to it. And then Jeff coming back. I was, like, ‘Okay.’ So I kind of started putting some songs together, songs started happening. But then the Savatage thing took off, which I couldn’t be happier for [Jeff] and all of those guys… So [Jeff] couldn’t continue [with Metal Church]. Lo and behold, Ken Mary, an old friend of ours from Seattle, who is a transplant down here as well, reaches out to me for some other complete other reason, and I’m, like, ‘Are you still in Flotsam?’ He goes, ‘Yeah, yeah. But we don’t work on all that much.’ ‘Hey, well, [I’m] kind of thinking about maybe seeing if I… I kind of started putting Metal Church back together, but Jeff is really busy with the Savatage reunion.’ And he’s, like, ‘Yeah. Oh, I’d love to do that.’ I’m, like, ‘Okay.’ So it was kind of a no-brainer at that point. So there you have it.”
The new lineup, rounded out by longtime guitarist Rick Van Zandt, is currently preparing to release their new album, Dead To Rights. While fans might be curious about the drama that fractured the previous lineup, Vanderhoof made it clear he has no interest in public mudslinging.
“And again, I had no intention of doing it. And so we made a record. We’re really happy with the record. And so I guess we’re back at it. It was kind of unplanned. It was resurrected by itself. So, yeah, I’m really happy. I’m still a little bit surprised of how it came together ’cause it wasn’t on my radar. So that’s basically, a very Reader’s Digest, condensed version of how it happened. But that’s basically it. And I know a lot of people, they want a lot of the dirt and stuff like that, and a couple of the other guys like to talk smack about what happened. Whatever. That’s fine. I’m gonna keep to my promise, and if you guys wanna [talk smack], that’s on you guys. That’s fine. ‘Cause I can’t stand those Internet fights when this guy, formerly of this band, and this guy [says], ‘He did this’ and ‘he did that’. I’m not doing that. No, I’m not doing that. If they have an issue, that’s fine. They have their opinion, I have mine. But I’m not airing my stuff in public.”
Earlier in January, Stet briefly addressed his eight-year stint with Metal Church in a social media post. Howland wrote in part : “I have to release a statement regarding the Metal Church situation. I know it’s overdue, I’ve just been too busy with positivity and making money to deal with negativity & drama. But after seeing recent [Metal Church] interviews, Marc‘s statement, and Kurdt‘s response. There’s clearly MANY things that need to be said. But in short, Marc was 100% accurate. Tho[ugh] he barely shared the tip of the iceberg of the bulls**t, and he was much more kind than I’m going to be. There’s truths that need to be told and facts that need to be shared. I’ll be as kind as I can, but I’ll be dissecting and explaining a s**tshow. Hang tight, you’ll see it right here very soon.”
In a recent episode of “The Big Truth Podcast,” Lopes detailed the chaotic end of his tenure with the legendary metal outfit, describing a situation rife with poor communication, hidden agendas, and a complete lack of professional courtesy.
According to Lopes, the trouble began when the band canceled their 2024 tour dates due to guitarist Kurdt Vanderhoof‘s back issues. From that point on, communication effectively ceased.
“For most of 2025 nobody knew what was going on with Metal Church,” Lopes told the podcast. “When Metal Church canceled the tour in 2024, there was a lot of things going on behind the scenes that we didn’t make public, obviously. People get mad, people have disagreements, and we kind of just let things lay for where they were in hopes that maybe we could have a conversation, like adults should. If there’s a disagreement, resolve it one way or the other, whether it’s yes or no, or whatever the case may be. But there was no communication for that whole time. And I did a lot of interviews and a lot of people would always ask [about Metal Church‘s status], and when I said I didn’t know it was, it was the truth — I did not know.”
“In a nutshell, now we’ve come out to where we are now, it’s basically no integrity. The cowardice of not confronting any of the issues, whether good or bad, it didn’t matter, in my book, that doesn’t work… That doesn’t fly. If there’s an issue, no matter what it is, either you freaking take it out in the school yard, so to say, or you have that discussion and each person goes ‘f**k you’ and that’s the end of it. But when that doesn’t even happen, that’s a tough nail to bite. And then, obviously, the conclusion of it is to find out everything on the Internet. That was the ultimate ‘f**k you’. And that does not bide well with me personally, which will be addressed in another time. [Laughs]”
When asked if there was any chance of reconciliation or further movement with the band, Lopes shut down the idea immediately, labeling the entire ordeal as deceptive.
“Oh, no, dude. They announced a whole new lineup, new single, new album. Oh, yeah. That’s all done. They totally bamboozled us. And, yeah, it’s pretty, pretty disgusting what happened.”
He also took aim at internet commenters accusing him of playing the victim, clarifying that his anger stems from a lack of respect rather than the loss of the gig itself.
“It’s kind of funny. Obviously, somebody always likes to tag you on something [on social media] and I saw one comment that made me f**king laugh. They’re, like, ‘Oh, he knew, and he’s just playing victim.’ I’m, like, ‘Listen, motherf**ker, you have no f**king idea, ’cause you’re not in it. You’re not involved in it. And I can tell you right now, right f**king right here, I’m not playing victim.’ F**king victim of what? That whole thing was a s**t show from day one, if you wanna know the truth. But to not have conversations and get totally slighted like that, especially in public, and then saying that we quit?! Nobody f**king quit. Nobody was fired. You just threw it under the table. ‘They’re not gonna [notice]. No one’s gonna notice.’ [Laughs] And you know what? Honestly, that’s the only thing that bothered me. You think that you are working with people that are supposed to be comrades, you’re with them on tour day to day, and then they just totally blow you off and disregard, like not even having a conversation to even say, ‘Hey, look, you know what?! We’re gonna go in another direction,’ or, ‘We don’t agree with this or what that was.’ But not to have that?”
Despite the bitterness of the split, Lopes expressed pride in the work he did on Congregation Of Annihilation and his gratitude for his ongoing work with Ross The Boss. However, he made it clear that he has no desire to cross paths with his former bandmates anytime soon.
“Let’s just put it this way, it was business, business — that’s all I’m gonna say — it was business that the whole thing started to crumble. And it didn’t have to end like that. But you know what?! Hey, whatever. The thing is this, like I said. And the fans are gonna go. They’re gonna go. If they’re happy, that’s cool. Great. I’m grateful for what I did while I was there. Everybody was awesome. I thank them, and the support was awesome. And I did what I had to do. One and done. The album did great. It got great reviews. The tours were awesome. I have no regret in any of that. [Do] I wish it would’ve went down different? Absolutely. You know what I mean?! But the moral of that story is communication is very important in everything. A lot of those things could have been avoided just by having a simple conversation. But when certain parties don’t wanna even deal with it and they just want to take their ball and go home?! So there it is. What can you do? And that’s the honest truth. I mean, that’s as far as I’m getting into it right now. But that’s where it’s at. Go enjoy the new record. Do what you want. But I’m not there. [Laughs] … I’m being nice. [Laughs] I just hope we’re never on the same show with them. [Laughs]”
