To celebrate the November 6th release of SatchVai’s album ‘The Sea of Emotion‘, earMUSIC has produced a limited edition run of 30 test pressings with signed and hand painted sleeves, one side painted by Joe Satriani, the other painted by Steve Vai. The test pressings are available from the following links – UK: The Sea […]
The post Joe Satriani & Steve Vai Unleash Ltd Run Of SatchVai Signed & Hand-Painted Test Pressings appeared first on ROCKPOSER DOT COM.
In 1979, two British musicians, singer David Cowles and producer/multi-instrumentalist Richard Haines, got together to form a synthpop duo called 50/50. At the time, both of them had demanding careers outside of music, and they weren’t willing to devote themselves to the group full-time. Every week, though, they spent multiple nights writing songs together, and they built up quite a catalogue — more than 150 tracks, the vast majority of which were never released.
The post Early ’80s Synthpop Duo 50/50 Are Finally Releasing An Album appeared first on Stereogum.
– September 30th, 2026 –
North American Co-Headlining Tour With Metal Church To Commence Next Month + Spring 2027 Leg Of Metal Saint Tour Announced!
Photo by Travis Shinn
ARMORED SAINT today presents their visualizer for “Not On Your Life.” The track comes by way of the band’s critically acclaimed new full-length, Emotion Factory Reset, released earlier this year on Metal Blade Records. The kaleidoscopic clip was created by Costin Chioreanu of TWILIGHT13MEDIA.
Comments vocalist John Bush, “The opening lyrics are, ‘You already know my name is John Doe / Yeah you already know but still give it a go.’ I think Phil [Sandoval] had the term, ‘you already know.’ Rhyming, I was, ‘oh, okay, this is cool, like, John Doe.’ There are a couple meanings to it: the cool guy from X is John Doe. It also means that you don’t know who this person is. It led to me thinking in terms of something a little vague, which sometimes I like to do. You already know, yet you don’t know at the same time.
Phil sent me the phrase ‘from dollars to donuts,’ and I got ‘Heavens to Betsy.’ My mom was named Betty, and it’s a little nod to [Bitch vocalist] Betsy Bitch because she’s on Metal Blade. I thought, ‘why not just have a little correlation here.’ It’s a cool, great rock song, and it seems to be some people’s favorite. The lyrics ‘dollars to donuts’ sounds like something somebody said on the streets of Manhattan in 1950. I also used the phrase ‘lying on the floor in the drunk tank.’ ‘Drunk tank’ is another term people don’t really use in 2026.”
Watch ARMORED SAINT‘s “Not On Your Life” visualizer HERE.
Watch the band’s previously released video for “Every Man-Any Man” HERE, “Close To The Bone” HERE, and “Hit A Moonshot” HERE.
ARMORED SAINT will kick off their North American co-headlining tour with Metal Church this November. The Metal Saint Tour 2026 begins on November 2nd in San Juan Capistrano, California and runs through November 21st in Agoura Hills, California with support provided by LiveKill.
Following the fiery response both bands received during their recent shows together in Europe and fans’ excitement for the upcoming Fall shows, a Spring 2027 leg of this killer metal package has also been announced. The journey will commence on March 19th in Austin, Texas and close on April 10th in Las Vegas, Nevada. Support will be provided by One Machine.
Offers ARMORED SAINT vocalist, John Bush, “Three weeks in the Fall just didn’t seem enough so we decided to do another run of the Metal Saint tour in the Spring of 2027. Celebrating two classic bands from the ’80s who also have new records out in 2026 is a no-brainer for any metal fan. Plus, there is still a lot of the country to cover. See you at the show!“
Comments Metal Church guitarist Kurdt Vanderhoof, “We are stoked to be heading back out on the road with our friends in ARMORED SAINT for another round of the Metal Saint Tour!“
Adds Metal Church drummer Ken Mary, “We are really looking forward to so many fans and friends on tour on this run and we are honored to be with our brothers in metal, ARMORED SAINT!“
Tickets + VIP upgrades are available now at: nationalactsvip.com/armoredsaint. See all confirmed dates below.
