- May 4, 2008
- 189
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Mike Gitter of AOL's Noisecreep recently conducted an interview with heavy metal vocalist John Bush (ARMORED SAINT, ANTHRAX). A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.
Noisecreep: What are you up to these days?
Bush: My wife has a casting studio called Silverlane Studios, that she started twelve years ago and has since built as a business that is pretty strong and going really well. I pretty much entrenched myself in her world. I help her with the studio and I also help her as a casting director. We've cast a bunch of commercials and done some movies and videos. We have a facility here where we provide that for other people. We are a little mom-and-pop business that's really cool and really fun and pretty much consumes most of my time. I've done a bunch of voice over work myself. There were a few years where I was basically the voice of Burger King. I still try and do as much voice over work as possible. It's fun to do and it's me using my voice. It's cool to do some acting and not be an actor. I don't really want to be an actor. I spent enough years trying to convince people about being a great singer.
Noisecreep: Why are you OK with not doing music full time anymore after so many years with ANTHRAX and ARMORED SAINT?
Bush: I do love making music. I actually think I'm a better singer now than I've been at any point in my life. I totally know my voice and know what I can and can't do. It's still super-strong but I'm more in touch with the dynamics and soulfulness of it. I do love singing and writing lyrics. I just don't really have a desire to be a touring guy anymore. When I first left ANTHRAX the first time in '05, it was right around the time my daughter was born. At that time, it just didn't feel like it was time to go pursue another band. I didn't want to. I was happy to just be at home and raise my daughter. Now, leaving my kid and my business for a month at a time is something I don't want to do. I do love making music and playing live shows still. I just want to do it on my terms.
Noisecreep: What's going on in ARMORED SAINT right now?
Bush: We started writing some new songs, most of which are in a very embryonic state. Since way back when Dave [Prichard; original SAINT guitarist who succumbed to leukemia in 1990] died, Joey [Vera, bass] has taken over the role of being the pilot for the band. He's got a lot of music running through his bones and his DNA and I trust him and believe in his abilities. He's written a lot of stuff and I just keep telling him to push the envelope. When we write, I want to be as broad as possible and not to put any limitations on what we do. If something doesn't work, then it doesn't work. Joey says he's written a couple eight-minute songs. It'll be fun to put out another record. I don't when it would come out but it's probably not going to be too long from now.
Read the entire interview from http://www.noisecreep.com/2013/03/11/john-bush-anthrax-armored-saint/
I found this to be a very interesting quote:
"First off, me joining and then putting out Sound of White Noise. My first record with Anthrax was a gold record! It was also a record that in retrospect was also ahead of its time. The funny thing about me and Anthrax is that for years we tried to convey 'It's still Anthrax, it's still the same band, it's still the same thing' and now looking back, it really wasn't it. It was still certainly Scott [Ian, guitarist] and Frankie [Bello, bassist] and Charlie [Benante, drummer]. But, it was also all of us thinking 'The '90s are here and we're going with it we want to do something innovative and modern - something that we think is natural'. I think Sound of White Noise was that record and it certain begin my time in Anthrax. Then things changed in the business and we never had the success that did again on that record. We certainly made some cool records and wrote some great songs."
Noisecreep: What are you up to these days?
Bush: My wife has a casting studio called Silverlane Studios, that she started twelve years ago and has since built as a business that is pretty strong and going really well. I pretty much entrenched myself in her world. I help her with the studio and I also help her as a casting director. We've cast a bunch of commercials and done some movies and videos. We have a facility here where we provide that for other people. We are a little mom-and-pop business that's really cool and really fun and pretty much consumes most of my time. I've done a bunch of voice over work myself. There were a few years where I was basically the voice of Burger King. I still try and do as much voice over work as possible. It's fun to do and it's me using my voice. It's cool to do some acting and not be an actor. I don't really want to be an actor. I spent enough years trying to convince people about being a great singer.
Noisecreep: Why are you OK with not doing music full time anymore after so many years with ANTHRAX and ARMORED SAINT?
Bush: I do love making music. I actually think I'm a better singer now than I've been at any point in my life. I totally know my voice and know what I can and can't do. It's still super-strong but I'm more in touch with the dynamics and soulfulness of it. I do love singing and writing lyrics. I just don't really have a desire to be a touring guy anymore. When I first left ANTHRAX the first time in '05, it was right around the time my daughter was born. At that time, it just didn't feel like it was time to go pursue another band. I didn't want to. I was happy to just be at home and raise my daughter. Now, leaving my kid and my business for a month at a time is something I don't want to do. I do love making music and playing live shows still. I just want to do it on my terms.
Noisecreep: What's going on in ARMORED SAINT right now?
Bush: We started writing some new songs, most of which are in a very embryonic state. Since way back when Dave [Prichard; original SAINT guitarist who succumbed to leukemia in 1990] died, Joey [Vera, bass] has taken over the role of being the pilot for the band. He's got a lot of music running through his bones and his DNA and I trust him and believe in his abilities. He's written a lot of stuff and I just keep telling him to push the envelope. When we write, I want to be as broad as possible and not to put any limitations on what we do. If something doesn't work, then it doesn't work. Joey says he's written a couple eight-minute songs. It'll be fun to put out another record. I don't when it would come out but it's probably not going to be too long from now.
Read the entire interview from http://www.noisecreep.com/2013/03/11/john-bush-anthrax-armored-saint/
I found this to be a very interesting quote:
"First off, me joining and then putting out Sound of White Noise. My first record with Anthrax was a gold record! It was also a record that in retrospect was also ahead of its time. The funny thing about me and Anthrax is that for years we tried to convey 'It's still Anthrax, it's still the same band, it's still the same thing' and now looking back, it really wasn't it. It was still certainly Scott [Ian, guitarist] and Frankie [Bello, bassist] and Charlie [Benante, drummer]. But, it was also all of us thinking 'The '90s are here and we're going with it we want to do something innovative and modern - something that we think is natural'. I think Sound of White Noise was that record and it certain begin my time in Anthrax. Then things changed in the business and we never had the success that did again on that record. We certainly made some cool records and wrote some great songs."
uke:
