The last time we brawled with one of the members of Armored Saint was back in 2024, when frontman John Bush looked back upon their lengthy history with then tourmates W.A.S.P., as well as 40 years of their legendary debut, March of the Saint. This time, it’s founding guitarist Phil Sandoval who’s up to bat, eager to give this here journalist a good ol’ fashioned U.S. metal ass whoopin’ and with eyes set firmly on the future. The band are weeks away from the release of their long-awaited 9th studio album, Emotion Factory Reset: An effort that sees the mighty Saint standing the tallest they ever have throughout the course of their second act. We sat down with Sandoval to discuss the origin of the album title, his chemistry with longtime guitarist Jeff Duncan, and which Armored Saint album resonates the most with him.
Greetings Phil and welcome to Defenders of the Faith! How are you doing today?
Phil Sandoval: Good man! How’s it going everybody?! Chicago, I love the pizza!
*laughs* You know just what to say to steal a Chicagoan’s heart! I’d like to start by congratulating you on another tremendous Armored Saint album in Emotion Factory Reset. How soon after 2020’s Punching the Sky did things start coming together for this one?
PS: I would say 3 years after, a few years ago, when John and Joey (Vera) decided to start writing again. I sent them 6 ideas and they picked 2 of them. That was “Throwing Caution to the Wind” and “Ladders and Slides”. That’s how it started.
Are you guys perpetually in writing mode or is there a designated time and place for it?
PS: I think it happens with John and Joey first, sparking that process. Then, they ask us for suggestions to submit idea. Then, me and my brother, Gon, start writing. We’re always writing. Me personally, I’m always writing. I wrote a ton. You have to go through all the ideas and stuff, but for one of them, “Throwing Caution to the Wind”, when I was on tour with Queensrÿche, John said, “Why don’t you and Jeff write something?” I wrote that riff in the back of the bass. I asked Jeff, “Hey, come and join me. Let’s see if we can work on something.” He came up with something. That’s how that song started. Other than that, it’s John and Joey who start the process and we join them. That’s how that happens.
I’ve heard a lot of bands over the years say that when they’re on the road, they’re in touring mode and they can’t write. It sounds like this was an exception.
PS: That was an exception, yeah. For me, when I’m on tour, I know a lot of people don’t do that, but I have to play all the time because I have arthritis and I gotta keep my fingers moving. For me, being on the back of the bus, playing guitar, it’s a natural thing. I was able to come up with some of those chords that ended up being in that song, and then ended up being on the album.
Who came up with the album title and what is the meaning behind it?
PS: I came up with the album title, and I’m gonna tell you how it happened. There was a murder trial with a woman named Taylor Schabusiness. She dismembered her boyfriend and put his head in a bucket. His mom found it. When she was on trial, she started a fight with her lawyer, physically fighting him. The commentator said, “It looks like she could use an emotional factory reset button.” I thought, “Wow, I’ve never heard anybody say that!” I wrote “Emotion Factory Reset Button”, and then John changed it to Emotion Factory Reset. It came from a murder trial! What it means to me now is that the music of Armored Saint can change and have an emotional reset on your brain when you listen to it. That’s the direction I’m taking with that.
I never in a million years would’ve guessed that’s where it came from.
PS: *laughs* Yeah, the murder trial defendant is kicking the lawyer’s ass on the floor and the commentator goes, “Looks like she could use an emotional factory reset button.” *laughs* That’s where that came from!
Many of the songs on here seem more stripped down and straightforward than those on Punching the Sky, with cuts like “Close to the Bone”, “Hit a Moonshot”, and “Epilogue” feeling like throwbacks to the band’s earliest days. Was this an intentional effort on the band’s behalf, or rather just how things transpired?
