 Jimmy K here, Metal Voice. Look at this. The Metal Voice shirts are now on sale. Just go to the video description to find out on how you can purchase one. Metal! Welcome to the Metal Voice. And you know what? We got Metal Voices on today. We got John Bush and, of course, my co-host, the other Metal Voice, Neil Turbin. What is going on, John? What's up, Jimmy? Hey, new album, Punching the Sky. It's going to be released October 23rd on Metal Blade Records. And it was a single that was released. End of the attention span. Yes, congratulations, John, on the new release, Punching the Sky. How you doing? What's up, buddy? Great meeting you there at the DO Awards Gala back in, you know, a number of months back, but it's so cool to have that chance. Pretty quarantine. Yes. We remember those days. So the big surprise is the album release party that's going to be live-streaming. You want to tell us a bit about that? That's coming up next month? I do. It's October 10th, and it's going to be from the famous whiskey at Gogo here in Hollywood. We've done many shows there, and I've been to many shows there. It's a great venue. We're trying to actually keep live venues alive in this uncertain time. So they've hooked up a way to live-stream shows. A bunch of people have done it prior to us, which is good because they probably got the bugs out, which is a good thing because it's using Armored Saints to kind of luck that we'd be the first group to do it, and then Haywire would, you know, break out, and nothing would work. But it's not the case. We should be probably about the 10th show or so where they've got it done, so we should have all the bugs worked out. But it should be fun. To get tickets, you go to ArmoredSaint.Veeps. That is V-E-E-P-S dot com. Let me repeat that. ArmoredSaint.Veeps, V-E-E-P-S dot com. And then you can get just a ticket to the show, which is like 10 bucks, or you can get a bundle package, which is cool. Metal Blade's doing some really fun stuff where you can get a t-shirt in association with the show, or you can get the record, most importantly, so you can get the ticket, the t-shirt, the record, or you can just get the... Look at this. Look at this, John. Look at this, John. What am I wearing here? Look at this. Look at this. Classic ArmoredSaint t-shirt with the famous iconic logo. Yeah, but it should be fun. And I think there was some confusion early on about whether or not... Maybe some people thought it was a local gig, and, of course, it is for us a local gig. I live like maybe 10 minutes from the whiskey. However, you can watch this everywhere on the Earth that you have a good Wi-Fi and Internet, which I didn't have earlier, Jimmy, as I was driving. And so you could be in Montreal, or you can be in Helsinki, Finland, or Lima, Peru, or Antarctica, if you have Wi-Fi there. Just internationally, you can see it. All right. You know what? I've seen... I've seen, I think, Voivod, and I've seen Anvil, and I'm not sure what the setup is like there, but I got to tell you, from those two livestream paid, and Jeff Tate, too, excellent, excellent. And you know what? People are bumping around and they're on their computers and houses and drinking beers and having parties. Highly recommend so far what I've seen in terms of paid livestreams. Great. My only concern is it's going to be odd playing in front of nobody. That is the challenge. It'll be a little bit like a glorified rehearsal. You're playing to the cameras. You know people are in the cameras watching, of course, but anyhow, I'll probably have a little sense of humor to go with it just because it'll be unusual when it comes to normal rock gigs, but we're looking forward to it. When you make a new record, as anyone knows, you want to play songs live. That's what you want to do because you're excited about your new material. And we will be playing about four new songs, as well as some deep tracks, and it should be fun and we're looking forward to it. And after that, I don't know. That's our one and only gig 2021. Neil, you want to ask some questions about the new album, maybe? Yes, I wanted to ask about the song. Well, first of all, the package that you're going to be offering through Metal Blade or other distribution channels globally. Just wanted to ask what kind of, in other words, is it just a straight CD or is it going to be on vinyl? Are there different types of packages that people can look forward to? Yeah, Metal Blade, they do such an incredible job with different options to things to purchase. They have all these different colored vinyl LPs. Obviously the CD booklet, DigiPacks, they do a great job. They really make it exciting for people to really want to purchase the record or CD and instead of just live streaming it or hearing it on YouTube or Spotify or whatever the means are these days or getting it on iTunes, whatever. I want people to get the record. I want them to hear it in its entirety as heavy metal records in particular should be listened to. Everybody's different how they get music these days and I understand, but when you make a record, the objective is to hear it in its entirety. That's how we intended people to hear it and so by giving these cool packages that Metal Blade does, I think it gives extra incentive and let's face it, the metal community is probably the one