ARMORED SAINT + METAL CHURCH w/ LiveKill:
11/02/2026 Coach House – San Juan Capistrano, CA
11/03/2026 The Glass House – Pomona, CA
11/04/2026 The Nile – Phoenix, AZ
11/06/2026 Sunshine Theater – Albuquerque, NM
11/07/2026 Sunshine Studios – Colorado Springs, CO
11/08/2026 The Federal – Denver, CO
11/10/2026 Neurolux – Boise, ID
11/11/2026 The Newberry – Great Falls, MT
11/13/2026 Dantes – Portland, OR
11/14/2026 Redwood Theater – Bremerton, WA
11/15/2026 Rickshaw Theater – Vancouver, BC
11/17/2026 Great America Music Hall – San Francisco, CA
11/18/2026 Goldfield Trading Post – Roseville, CA
11/19/2026 The Whisky – Los Angeles, CA
11/20/2026 Observatory North San Diego – San Diego, CA
11/21/2026 Canyon Club – Agoura Hills, CA
ARMORED SAINT + METAL CHURCH w/ One Machine:
3/19/2027 Come And Take It Live – Austin, TX
3/20/2027 Hells Heroes – Houston, TX *
3/21/2027 Granada Theater – Dallas, TX
3/23/2027 Radio Room – Greenville, SC
3/24/2027 Chapel Of Bonus – Raleigh, NC
3/25/2027 Tally Ho Theater – Leesburg, VA
3/26/2027 Ridgefield Theater – Ridgefield, CT
3/27/2027 St. Vitus – Brooklyn, NY
3/3/29/2027 Sherman Theater – Stroudsburg, PA
3/30/2027 Mercury – Lakewood, OH
4/01/2027 The Kings Of Clubs – Columbus, OH
4/02/2027 Machine Shop – Flint, MI
4/03/2027 Arcada Theater St – Charles, IL
4/04/2027 EPIC Events Center – Green Bay, WI
4/06/2027 Wooly’s – Des Moines, IA
4/07/2027 Matchbox – Omaha, NE
4/09/2027 Liquid Joe’s – Salt Lake City, UT
4/10/2027 House Of Blues – Las Vegas, NV
** No One Machine
Emotion Factory Reset, ARMORED SAINT‘s ninth studio album, is a resurrection of sorts, a tearing down and a rebuilding in eleven songs of diverse musicality and lyrical themes. Produced, as were the previous four albums, by bassist Joey Vera and mixed by Jay Ruston (Anthrax, Stone Sour), the record finds the quintet challenging themselves. Songs like “Close To The Bone,” “Hit A Moonshot,” and “Every Man-Any Man” have ARMORED SAINT honoring their past as one of the most respected and recognizable bands in heavy music while making forward-thinking music rooted in the present.
Emotion Factory Reset was recorded across several studios including 606 Studios, Secret Hand Studios, Skullseven Studios, Constantine Studios, and Bridge Recording, engineered by Oliver Roman, Bill Metoyer, Joey Vera, and Jason Constantine, and features cover art by DDKing.