PS: I think that’s how the songs transpired naturally. “Epilogue” almost has a ’70s UFO vibe that Joey picked up. The beginning riff is something that I probably would’ve heard at the Starwood back in the ’70s on a Sunday night from some band from the Valley *laughs*, but it turns into something different. The chorus comes in and it completely changes it into something a little more sophisticated, but still straightforward. I don’t think it was an intentional thing, but it’s definitely good we’re going more straight to the bone instead of “Close to the Bone” *laughs*. We’re going straight to the heart of the song. When I sent John and Joey ideas, it was like a verse and a chorus, two parts. Nothing too complicated, nothing too crazy with the bridge or anything like that; it was just a little more straightforward. Of course, on the album, there’s a little bit more sophistication with other songs, but those songs definitely have a more straight-ahead edge to them. It’s the diversity that makes Armored Saint its own entity.
There’s also no shortage of moments that feel as if they could’ve been off Symbol of Salvation, even down to the production. I’m talking specifically about songs like “Every Man – Any Man”, “Compromise”, and “Bottom Feeder”, to name a few. Am I hearing things, or is Symbol an album that, to this day, remains crucial to the band, even if in a subconscious manner?
PS: I think it’s always gonna be one of those albums that’s very important to the band because it was the catalyst that launched Armored Saint again. It brought us from the depths of the mourning of David Prichard, rest in peace. There was a lot of him in it, I would say maybe 90%. I did write one song on there and so did Jeff, but it’s definitely an important album. It does have a little bit of that to it, but more so in the timeline of today. It’s updated. The world’s crazy now *laughs*. It’s always been crazy, but it needs an emotion factory reset button *laughs*!
Like every Armored Saint album since Symbol of Salvation, there are no shortage of headbanging riffs and solos, courtesy of yourself and Jeff Duncan. Do you two collaborate on guitar parts together, or do you each come up with your own riffs, solos, and so forth that you then expand upon as a band?
PS: We don’t come together on guitar parts. Unfortunately, that’s the case because he lives in Las Vegas. I live in L.A. There’s still ways to do that, but it doesn’t happen like that with us. It happens in the studio. He does his parts, I do my parts, and that’s how it’s done. We have a great connection like that. It seems to be going pretty good!
It’s lasted this long!
PS: *laughs* Yeah!
That’s really interesting, because I’ve always considered you two to be one of the all time great metal guitar duos, especially whenever I see the band live and you go into those twin harmonies. It’s one thing for two guitar players to play those parts, but it’s another thing to be so interlocked. It’s as if you two are telepathic.
PS: Yeah, him and I are definitely a really good guitar team. I respect Jeff a lot as a guitarist. I try to do my best. More so than many years before, the music means a lot to me and it’s important for me to play it as well as I possibly can. It’s its own entity in that respect because of how much effort we all put into the music.
Besides this new album, which album from Armored Saint’s catalog resonates with you the most and why?
PS: That’s a good question. I would say the first one because it’s our first one. This one too as well, the new one, because the recording process went so smooth for me. I stepped up on my level as far guitar playing, so I definitely think it’s this album and the first one.
March of the Saint was my introduction to you guys, so I’ll always be biased towards that album.
PS: Yeah, totally. It’s great because it was our first album and it has a lot of meaning. Those songs were all written by the band, the whole band. That’s the only album that’s been written like that. Everybody had something to do with each song.
A couple years ago, I interviewed John and asked a bunch of questions about that album because it was the 40th anniversary. I asked him about that one show you guys played actually donning the armor. What would it take for you to consider doing that again, even if for a one-off?
PS: Yeah, you would have to get Bill Gates on the line and see if he could afford it. Get Elon Musk! *laughs* One of the richest people in the world, get that guy in there and give him an Armored Saint shirt. Tell him to fork out the money *laughs*! It would be something like that, something money-wise, but it was an amazing show, Perkin’s Palace. It was pretty amazing. I would do it! I’m very open to all kinds of stuff like that. You would have to ask John again *laughs*. If we could get somebody rich to fork out, you know what I mean?
Last week, the band dropped a thrilling video for your latest single, “Hit a Moonshot”, in which John goes full Fight Club mode. While this video does feature the use of a baseball bat, albeit in an unconventional manner, how did we get a fighting themed video for a song named after a baseball term?
