John Bush: “…people still talk about that ’85 tour to this day” on W.A.S.P., Metallica & Armored Saint tour
John Bush: “…people still talk about that ’85 tour to this day” on W.A.S.P., Metallica & Armored Saint tour
Armored Saint frontman John Bush was recently interviewed by Perrin Wolfson for The Metal Voice. Armored Saint are the official opening act for W.A.S.P. on the latter’s 40 Years Live World Tour 2022 across North America, which just started on October 28, 2022. Back in 1985, W.A.S.P. along with Metallica and Armored Saint toured together across North America.
Photo by Joe Schaeffer Photography
In terms of how the current tour came about, Bush indicated (with slight edits): “We have the same agent. He [agent] told W.A.S.P.‘s Blackie [Lawless], ‘How about Saints [Armored Saint] opening?’ and Blackie said ‘He loved it.’ So we got on. It’s been great so far beyond our expectations as far as attendance. I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that W.A.S.P. hasn’t toured in a long time. And even though Armored Saint has been busy in the last five to eight years, there’s still a lot of places that we haven’t played in a long time. For instance, the Albuquerque [show] is the first show on the bill on the tour and we haven’t played there since [the album] Delirious Nomad. I am bummed that we are not going to Canada. However, I’ve made a list of about 20 to 30 other cities that we could literally do on a second leg if everything goes great. If the tours smashes and the vibes are great and you know, it’s like, ‘Why not do a Canadian tour?'”
On whether there is any nostalgia associated with the current tour, Bush stated: “I think there’s a nostalgia vibe for the obvious reasons because people still talk about that 85′ tour to this day, the W.A.S.P., Metallica and [Armored] Saint with [Metallica‘s] Ride The Lightning [album], [the] first W.A.S.P. record [and] March of The Saint [Armored Saint‘s debut]. It was a great run. It was a big buzz, so it makes sense that we would go out on the road with W.A.S.P. [today]. We had a lot of shows together as the bands started out so there’s definitely an L.A. connection. I think it’s really exciting. It’s 40 years later. It’s kind of their anniversary. It’s our anniversary. It’s a whole new generation and hopefully it just keeps going and going.”
You can read other excerpts from the interview with John Bush at The Metal Voice‘s website and/or listen to the interview below: