Armored Saint

January, 2000 via telephone

Your last release 'Symbol Of Salvation' dated from 1991. What were the reasons for your 9-year-break?
The obvious one is that John Bush left to sing with Anthrax. It was very clear that Armored Saint had to break up. We didn't think about replacing him. When we disbanded we said to each other that one day in the future we would do some more work together. During the last eight years, John was very busy with Anthrax and we all had other bands. I got involved with Fates Warning eventually in 1996. Now we had time to reform the band because John and I were in-between-records. I had written a couple of riffs which eventually ended up on the record (Control Issues, After Me The Flood). John came over to my house and wanted to write some lyrics to them. We realised that it sounded very much like Armored Saint. So we thought that this was the time for a new record. Together with Gonzo, we started writing new music.

But you never had trouble with John when he decided to join Anthrax?
We've always been good friends. I personally told him that he should do it. It would benefit his like and it surely was a relief for him as Armored Saint were at that time in a very difficult situation.

Was John Bush singing a track on your solo album 'A Thousand Faces' (1993) because you were missing the old Armored Saint days?
Everybody missed it. Immediately after Armored Saint broke up, we found a new freedom. But later we started to miss it because we had been together for over ten years.

You made your reunion album 'Revelation' with the same line-up as on 'Symbol Of Salvation'. Was it difficult to find all the musicians again?
No, everybody was still pretty close to each other.

You all play in other bands. John Bush is member of Anthrax, Jeff Duncan is member of DC4 and you are member of Fates Warning and Engine. Is Armored Saint your main band or just a side project?
That's a tricky question. At this point, I regard Armored Saint as a side project as I don't want to get too close to it. A part of the agreement we made to each other was that we wanted this to be a low stress project with not too high expectations. The most important thing for us is having a good time. But I have a different role in each project I'm involved in. I'm a hired gun for Fates Warning. It's easy to work with them because I know exactly what I have to do. It's not a high pressure situation as I don't get involved in business stuff. Armored Saint is a little different as I'm closer to it and we keep an eye on our own business.

When you recorded 'Revelation', were there differences compared to your earlier recordings?
Very different. We did this time most of the recordings at my house. It was a lot cheaper and we had lots of time to work in a comfortable situation. As it was my house, we could work at any time we liked. This allowed us to make a very efficient work. We were only working eight hours a day at the most. In the old days, there was the pressure to finish the recordings in time. Sometimes we had to work 16 hours a day. We were burned at the end of each day.

How long did the recordings for 'Revelation' last?
We started in June and finished in early September. In September we mixed it in a real recording studio for two weeks.

'Revelation' is again released on Metal Blade Records. Was it easy to come back to them?
Brian Slagel has always been a huge fan of Armored Saint. He has always remained a friend of all of us since the band broke up. So it was very easy. He was also the first person we had been talking about bringing the band back together.

Will you do again a video clip as it has been the case for 'Last Train Home?
There are no plans to do a video. Metal Blade don't have a big presence in the video market, unless the marked demands it, maybe bands like Mercyful Fate, Cannibal Corpse, Six Feet Under or King's X. Those bands may get a little bit of airplay. Not in the States, but on some European stations. But we would do a video if there was some demand.

Why did you sing one track in Spanish (No Me Digas) on the new CD?
We did it for fun. Gonzo, Phil and myself come from a Latin background and we all speak Spanish. It's also slightly experimental, but was fun to do.

Did you already play single live gigs to present the new material?
No, we haven't played anywhere so far.

But I suppose that you plan to organise a tour.
We try to book a tour for March and April in Europe. I don't have any confirmation yet.

Do you think that 'Revelation' will be more popular in Europe or in the USA?
I think that it will be more popular in Europe because this has also been the case for our earlier records. Only during our first two years we have been more popular in the USA. As we always had a strong support from the European fans, this was another reason for our reunion.

Do you plan to re-release your older material as your EP from '83 or the song from the '82 Metal Massacre compilation?
I'd love to do that and we were already talking about that. But I think that the Metal Massacre II compilation is still available.

What's the purpose of your homepage?
It needs to be updated. At the moment it's of poor quality. Its purpose is to have information like news, band history, gigs. Each musician will get his own department with a history of himself.

There are also some MP3 files to download, but you only give samples. Would it disturb you to offer one or two tracks entirely.
Metal Blade is striking up a deal with a company called E-music. You will be able to download the whole record, but not for free. As I am an artist, I have to make sure that the calculations will be correct. If you sell a record, you have to report it so that the artists get their royalties. Even if you only download one song, the artist should be paid for it.

When you now look back at all Armored Saint albums, is there one that you don't like so much anymore?
I have mixed feelings about almost every record we have ever done. The most confused record, musically, in production and in direction, is 'Raising Fear'. It was a very difficult record to make because we were having lots of trouble with our label Chrysalis and with our management. They weren't satisfied with our music and said we had to rewrite it. When I now listen to it, I can't help remembering all this.

If you were restarting Armored Saint back in the early eighties, would you make something differently now than you did then?
I wouldn't change a whole lot because I had a good time. The only thing I would do differently - and I learned this the hard way - is that I would pay more attention to the business aspect. I would only change several business decisions. I don't put blame on myself or on anyone else because I was only 21 years old when we started. I didn't give a shit about the business and I even don't give a shit today. We just wanted to party, smoke pot and drink beer.

Thank you very much for your time and the interview.

Interview published on March 4^th 2000