ARMORED SAINT frontman John Bush is featured in a new interview with Charlie Steffens at KNAC.com. An excerpt is available below.

KNAC.Com: You recorded La Raza with Bryan Carlstrom and Joey [Vera], who teamed up just as they did for Symbol of Salvation . Were you trying to replicate that same sound with the analog process and by putting the two of them in the studio again?

Bush: "No, I don’t think so. I think the whole thought process between the analog thing was to try to get a warm sound. Nothing against Pro Tools—we definitely used some computers as far as doing certain things. They weren’t omitted from the process of doing this record. However, we wanted to try to keep something that was in tune with the origins of the band. We’re old school, so we kind of wanted to do something that made it sound that same way, kind of warm and kind of more akin to the way we originated as a group, so to speak. Symbol of Salvation is on its own. I kind of look at records as their own thing. I surely don’t want to try to duplicate anything that was done on a previous record. The current thing should be what you’re focused on. Bryan suggested he wanted to be part of doing something with us, and we do have tons of respect for him. He has a new studio now, so we thought it would be fun to go and work with him again. He gave us a great deal. A lot of the vocals I did with Joey and cut them almost like demos, although I never really looked at them as singing demos. I always approached them as singing as best I could in case we did make a record. We kept fifty-percent or so of the vocals we did originally. The whole process was one where we just wanted to make it sound real honest."

KNAC.com: You don’t seem to be torn from the same cloth as other musicians I interview. That’s what I like about your band, too. "This is who we are. Fuck it."

Bush: "Yeah. Well, I’m like the anti-lead singer, believe it or not. I think it’s probably worked against me in my career. Don’t get me wrong. I can play the rock guy and the rock star, and I do enjoy it at times, but I never really felt that I wanted that to shape me. I wanted more for that to be just a part of me. That’s just the way I live my life and it probably keeps me in check. At the end of the day I just want to be able to go, 'You’re you, dude.' You’re not dealing with your kids like you’re the rock and roll guy. They don’t give a shit. You’re Dad."

Go to this location for the complete interview.

Armored Saint bassist Joey Vera recently paid tribute to Ronnie James Dio. Check it out below:

Joey Vera: "His name shall be part of the very definition of the term Heavy Metal. All of us in this community owe a big part to him as he helped shape our entire genre. And he did it with complete originality and sincerity. He is the real deal.

By now you’ve read much about him and how every person who’d had the pleasure of meeting the man, use the words 'kind', 'nice', 'humble' and so on. I can tell you that these descriptions are truly accurate.

I had the honor of being on tour with Dio on two occasions. Once on his Magica tour in 2001 while I was in Armored Saint and then later in 2004 while I was touring with Anthrax. I would watch Ronnie every night side stage and I was continuously blown away by his high level of performance. I must have seen over 40 shows from this vantage point and I never, ever saw or heard a single flaw. You always knew he was a great singer but It was then that I was convinced that he was a gift to us from some other place. Then there’s all the times I saw him with Sabbath. I can’t even go on……..

When you have the privilege of meeting someone like Ronnie, an idol, a legend, you almost expect a person like this to be overly confident, cocky, and they deserve to be really. But Ronnie was the complete opposite. He really was the most humble, sincere and kind person you’d ever meet. He would always find time to stop in his tracks and say a few words to you. He was so down to earth and generous.

Through his humility he’s taught us all that a man is not measured by the size of his wallet, or trophy collection, but instead by the size of his heart. I myself am glad that he chose the profession of singing because even though his body has been taken from us, his voice will stay here for all eternity.

We’re all trying really hard here, but Ronnie, we can’t thank you enough."