world where people still want to hear records in its entirety and they want the packages because they like the way the artwork is and I do too, I'm actually a little vinyl and that's how I want to look at records and listen to records and I think that's how it should be done. And again, Metal Blade gives you a very good motivation to do it properly because they make some cool stuff. What about, okay, it's been a few years since your last album. What's the musical direction? Are we changing it up here or going death metal? Are we going typical traditional heavy metal? Are we going rap? What are we doing here? It's going to be a cross between a little death metal, little rap, a little coffee house music, little singer-songwriter, a little bluegrass. Now you think you guys can keep up? Yep, yep, yep, yep. You think the Armored Saint fan is that deep to go along with us? What's it going to sound like? You know what, it sounds like Armored Saint progressing with every record. You know, I always say that the previous record sets up the next record and when it ends down, which we thought was a great album, I think it kind of sets up this record. It's a stepping stone. So I really believe it's a step in progressing as writers, singers, musicians. You always want to look back on your history because we have a lot of history. Armored Saint started in 1983. So I think it's important to look back, but you also want to look forward. And so I think it encompasses all the origins of what Saint started as and how we formed as far as being a cool, hard rock, heavy metal band and then making a record these days that sounds like it came out in 2020. I think that's imperative. You know, I love the 80s. I really do. I cherish them, but we're not in the 80s. You know, this is 2020. We're not even in the decade of 2000. So we're in the second decade now, which is really cool. I'll give you a little tidbit of it. Armored Saint has made a record in five different decades now. We made one in the 80s, 90s, 2000, 2010s and now in the 20s. So I think that's pretty awesome accomplishment, but especially for a band that was not a band for about eight years. So that being said, I think it's a great combination of feeling old school in the sense that that's where we started, but sounding like a record that came out now. All right. How's this? In 10 seconds, we're not going to get into every lyric and every song and the meaning. Just give us a little quick 10 second overview of what the song's about, the lyric of the song. And I'll shoot off one and then Neil, I'll shoot off one. Missle to Gun. Missle to Gun is a little bit about the divisiveness that's going on in the country and trying to settle it perhaps with like a beer and maybe a little fight and then, you know, going back and having a beer with this person that you disagree with, that's kind of like the gist of it, saying, hey, we could probably get along and don't have that much of a difference of opinion if we really think about it. Go ahead, Neil. End of the, end of the attention span. End of the attention span plays on the, you know, the pros and cons of the digital world. There are pros. We wouldn't be doing this 30 years ago, which is pretty amazing. At the same time, the attention span that my wife would say even from somebody like me is terrible courtesy of all these devices. And I am concerned about the future generations in particular of my kids because they're being brought up with it. So I'm sorry. Can you repeat that? I didn't get that. Sorry. Exactly. No attention span. No, you know, I think the pros and cons, but I mean, I'm not just only negative. Of course, I like to bust little chops when I can. I'm always poking fun at society and the way we are, but I'm just as bad. So I'm not saying you guys. I'm saying us guys, but it is a little concerning about how this kind of, you know, affects us and our attention. You know, my wife is like, we're talking about something and here I am texting my friend, John. Hey, John. John, I'm talking to you anyway. I get that too. My wife tells me I don't pay attention to her. Bubble, Mr. Remember Mr. Bubbles? Remember Mr. Bubble? And the guy was floating around. Love Mr. Bubbles. That's what it's all about. Mr. Bubbles. That song is cool because, you know, obviously that term has been thrown around a lot as we've entered this weird COVID phase. Of course, the song was written about a year and a half back. So it was pre-COVID. But it seems that we're really identified with what's happening now. And the basic premise of that song is kind of be careful what you wish for because what you get, you may not want anymore to kind of gist of it. But like it could be relating to perhaps getting into a certain group of people and then realizing, wow, I don't think I really want to be in this group of people. And now I got to get out of it. Throwing out there, Neil. So I have a quick question, John, because I know the time is limited. I wanted to ask two questions, but I'll just kind of combine them into one. It's about the sound of Armaged Saint and how it's changed or how it may have changed or may not, you know, and that's really something that you can tell us. But, you know, obviously, you know, I'm very sad that Dave Pritchard left us back in the 80s, late 80s, but, you know, I know