John Bush (Former members - Anthrax)

Armored Saint

Since the formation of Armored Saint in 1979, Armored Saint has released five full-length albums, one EP, a live album, a greatest hits compilation and two DVDs, all with John Bush on vocals. In the early 1980s, John was repeatedly asked by Metallica to join them as lead singer. Even after the release of Kill 'Em All, Metallica vocalist James Hetfield felt unsure about his singing abilities. Hetfield wanted to concentrate on his guitar and personally asked John to join Metallica. John refused as he wanted to stay with Armored Saint.

In 1990, original guitarist Dave Pritchard succumbed to leukemia during the recording of Symbol of Salvation. Jeff Duncan replaced Pritchard and the band finished the recording of Symbol of Salvation, going out on tour afterwards. Despite rave reviews from the metal press, the band decided that they just didn't want to continue without Pritchard, and thus amicably disbanded.

Anthrax call up

After returning home, John received a call from Scott Ian of Anthrax with an offer to fill the spot left behind by singer Joey Belladonna who had been fired from the band. Bush agreed and joined, giving the band a more serious metal sound. John recorded Sound of White Noise, Stomp 442 and Volume 8: The Threat Is Real. In 1999 during an Anthrax hiatus, John got together with Saint bassist Joey Vera, and they decided to bring back the Symbol lineup for an Armored Saint reunion.

The resultant album Revelation was released in 2000 and a short tour followed. The following year, Armored Saint released a collection of demos, live tracks and other rarities in the two disc package Nod To The Old School. Despite its recent activity, Bush had not left Anthrax and Vera was kept busy with several other projects of his own. Back with Anthrax, John recorded vocals for the critically lauded We've Come for You All in 2003. The successful WCFYA tour was documented with a live album/DVD titled Music of Mass Destruction. In 2004, Anthrax released The Greater of Two Evils, a re-recording of several of the band's more popular songs from the pre-Bush era with the current lineup.

Current activities

In early 2005, Anthrax issued a press release stating that the classic Among the Living lineup was reuniting. Anthrax has stated that John has not been fired, but with Joey Belladonna's return and talk of a new album in the works, it was unclear if Bush would record with them again. However, Joey Belladonna's exit from Anthrax in January 2007 fueled reports that he might return, however in June 2007, John Bush was interviewed by Rock Hard Magazine, and on the subject of whether he's bitter about the split:

"No. Bitter is not the way I wanna be about anything," Bush replied. "I'm not bitter at all. There was probably not a perfect way to do that, what they did. It was like, how are they gonna say…? I mean, they asked me to do it — the tour with Joey [Bush was asked to take part in a '25th anniversary' tour that would see him and Belladonna splitting vocal duties — Ed] — and it just wasn't right for me, I couldn't do it. So, whatever… If they felt they had to do that, I understand. It wasn't like I was going, 'Yeah, do it. That's great.' But once it happened, I was like, 'OK.' It was like a book ended. It's OK. I mean, it's much better to look at it that way than to be angry or frustrated, 'cause I really don't feel that way."

Asked if he was approached to rejoin the band once Belladonna left the group, Bush said, "I was asked to write [with the members of ANTHRAX] and it just wasn't right for me. I couldn't go back and say, 'Here I am...' It would be like coming in with my tail between my legs, and that's not right for me. I just couldn't do that. It just didn't feel right to do that. It was about soul, your gut. How does that feel? Does it feel right? Good enough. Sold. Answer."