Armored Saint-March Of The Saint

Armored Saint



Armored Saint is a Los Angeles, United States, based heavy metal band.





History



Early career

The band was formed in 1982 by brothers Gonzo Sandoval and Phil Sandoval

(check out Sandoval Brothers on iTunes worldwide), and David Prichard. Next

to join was singer John Bush and bassist Joey Vera joined later. Gonzo

Sandoval came up with the name after getting stoned with the band members

and going to the movie Excalibur at a theater in Monterey Park. Armored

Saint recorded a five song demo that landed a song on Metal Massacre II and

later turned into a three-song EP on Metal Blade Records in 1983 before

signing with Chrysalis Records in 1984.



Armored Saint released three albums with Chrysalis, 1984's full length debut

March of the Saint, 1985's Delirious Nomad and 1987's Raising Fear. Phil

Sandoval played on Delirious Nomad, but then left the band, and Raising Fear

was recorded by the remaining four members of the band. Armored Saint

never achieved much success with Chrysalis and in 1989 returned to the

Metal Blade stable. The debut album yielded a minor MTV hit with "Can U

Deliver?"



Soon after the release of Armored Saint's first live album Saints Will Conquer

in 1989, the band decided to replace Phil Sandoval, recruiting Jeff Duncan

formerly of the L.A. club band Odin as second guitarist. The band had begun

writing and recording rough four-track demos for their next album when

guitarist Dave Prichard was diagnosed with the leukemia that would end his

life before the recording sessions of Symbol of Salvation. After a brief hiatus,

Phil Sandoval returned to the band to replace Pritchard, and Armored Saint

returned to the recording studio. The following year Symbol of Salvation was

released to widespread critical and commercial success. It was dedicated to

the spirit and memory of Dave Prichard, whose solo performance on the four

-track demo recording of the song 'Tainted Past' was used on the studio

recording. During the early days of both bands, John Bush was invited to

audition for Metallica, who also courted Joey Vera after the death of their

bassist Cliff Burton. Following the successful Symbol of Salvation tour, John

Bush was offered the lead singer position in the thrash metal band Anthrax.

Unsure of Armored Saint's future, Bush accepted the job. The remaining

members decided to call it quits and Armored Saint was officially disbanded.



After Armored Saint disbanded, Joey Vera kept busy playing with such bands

as Fates Warning, Lizzy Borden and Chroma Key. He released a solo album in

1994 and started a successful second career as a producer and engineer.



Reunion and Future

In 1999, while Anthrax was temporarily on hiatus due to various issues, John

Bush got together with Joey Vera and together they decided to reform

Armored Saint. The entire Symbol of Salvation lineup returned to the studio

and in 2000, Revelation was released. A small club tour opening for Dio

followed. The album was a resurrection of the classic sound of Armored Saint.

It features the band's first song with Spanish lyrics, "No Me Digas," originally

conceived by Gonzo Sandoval and John Bush, and then revamped by Joey

Vera.



The following year, the band released Nod to the Old School, a collection of

rarities, demos and outtakes (many from the Pritchard years), plus a few new

tracks were released. Soon after, John Bush returned to the studio with

Anthrax and Armored Saint was once again placed on hiatus.



In 2004 Joey Vera joined Anthrax as a temporary member to replace Frank

Bello. Early in 2005, Anthrax's Scott Ian announced that their most famous

lineup was reformed leaving the membership of Vera and Bush somewhat

undetermined. Bush has stated his involvement with Anthrax is over,

although Ian does not appear to be sure. This move gave hope to many that

Armored Saint would once again start recording. A one-off show with the

Revelation lineup took place in 2005, and in 2006 the band embarked upon a

new tour.



As part of their 20th anniversary and continuing celebrations, Metal Blade

released a special edition of Symbol of Salvation plus reissued the band's long

out of print live video A Trip Thru Red Times.



Miscellaneous

It was revealed in an outtake from the documentary film "Metallica: Some

Kind of Monster" that in 1982 Armored Saint and Metallica were at a party

and Phil Sandoval got into an altercation with Lars Ulrich. Phil pushed Lars to

the ground, after which Dave Mustaine, who was still a member of Metallica

at that time, got involved and ended up breaking Phil's ankle. Dave recounts

that to this day when he sees Phil he feels bad for the incident, but that he

just had Lars' back. Mustaine later made amends by apologizing and giving

Phil Sandoval an ESP guitar as closure.



In 1992, Armored Saint appeared in the film "Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth."

They are performing the song "Hanging Judge" in the club that Terry Farrel's

character visits.