he was a big contributor to Armaged Saint in terms of the sound and just wondered, you know, that's one point of, you know, how the sound would be different today if he was still with you guys. And also from the last couple of albums, LaRaza, Wind Hands Down, of course, the live album, but the studio albums and the new one, Punching the Sky. Punching for the Sky, I guess I need some more coffee. No, it's Punching the Sky. You're good. Punching the Sky. I was just wondering, you know, in respect to those, to the different albums that you guys have released and, you know, obviously the last few, how the sound has maybe changed a little bit in the direction that your guys are going in and also, you know, in terms of... That's a lot of questions there, Neil. You're losing track here. He can answer the question. So in terms of your experience in anthrax, because you've been in anthrax, what, 12 years or more? Almost 13, actually. I mean, around 13. So, I mean, that's got to have some sort of an impact, at least on you. I mean, maybe the band, but just in terms of your experiences and maybe you could share a little bit about that. I just wanted to put that all together so you can talk about that and not answer the questions. Well, Dave is, you know, he was... He lost his life way too soon. He was an amazing person and a musician and we miss him. We miss him daily, actually, because he was just such a contributing force to Armored Sane and just our friendship, really. It's weird. Things will be played by the guitar players or something Joey will create or they'll play off the cuff live and it sounds like Dave and he'll be like, whoa, that sounds like something Dave would have played. So, I kind of really feel like he's always kind of with us in some weird way. Maybe it's a subliminal thing that he just kind of finds his way. He's like kind of poking around going, here I am. You wrote that idea, but it really sounds like something I did, which is really amazing. So, I'm sure maybe there's a conscious thought with Joey doing it or maybe not. Maybe stuff just kind of rolls out of us and it's just Dave and maybe it's because he was such a big part of the Armored Sane sound and vibe for all those years. So, I wish he was still present. Who knows what would be the case with the band if he was? I think we'd have three guitar players go for the outlaws kind of iron maiden trip, but like I said, his spirit is kind of always there. It's always there, which is a great thing. In terms of sound and how it relates to anthrax I mean, my years in anthrax, playing with different musicians is always a big plus because you don't want to only be limited to the people that you're with as much as we love each other in Armored Sane and we do for the most part. It's always nice to play with different people, to be able to play with people like Charlie Benanti and Scotty and these guys are so talented. Frankie Bello, it was always just an eye-opening circumstance to play with different people and get their different perspectives on music and these are things that I think, I felt this now by even doing the thing I did with Metal Legends, which was with Mike Portnoy and Dave Ellison and Alex Skolnick and Andreas from Supple Tour. These guys are just so talented. Anytime you play with these different people, it just brings out something else in you. So I think that's a big plus and probably being an anthrax, maybe at least me personally, it just kind of maybe enhanced a different perspective on writing and creating. It probably is the same case for Joey and being in Fates Warning for all those years because Joey's played with those guys for years and those guys are so talented too, Jim Mateo. So it helps you and I think if you look at it peripherally, it'll kind of and you kind of bring it back to yourself. It'll help you with your own thing. The thing about saying is, you know, I love Metal, let it be known, but you know, I don't want to be limited as a musician and as a writer to be to only say, is this Metal? Maybe not. Let's not do it. You know, I'm not going to try to convince the people that we're going to make our coffeehouse blue grass record because I don't want to do that and that's not proper for saying, of course. But at the same time, if you can bring in a different instrument, like we brought in some the pipe intro of the album Standing on the Shoulders of Giants or, you know, Gonzo played this American flute. You know, it just enhances little things, a little keyboards. We had Dizzy Reed play some parts on a couple songs. Oh yeah, so we forgot to mention that, yeah. Yeah, and it was just all those little things just kind of add to the songs. So when you have that kind of mindset, even Joey played some guitar parts that to me, I still to this day sounds like keyboards and he goes, no, that's a guitar. And it's like doing those kind of things just broadens the sound, enhances the band and you take some chances. And I love doing that and I want us to do that. And I think it just makes the songs better. It makes the music a little more timeless and I think, you know, don't get me wrong. I love a song that's just guitar based drums. Boom, full throttle on that's great too. But if you bring it all together, it creates some depth. And I think that's something that we're really looking to do. All right, here's the last two questions. I know last time I spoke to you in Montreal, you're talking about doing some shows, you know, anthrax only sort of your era, which are, it's phenomenal. It's just grown over the years. People love this stuff. I mean, look, there's no shows, but were there any plans to continue doing that or? You know, I mean, the first time I talked to my booking agent about it was just probably several years ago now, you know, we talked about it and I think he sniffed around for some feelers to see what people would think. And I don't think we got the response that we really wanted to. It wasn't like we're looking for, you know, millions of dollars or anything, but we wanted to make it worthwhile to do it and do the proper shows. It's not like something I want to go out and do like, you know, six months of touring with. It'd be fun to do some sporadic shows. I'd have to put a band together to do it. I'm probably a little lazy about that, quite honestly, but, you know, that's what would be involved in doing it. And I don't think we were pleased enough with the response that we try to push it ahead and make it happen. Lola Scott had said something recently, which caught me by surprise. As he said something about doing maybe some shows with not only me and Joey, but also Nill. Yes, I spoke about that. Which I was like, wow, okay. And I thought that's a great idea. That would be really cool. Yeah, I think that would be an amazing thing for the fan base. But what I keep saying is that Joey Belladonna is the singer of Anthrax. That's fair. And Joey should be the singer of Anthrax as far as I'm concerned. And if this happens, it needs to have his approval really, quite honestly. Yeah, that's fair. You know, I wouldn't want him to feel like, well, this is not my idea. And I don't want to do this because he's the singer who'd be sharing the stage. So, quite honestly, so I think it would be something that Joey would have to give endorsement to for that to happen if that's an idea. And again, I think it'd be a fun thing to do a couple of handful of shows, Brack stuff. All right, so we have confirmation. I know Nill's already confirmed this. I know Nill's confirmed this. You said, Jimmy, if the right conditions are there, yes. And yeah, I respect the Joey thing that you said. John, we have your commitment. Yeah, as long as, I mean, as long as I can commit it, schedule what I mean, it's a good idea. You're saying it's a good idea. I think it'd be a fun idea to be fun for the fans. Those are the kind of things that people are doing that are unusual and Halloween. Halloween did it, right? Halloween did it. Yeah, I love it. Actually, you're right. Halloween did it. So wait, we wouldn't be the first. No, you'd be the first Anthrax to do it. No, no, you wouldn't be the first. First American band. First American band, that's right. Michael Shanker did it, right? Of course. Great. And I love that because I love Gary Barton and I love, you know, Gran Bonnet and, you know, what if I was to tell you guys, Joey Bolodon is waiting online. I'm going to bring him right on. And I'm just kidding. That would be great. I love him. You know, he's a really super nice guy. He's nothing, but he's always been super nice. Absolutely. No, no, no. Look, I love him. My wife and his wife had developed this friendship, which is kind of peculiar, but they talk on text a lot. So it's kind of, it's kind of cute and funny. You seem like a decent guy. Joey, I've met seems like a great guy. Neil, I've known him for years now. We're good friends. Great guy. So I think this would work. This would work. I think this would work. All right. Let's get it together. Let's sign some contracts and let's do it. Wow, very official. Neil, you had a last question. Yeah. I wanted to ask John, you've got, you and Armaged Stain have done some amazing tours and you've also, you know, played with some incredible lineups, you know, the package tour packages and so forth. I know you guys toured with UFO and Saxon and quite a number of others over the years, but you know, more recently those bands and I just wondered, you know, some, some memories or some highlights from those tours. Cause I mean, this is something that maybe the fans don't know about and we'd like to know, you know, what it's like being on the road with Saxon and Biff and the, and the gang and well, UFO. Yeah. Well, I mean, probably the connection with Saxon on the last like run we did was or the tour manager that we use a lot to his names, Jason Engel and he, he actually was a tour manager for Saxon too. And Biff likes to bust his chops and get him to do things that are, you know, you know, he wants some stuff and you know, he asked him to get it done. So and it's, you know, maybe not the normal, it probably is the normal tour manager duties, but like he, you know, he one time he wanted some ice cream and you know, he told him it's got to be vanilla and, you know, Jason, he could be a bit of a curmudgeon at times. We love him, but he can be and so, you know, he was like, I got to get Biff some ice cream and Biff was on the, you know, Biff is telling him over the phones. I got walkie-talkies and stuff is like, where's my ice cream and, you know, and we're hearing it and cracking up thinking that's, that's