A New Supergroup Featuring Exodus, Overkill, Armored Saint Members is in the Studio
An unnamed project featuring Armored Saint frontman John Bush, Overkill/Shadows Fall drummer Jason Bittner, former Adrenaline Mob guitarist Mike Orlando, and Vio-lence guitarist Phil Demmel is hard at work on its debut album. And with a roster of talented musicians like that, let’s just say we’re a little excited to see what they come up with.
News of the supergroup and how it came together surfaced during a recent interview Demmel did with former Exhorder guitarist Marzi Montazeri (as transcribed by Blabbermouth). According to the guitarist, it all started during one of the numerous instances where he helped out a band by filling in for an absent member.
“I [was] doing a one-off [show], [filling in as the guitar player for] Overkill, and this is just right after things are opening up. It’s in Jersey, so we go up to Dingbatz, or what’s… there’s the bar and then there’s the venue. So whatever the bar is, we go to the bar. And Orlando comes and meets us, and it’s Corey Pierce from God Forbid. And so we’re there all getting loaded. And at a certain point, it was just, like, ‘Man, we got the band right here, man. Why don’t we do something? Why don’t we write music together?’ And we’re all, ‘Yeah, let’s do.’ And then the next day, we’re kind of hung over, going, ‘Hey, man, did we mean it? Did we mean that? Yeah, let’s see can happen.’ And I came back [to the East Coast].”
After getting together with Orlando, Demmel said the two just started “throwing riffs at each other,” which resulted in roughly a dozen making the cut. Demmel described the group’s sound is “As things started materializing, the former Machine Head guitarist said only one vocalist came to mind for the project.
“And then so we’re thinking, it’s, like, all right, well, bass player and vocalists. Vocalists, who would you guys want? Let’s make our list. Start at the top.’ And then bang, bang, bang. All at the top was ‘John Bush’, ‘John Bush’, ‘John Bush’. We’re, like, ‘Hmm.’ I said I know him from [playing together in] Metal Alliegance. We broed down a little bit — we talked sports and stuff — so I said, I know him enough to call him up and ask him. So I did. And he was super… We were in the friend zone for a while — you know, non-committal. And it’s been bit by bit by bit.”
Demmel said the band has about 10 songs written, with Bush’s vocals tracked for seven of them. Who knows if or when we’ll ever hear this group in person. Still, the lineup is exciting as hell and we hope to hear something soon.
