Writers have their blocks. Baseball players call it the yips.
Those moments when the part of your craft you’ve been doing routinely for years — putting thoughts to paper or computer or throwing a baseball — suddenly gives way to something unexplainable that causes you to tighten up and either forget how to do it or do it horribly wrong.
Singers can take it further. Not that they forget how to sing. But when their voice lets them down in the middle of a tour, and there’s a show to play that night, all hell can break loose. Do you postpone or cancel the concert? Can you find a replacement, and even if you do, will fans accept it or demand a refund if the singer they came to hear can’t perform?
Thousands of vocalists have endured this nightmare at one point or another — especially if they’ve been in a band since 1982 and singing for much longer.
On Thursday night, Armored Saint vocalist John Bush not only showed the packed house at Come And Take It Live in Austin he was back and in rare form. He also got to thank, jam, and even cry with his temporary replacement at three gigs earlier this month that followed two postponements.
Playing in Austin on their “Saints Will Conquer” tour for the first time since 2001, Bush and Armored Saint headlined the Riverside Drive venue fresh off a tour supporting Queensryche. Supporting Armored Saint on this night were Austin natives Dangerous Toys and Snake Skin Prison.
Dangerous Toys frontman Jason McMaster, a member of the South Texas Music Walk of Fame among other illustrious honors, filled in for Bush to help save Armored Saint’s tour, much like McMaster had done last year for Accept vocalist Mark Tornillo.
This time, McMaster’s band was supporting Bush’s, and the significance of the moment overcame the latter when his good friend was in the front row watching Armored Saint’s set following his own performance.
After Armored Saint played 1985 deep cut “Aftermath,” the beginning of which Bush sang from the middle of the crowd, the veteran vocalist went over to McMaster, shared an embrace and came up teary-eyed. Not even a knucklehead from the back of the venue who didn’t realize what was happening, or simply didn’t care before shouting, “Why’s it so quiet? Play some fuckin’ music! Goddamn” could ruin the moment.
Bush called himself a “pussy” for crying, then shared with the audience his gratitude for McMaster and the emotion he felt while believing his prior vocal issues had let down fans and his bandmates, saying in part, “Only singers know, when you lose it, it’s utter misery,” before Armored Saint dedicated the title track to 2015’s Win Hands Down to McMaster (see ATM footage of it all below and 65-photo gallery).
But that wasn’t all of the feelgood story.
Bush referred to McMaster as “a diehard fucking fan” and thanked him for coming out “on a day’s notice” during the fill-in shows before giving him the ultimate compliment, calling him “an extra member of Armored Saint at this point.” So of course, the only way to punctuate the moment was to have McMaster come up and sing “Can U Deliver” with Bush and the band (ATM footage below).
If Bush hadn’t said anything about it, or you hadn’t kept up with the band’s recent happenings, you wouldn’t have had much indication that the singer was coming off a troubling couple of weeks because Armored Saint, as usual, was firing on all cylinders from the get-go.
Appropriately, the group hit the stage running by opening with the best song off 2020 and latest album Punching the Sky, the in-your-face “End of the Attention Span.” Founding brothers Phil Sandoval on guitar and Gonzo Sandoval on drums, along with veteran mainstay bassist Joey Vera and guitarist Jeff Duncan jammed as if their lives depended on it right into the title track to 1987 classic album Raising Fear, ensuring the headbanging was not about to stop anytime soon.
Considering they only played 13 tracks as the headliner in an approximate 75-minute set, the presence of multiple deep cuts such as “Head On” from 2010’s La Raza and “Tribal Dance” off 1991’s Symbol of Salvation had to please the biggest of Armored Saint diehards. The downside was the absence of personal 1987 favorite “Chemical Euphoria,” but the group nevertheless was absolutely killer on everything else including “Symbol of Salvation,” “March of the Saint,” and closers “Reign of Fire” and “Mad House” (ATM footage of both below).
Bush’s passionate style is something he spoke about exclusively with ATM during the Win Hands Down tour (watch here). One of the reasons McMaster was more than a suitable fill-in is because the Dangerous Toys frontman exhibits similar qualities.
Even though DT hasn’t released new music since 1995, you don’t have to ask McMaster and Co. twice to play a hometown show. And although they’re used to headlining their backyard, McMaster shared it was a no-brainer to support Armored Saint when that band came a-callin’.
Emphasizing tracks from their smash self-titled 1989 debut album, McMaster and original mates Scott Dalhover (lead guitar), bassist Mike Watson and drummer Mark Geary, along with rhythm guitarist Paul Lidel (McMaster’s onetime mate in Broken Teeth) rocked the house on “Outlaw,” “Take Me Drunk” and “Queen of the Nile” to help get things warmed up.
With Broken Teeth guitarist David Beeson among the crowd up front, Dangerous Toys kept the hits coming on the title track to Pissed plus cock-pleasing “Sport’n A Woody” (ATM footage of both below). The band ended the 12-song performance with obligatory closers and two biggest MTV hits: “Teas’n Pleas’n,” and “Scared,” the latter originally dedicated to Alice Cooper with McMaster telling the crowd that the king of fright “probably used the album as a coaster” (see setlist below).
If you missed DT in action on this night, don’t fret. They’ll headline Deco Ballroom in San Antonio on June 21 with Hollywood Guns N’ Monsters and Even In Death (tickets here).
Another Austin band, Snake Skin Prison, opened the night in a unique way that wasn’t necessarily by choice. But it benefitted the fans in an unusual way.
With space for three bands’ drum sets at a premium inside Come And Take It Live, Snake Skin Prison had their drummer not only set up in the center of the stage but pressed to the barrier as they rocked out five tracks including “The Great Texas Death Ride,” “Come and Take It,” and new tune “The End of the World.”
But the story on this night was Bush’s return to the stage. Yet Armored Saint is no longer his only obligation.
Bush recently became part of supergroup Category 7, which will release its debut self-titled album July 26 on Metal Blade Records (see a complete list of “New Releases” here; best viewed on a computer). Bush’s mates in that band are ex-Machine Head and current Kerry King band guitarist Phil Demmel, Adrenaline Mob guitarist and main songwriter Mike Orlando, Exodus bassist Jack Gibson and Shadows Fall/Overkill drummer Jason Bittner.
ARMORED SAINT SETLIST: End of the Attention Span, Raising Fear, Tribal Dance, Symbol of Salvation, March of the Saint, Head On, Standing on the Shoulders of Giants, Over the Edge, Aftermath, Win Hands Down, Can U Deliver (w/Jason McMaster), Reign of Fire, Mad House
DANGEROUS TOYS SETLIST: Outlaw; Take Me Drunk; Sugar, Leather & The Nail; Gimme No Lip; Bones in the Gutter; Ten Boots (Stompin’); Queen of the Nile; Pissed; Sport’n A Woody; Line ‘Em Up; Teas’n Pleas’n; Scared
SNAKE SKIN PRISON SETLIST: The Great Texas Death Ride, Come And Take It, The End of the World, Bury Me in the Mountain, Smokin’ Whiskey
