At the forefront of the Los Angeles heavy metal scene in the early eighties, Armored Saint received moderate success with their first few records. While successful, they never really reached the height of their contemporaries, such as Metallica, who would go on to arguably be one of the most prominent heavy metal bands in history. Even though their legacies intertwine, Saint never quite made the same splash with mainstream audiences as they did.
Formed in 1982, Armored Saint would go through numerous hardships as a band but somehow found themselves sticking together, moving forward, and they continue to inspire and entertain fans around the world. Their current lineup consisting of John Bush (vocals), Joey Vera (bass), Phil Sandoval (lead guitar), Jeff Duncan (rhythm guitar), and Gonzo Sandoval (drums) have been together since the early nineties and recently just wrapped up a tour with W.A.S.P. Currently celebrating its fortieth anniversary, Armored Saint is now the subject of a documentary, Armored Saint: Band of Brothers, from filmmaker Russell Cherrington, which is currently making the rounds on the festival circuit with a major release to follow.
Russell has been a music video director and experimental filmmaker for quite some time, working with numerous bands, including having directed a concert film for progressive metal band Fates Warning, which was released by Metal Blade Records packaged in the 3-disc limited edition of their album A Pleasant Shade of Gray. As a lifelong fan of Armored Saint, he would strike up a friendship early on with the band that would later lead to this collaboration.
Russell elaborates, “I’ve known Joey Vera since 1983. I was a kid buying Kerrang (a European rock, punk, and metal magazine), and I wrote to him. We were pen-pals for years. When the band came to Europe, I went to the London show, hung out with them, saw them perform, and had an amazing time. Ever since then, all over the world, we’ve caught up with one another. When I was at the university, he would score my films. I love certain types of music, and I love Armored Saint. It seemed like a really good idea to get together with Joey and make a film.”
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All the years of friendship and idolization would eventually lead to the documentary. “They were on a U.K. tour in 2017, and we talked about it. There was once a time we attempted it for MTV, but it never came together. I sat in and heard a few interviews, and people always ask the same dumb questions. I thought we could surely answer these definitively, once and for all. I took some time away and did a treatment.” With the treatment complete, all that would be left was to present it to the band.
He continues, “They thought it was an amazing idea, and Joey said to go ahead and make the film you want to make. I went off and filmed them in America, Europe, all the major cities, and I would interview all sorts of people. I started to build a narrative, a narrative just like a feature film. It’s not just a documentary that relies on me asking questions; it tells a story from their childhood all the way until now.”
With the band’s participation in place, Russell would need to get a few more people on board to help tell their story, people integral to Armored Saint’s history. He would interview musicians like James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich from Metallica, Scott Ian from Anthrax, as well as music industry staples like Cliff Burnstein. “I was really kind of demanding, so I was able to get pretty much everyone I asked to be a part of it. Everyone was really super cool, James and Lars, Scott Ian, Queensryche, they couldn’t have been more helpful.”
Not everyone was available for interviews. Russell recalls, “The only person I couldn’t get was Dave Mustaine (Megadeth), and he wasn’t an essential interview. There was one story about them having a party and getting into a dog fight. They all end up piling on each other and breaking Phil Sandoval’s leg. After, Phil would have to play a couple of shows sitting on a stool in 1983. It wasn’t real important, but it would have been nice to have him. It wasn’t like he flat-out turned me down; it was more of an availability issue.”
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While backstage stories of this band make for a compelling part of the narrative, stories of the business aspect behind the band help to fill in the gaps. The information obtained would be a major part of what Cherrington would come to appreciate and would use to help layer his film. “The interview that was really important and came with a lot of revelation was Cliff Burnstein from Q Prime. He was such a major player in the music business at the time, and there’s a guy named Ron Fair who took Armored Saint to Chrysalis Records, so it was really interesting to hear the stories of what goes on in the background, you know, the politics of the music industry at that time. Armored Saint was the most British New Wave Heavy metal band to come from the states, and they were never sent to England (not until 1991), Metallica did. Saint may have had an entirely different story.”
Metallica is brought up quite often, and it’s important since both John Bush and Joey Vera at different times were asked to be a part of that band, but because of their devotion to each other, it never happened though their bond remained intact. “There was a deep-rooted friendship there, and John was even asked to perform with them for their thirtieth anniversary.”
In the film, you get to see that full performance with Bush singing “Four Horseman,” but that’s not all you get. “You get to see the grin on James Hetfield’s face when he sees this amazing guy sing this song. You get to see what it would have been like if John Bush were in Metallica. It’s super cool, and my favorite part of the film,” Russell proudly proclaims.
The film shot for two years, from 2018 to early 2020, when COVID slowed things down for a bit. With the world on hold, the daunting task of editing hours of footage into a cohesive narrative would begin, and it wasn’t an easy task. “Editing took a long, long time, and we did thirty interviews in regards to the main members of the band. There were about ten hours per member; that’s fifty hours to go through right there. Plus, there were maybe another twenty-five hours, so we were looking at seventy-five hours of interviews to go through and get that down to about two hours for the film. It takes a lot of work and patience. It took about one hundred days to do it, eight hundred hours of man-time to do an edit.”
With a cut of the film in place, Russell would begin to book the film at festivals around the world. It’s currently set to be in no less than fifty festivals from now until May 2023. It screened at Knotfest in Santiago, Chile, on Dec. 6, 2022, and is ready to conquer the world. He states, “I just love that band, and I love the film I’ve made, and I’m really pleased I was able to do it. The first festival it went to was in India, and it won best documentary. Learning about that really gave me the confidence in knowing that it will resonate with audiences when it gets out there.”
“I really wanted to make a documentary as good as the Tom Petty one. That’s the best music documentary there is; it was my model.” While that may have been the template, there have also been quite a few performers given the documentary treatment as well. He explains, “I stayed away from all the others until recently. I watched the Y&T one and the Dio one, and I know my film is just as good as those, if not better, and I say that without ego. Their story is just super interesting, and there will be at least 70-min bonus features for the Blu-ray that wasn’t in the two-hour film. There’s just so much there.”
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Armored Saint has long deserved the respect and accolades bestowed upon their peers. Armored Saint: Band of Brothers is poised to help them achieve it, and Russell will be at the forefront with his friends lending all their support. “The band and I hope the film will create a new interest in them. Hopefully, people will see how important they are in the history of Los Angeles heavy metal and how the world will see their heritage is just as important as the other bands. I may be a bit biased, but I feel that Armored Saint is the best band to come from that era. John Bush can sing like a monster, and Joey is one of the best bass players and producers in modern-day rock. It’s not an accident that Merciful Fate wanted him in their band. He’s in Fates Warning and numerous other projects.”
He continues, “Phil and Gonzo are amazing and started the band, and when they come together with Jeff Duncan, it’s next level. For those ten songs or fifty minutes of an album, they rule. I think most bands would be afraid to have them on tour; they’ll destroy them. They’re that good, and they have their fans, just not as many as some bands. They’re so good to their fans, kind, generous, and patient when talking to them. It goes all the way around, really, a reciprocal thing, the great serendipity of a circle. I just hope that I can educate people that this band is just amazing. They’re also amazing human beings, and their friendship to me is more important than the music.”
To learn more about Armored Saint and documentary updates, visit the official website.