PS: John’s a humongous sports fan. Even on the bus, he’s looking at the sports page. He’s looking if we could get wi-fi on the bus so he could watch his Boston Celtics play or a football game. It’s cool because sometimes, some of the championship games we all watched in some of these sports were because of him. It just commandeered itself on its own with the baseball bat. It’s a baseball term and John made it happen somehow in the respective video. I think it turned out great. It’s kind of funny *laughs*, when he comes down from the moon and gets the best shot at the end.
From day one, Armored Saint has been helmed by yourself and your brother, Gonzo, on drums. How do you two balance your relationship as brothers and bandmates?
PS: Actually, our relationship has gotten stronger as the years have gone on, in just everyday life. He’s a great brother and he helps me a lot with the technical stuff. He’s very technical, a computer tech, and I’m not *laughs*! I remember he used to get mad at me because I didn’t know what “command and control” did *laughs*. He’d yell at me, “It’s command and control!” *laughs* It’s all good. I learned! As we’re getting older, we have more respect for each other and we tolerate each other a little better in a very positive way. It’s definitely grown. We’re connecting more musically, almost telepathically now more so than before. You’re getting a better version of me and Gonzo being tight with each other in many respects. It comes through with the music. It’s evolved to a point where it’s pretty awesome.
It really shows, not just with the two of you, but the whole band. How long has it been for this lineup? 35 years?
PS: Yeah, since ’91!
Expanding upon that point, something I’ve always admired about Armored Saint is, unlike so many of your peers, there was never the hair metal album or the grunge album or so forth. Was the band ever pressured to go in that direction by external forces, and what do you attribute the band’s underlying resilience to?
PS: The resilience comes from the ability to keep Armored Saint relevant on its own musical terms. This album is the next level after Punching the Sky, and it’s achieved that. Hopefully if we make another album, it’ll be different than this one in some respect. We’re always evolving, always growing, and it’s elevated our identity as a band who has the ability to have different feels and different songs in it. “Buckeye” is different than “Close to the Bone”, and “Buzzkill” is different than “Epilogue”. They’re all different on their own, kind of a little bit like Led Zeppelin. They always kept on evolving. Armored Saint has its own identity as that, different moods and grooves and stuff like that.
We could’ve gone thrash! We didn’t know that thrash was gonna be that popular. We were there, when we toured with Metallica on Ride the Lightning, this was the beginning of that. We were trying to hold our own, but we did see the mosh pit being invented back then. It was like, “What do we do? Do we copy them?” No, no, no! Maybe ego or pride is telling you, “You can’t copy them. They have their own thing.” We just held our own. We stuck to our guns and here we are in 2026 with a new album. Hopefully people buy it, give us interest, and promote us. “Hey, yeah, let’s get ’em on some fuckin’ tours!”
What does the rest of 2026 have in store for Armored Saint? Is there a chance we’ll see the band embark on a headlining run of the States any time in the near future?
PS: It’s been a while. We just played April 19th at the Rainbow. On Friday, May 22nd, when the album comes out, we’re playing the Rock Hard Festival in Germany. Then, we’re playing the Milwaukee Metal Fest on Saturday, June 6th. Then, we go to Denmark on July 30th. On August 1st, we’re in Sweden, and we’re playing Brutal Assault on August 5th. On August 7th, we’re in Belgium, Netherlands, Germany. In Poland, we’re playing with Nevermore and Savatage. That’s gonna be cool. Then, we end up on August 29th in the U.K. at the Stonedead Festival. There’s definitely talk about us doing a tour in the Fall with a very popular metal band which I can’t really tell right now. A headlining tour, it’s been a long time. We’ll see what happens with that, how the record is taken and how successful that is, if it can elevate us. If we have a hit, that’d be great *laughs*! Then, we could do a headlining tour!
A moonshot!
PS: There you go! We need a moonshot! *laughs*
The new Armored Saint album, Emotion Factory Reset, comes out Friday, May 22nd on Metal Blade Records. For more information on Armored Saint, click here.
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