ARMORED SAINT have spent four decades being filed under the wrong heading, and Joey Vera has made his peace with it without pretending it never cost them anything.
Asked by Neil Jones of TotalRock whether calling the band simply a "heavy metal" act does them a disservice, the bassist said it sometimes does, "and that's kind of been, dare I say, plaguing us since day one." The problem was never the music. It was the map. "The funny thing about our band is we never really were a part of any scene," he said. "We were partially part of the thrash scene, but it was probably because of our connection with METALLICA in '84, in '85, when we toured with them several times in the States. And then we got lumped in with the hair bands because we were from Los Angeles during the early to mid-'80s. But again, we had nothing to do with that either. So we were sort of stuck in the middle, like, 'Well, I wanna be like UFO and THIN LIZZY,' and, 'What does that mean?' And at that time, no one wanted to hear that. You had to belong somewhere."
He does not dress it up as a badge. "I wouldn't call it a problem or a thorn in our side or anything like that, but it is something that's maybe confused people along the way, and probably still does to this day. But you know what? I'm well aware of this, and I'm willing to go down that path because we just wanna write music for ourselves first… But I wanna be proud of the music that we write, and we are. Good comes with the bad. Some people get it. Some people don't. What are you gonna do?"
The one thing nobody misfiles is the singer. "He is the voice of ARMORED SAINT. And no one else could fill those shoes — like, not even close," Vera said of John Bush. "He's one of those unique singers that he just has that thing, that gift that Bon Scott has or Ronnie James Dio had or Rob Halford, singers that just are so — when you hear them, you know who that is instantly."
Vera, who has known Bush since they were both about six, says he only started writing for that voice deliberately around 2010's "La Raza". "He comes from blues rock, hard rock. That's what he grew up on. His favorite bands and singers are from that era, and that's how he sings. So I need to give him a clean palette so that he can work as best possible, so he shines out best in those scenarios."
He also credits Bush with a decision that gets less glory than it deserves. "He started taking care of his voice about 10, 15 years ago. He started to realize lifestyle changes were necessary… He loves singing. He loves performing. But he needs to make some changes in his life in order to do that. So he made those changes, and I'm really proud of him, 'cause it's not easy hanging around with other people, having a beer after the show or whatnot. He found a regimen that works for him, and it shows. He sounds almost, I would say, better than he ever has, which is insane."
"Emotion Factory Reset", the band's ninth album, arrived in May via Metal Blade. ARMORED SAINT co-headline "The Metal Saint Tour 2026" with METAL CHURCH from November 2 in San Juan Capistrano through November 21 in Agoura Hills, with LIVEKILL supporting.