JOHN BUSH Says ARMORED SAINT Members Are 'All Wearing Suits' In Upcoming Music Video For 'One Chain Don't Make No Prison'

In a brand new interview with Nikki Blakk of the San Francisco radio station 107.7 The Bone, ARMORED SAINT singer John Bush spoke about the band's cover version of "One Chain Don't Make No Prison". "One Chain Don't Make No Prison" was written by Dennis Lambert and Brian Potter and was first released by PEOPLE in 1970. It was also covered by FOUR TOPS, as well as SANTANA and THE DOOBIE BROTHERS. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "[It came out] really cool. It's kind of a throwback. I love that sound from — especially [FOUR TOPS] in the '70s was really cool. That's when they got a little bit more edgy. The '60s stuff was, of course, great, but Levi Stubbs, the main singer, was awesome. He had a cool, just soulful, powerful voice. So Joey [Vera, ARMORED SAINT bassist] had this idea of doing it. We did the song. I don't know when for sure it's coming out. We did a video for it that we're all wearing suits. So it's pretty funny. It's a little different for us. It was really aesthetically looking pretty cool. We filmed it at somebody's house somewhere here in Hollywood. The guy had all these crazy decorations inside of his house that he lived in. So, the director found it. And so we shot it kind of in a circle, which is really cool. It was fun."

Regarding the progress of the songwriting sessions for ARMORED SAINT's next LP, Bush said: "We've already written a few songs — we've got probably about five or six, and we need to write a handful more. ARMORED SAINT notoriously doesn't move too fast. It would be cool if we had a little urgency. Not that we're lazy about it. We kind of work at our own pace. And when ideas come, they do. And then the ball starts kind of getting momentum and then we're going. But in the end, I always say it's better to make an awesome record. We're never gonna be a band that had, like, 30 records — that just wasn't our kind of path — but we can still have every record be great, and that should be the objective. Not that all bands with 30 records are just saying, 'Let's put out some crap,' but sometimes I think a lot of people do things so they could just tour and that just isn't really our M.O. So, if we could try to get it less than every five years, especially [considering] our age, would be something that would be good. But in the end, it will come when it does. But 2025, I think, is fairly realistic."

Asked if ARMORED SAINT would consider making an EP instead of a full-length album, as a lot of other artist have done in recent years, John said: "I wanna make a [full] record because metal people still love records, metal fans still want to buy vinyl and CDs. It's probably the one genre that people still wanna… I mean, of course people get it through different means — downloading or MP3s or whatever; if that's your method to listen to music, do whatever it is that makes you happy — but I think that people still love the aesthetics of vinyl and record and CDs. Some people still have cassettes; I don't know if they're listening to them or if it sounded good in the first place. But people like having the product, and that's really great. And we've always released vinyl from the beginning, even in our latter years on Metal Blade when vinyl was taking a big dip. It's had a little resurgence now, but, yeah, I think it's great that fans still want that. And I wanna make a full-length record."

Bush previously told The Chill Dude On A Couch about the ARMORED SAINT songwriting process: "We write something and then we'll try to make this really good-sounding demo. I'll go and sing. I actually try to sing it like I'm singing a record, and we've kept a lot of the original vocals. This goes back to the way we wrote songs back to [2000's] 'Revelation' even. 'Cause sometimes I think you sing something that maybe you'll never sing exactly the same, and so that nuance in your voice or who knows what, your inflection, you can try to mimic it, but maybe you never will mimic it exactly that way. Same with a guitar lead — a certain bend, it may not be exactly how you play it again. So I think those are key things that you try to keep when you're making demos, and that's what we do. So I've gotta get back to doing some work. And we've got more work to do, that's for sure. We certainly don't work at a fast pace; everyone knows that about SAINT. We could try to put a little urgency into this and try to kind of move on it a little quicker without sacrificing quality. I think that's a good idea."

ARMORED SAINT was inducted into the Metal Hall Of Fame last July at the legendary Whisky A Go Go in West Hollywood, California.

Ten months ago, 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.

ARMORED SAINT's eighth full-length album, "Punching The Sky", came out in October 2020 via Metal Blade Records.

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.