some funny stuff here. Go get his ice cream, Jason, come on and you know, stuff like that. And so that's like the funny thing. I mean, Saxon are an awesome band. They're super powerful and, and always deliver live. So it's always great to play with them. And it's a great, you know, we always set them up well when we were going the road at them. UFO, same thing. I mean, Phil Mogg is a legend. When I started off singing in my garage to records, you know, he was probably the guy along with Phil Linnon and, you know, Rob Halford and Boss God. Those are the guys that I emulated and, and try to really develop a voice by singing to them and Phil Mogg in particular, because his range is not too difficult. He's pretty mid range and great singer. So playing them with them, doing shows with them was just a treat because, you know, they're one of my favorite bands of all time. And Phil said that we have the same haircut. And I guess we do at this point. And he's just a great guy. It's not so much energy. And, you know, if he could still be doing it, it's, it's, and same with Biff, you know, they've got a few years on me, you know, if they can do it, then that's motivation for me to keep doing it because they're older than I am and, and still delivering it and being amazing live. And so I think that's a lot of inspiration for, for an old guy like me, but not as old. So this is the last question, your favorite, and you have a quick, quick, quick answer, your favorite fistful of metal song that you sang when you were an Anthrax. Ha! Probably Death Rider. I mean, that's a rad song. You know, it's powerful and heavy. And you know, I think, I think that one would be, you know, the song I would choose. My favorite song from Anthrax and Yurira would have to be only. I think only is like, a brutal lead, just all around amazing track. Neil, great live song to crowd response. It was always enormous with that one. Yeah. Yeah. Good choice. A great, a great hook. I mean, obviously it stays in your head and that's a song, great songs all about, you know, no doubt. But we've come for your all. It's actually my favorite, John Bush, Yurira, Anthrax. That album is rock solid. And I thought that should have been massive. It should have been, I think if it was released today, John, it would have had like an incredible, like mass reaction to it. You know, I mean, it could have been in my time. It was timing. It might have been a little ahead of its time. You know, people say that about sound of wind noise, even they say that maybe it was, it was very telling of the time and and it sounded very 90s, you know, and I say that with nothing but a big thumbs up, but it might have been a little ahead of its time. Who knows? I don't know. Whatever it's, they're all there. All the music's there. You can always listen to it. You know, you could be a big fan of, of anybody who's saying an Anthrax, whether that's Neil, whether that's Joey, whether it's me. I always tell people, you could pick your favorite, because people do, but it doesn't mean you don't have to like or dislike, excuse me, the other ones. You can still like them all. I love and I love Ozzy, you know, I love bond and I love Brian, you know, so you can, you can, you know, I might like bond a little more, but the reality is you can like them both, you don't have to go, if I like him, I don't like him. That's not the way it's music. All right. On that note, punching the sky will be released on October 23rd, on Metal Blay Records. You could pick it up in all kinds of formats, get it, end of attention span, you single that's out. And also don't forget live stream anthrax, anthrax Armored St. Live Stream Saturday, October 10th. It's my son's birthday at right. PST or 4 p.m. Eastern and go get your tickets. It's only 10 bucks. And these shows are really great. They're really picking up a lot of steam. 10 bucks all around the world. Get to see Armored St. Live. Wow. Yeah. Come on. It's worth it. Come on. Don't be a cheesecake. 10 bucks to us. Come on. Dan, we're releasing a new single, the first track on the record, standing on the shoulders of Giants. That's supposed to come out Tuesday on the 15th. I think it's 15. Is that the 15th? I think so. And a new video to go along with that. So that's going to be really cool. Neil, closing remarks. Congratulations on the new album, John. And thank you so much for, you know, spending some time with us. I know you have a busy schedule and I'm sure you have a number of interviews to do for the new release. So I've done a lot and I have more to do. Thanks a lot. Good hanging out with you again, Neil. Yeah, we're going to have to do this more often. Yeah, looking forward to the live stream. So tell us again, just for all the viewers so they can know where to go to, you know, support Armored St. and check out the new album. Buy it. Check out the live stream that you guys are doing. I mean, this is an awesome opportunity. Yeah, Armored St. Veebs, V-E-E-P-S. I got to say it slowly. ArmoredSt.Veebs.com. And that's where you can get the show. It's going to be fun. Metal voice, John. Metal voice, Neil Turbin. Thank you so much, guys, for being on the show. Thanks, Jimmy, and thanks for being understanding with my circumstances this morning. I appreciate it. No problem, man. Thanks, man. Bye, guys. Bye.