Preview/purchase the record at: metalblade.com/armoredsaint
“…another ARMORED SAINT album that defies time and trend. And aside from the obvious fact that listening to John Bush sing just about anything is always a rare pleasure, Emotion Factory Reset is such a glowing example of what happens when a band of brothers block out the rest of the world to plough their own musical furrow that it would take an absurd degree of cynicism to regard it as anything other than a triumph. Few albums this year will warm the heart like this one. ARMORED SAINT still rocks harder and smarter than the rest.” – Blabbermouth
“…ARMORED SAINT still possesses plenty of fire and bite – something one cannot always say about a band that has been active since 1980… If ARMORED SAINT continues to maintain this level of quality, I honestly couldn’t care less about the – now, after all, five-year – intervals between their studio albums-provided, of course, that they keep producing albums as strong as this one!” – Break Out Germany Album Of The Month
“The world’s most consistently excellent metal band… the fact that a band in their early-to-mid-sixties once again delivers a level of quality that 99.9 percent of their younger competition can’t even dream of deserves the utmost respect. May deafness not overtake us for a long time to come!” – Rock Hard Germany
“While they established their signature style many, many years ago, they still manage to give it a fresh coat of paint on every album. Their ninth studio album… once again explores that familiar territory situated between gripping heavy metal and virtuosic, gritty hard rock. And yet, at no point do you get the feeling that you’ve heard this song or that one before.” – Deaf Forever
“…a bold, versatile album from a band that creates unmistakably meaningful metal music.” – Brave Words
“They know just how to deliver fiery head bangers that come with a memorable amount of power.” – Grave Noise Media
“42 years since ARMORED SAINT dropped that debut album, they remain a vibrant force in the world of Metal.” – Metal Talk
“…the record feels energized, focused, and surprisingly hungry. ARMORED SAINT leans into what they do best: sharp songwriting, emotional weight, and riffs that sound both classic and fresh.” – Maximum Volume Music
ARMORED SAINT:
John Bush – vocals
Joey Vera – bass
Jeff Duncan – guitars
Gonzo Sandoval – drums
Phil Sandoval – guitars
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Iron Maiden drummer Nicko McBrain says that his pastor urged him to remain with the heavy metal masters after he converted to Christianity in 1999, despite the band having once whipped up a Satanic panic with their album The Number Of The Beast.
Talking exclusively to Metal Hammer, McBrain, 74, says that he’s never felt “any worry” over Maiden’s music possibly conflicting with his religious views.
“When I became a Christian man, I put it in prayer and talked to my pastor about continuing in the band,” he reveals. “He said, ‘If it’s something God doesn’t want you to do, he’ll let you know.’ So I asked if He was still OK with it and got the sense He was.”
Despite marking Maiden’s commercial breakthrough, topping the UK charts shortly after its release in 1982, The Number Of The Beast was a controversial record, especially in the United States. Conservative religious groups objected to the lyrics of the title track, which was inspired by 1978 horror film Damien: Omen II, and the cover which featured band mascot Eddie using the Devil as a marionette.
Guitarist Adran Smith recalled the controversy during Maiden’s 2005 documentary The History Of Iron Maiden, Part One, saying that ahead of a planned television performance, “the presenter looked at the album cover, and we watched in the wings as she recoiled in horror. They chucked us out! People were reacting.”
“It gave us loads of publicity,” added frontman Bruce Dickinson. “The kids who did wanna buy our records were like, ‘Oh cool! The religious right are burning their records! I better buy half a dozen!’”
McBrain joined Maiden in December 1982, replacing Clive Burr shortly after the end of the Number Of The Beast tour. He found his faith after his wife, a born-again Christian, invited him to a church service, where he felt “God and Jesus” push him forward.
“I kept moving forward as though I was being pushed over,” he told TVMaldita in 2020. “I couldn’t feel anything. And this is the God’s honest truth: I thought, ‘I haven’t had a drink. I’m not in a hangover here.’ I felt His presence. And right there and then, I gave my heart to God, and I asked Jesus in my life.”
McBrain retired from Maiden’s live lineup in December 2024, almost two years after he suffered a transient ischaemic attack (TIA, or mini-stroke) which paralysed his left side. The drummer regained his ability to play in time for the band’s Future Past world tour in June 2023, but his abilities remain limited.
Talking to Hammer, McBrain reveals that he could only feel “70 percent” of his hand during the Future Past shows: “It was incredible to get any use back out of it at all … Like, I couldn’t do the drum fill in the intro of [1983 single] The Trooper, so I had to adapt it. Steve [Harris, bassist/bandleader] and the band were so supportive, but my body just wasn’t bouncing back.”
Simon Dawson replaced him on the road, but McBrain is still officially Maiden’s drummer. He says that, should the band enter the studio to make another album after 2021’s Senjutsu, he’d be “delighted” to contribute. However, his condition means the material would have to be “more simple”.
McBrain will release his autobiography, Hello Boys And Girls, on October 22 via Harper NonFiction. The publisher calls it “a thrilling, hilarious and deeply personal autobiography” that “takes readers behind the scenes of one of Britain’s biggest-ever bands”. He’s currently touring the US with his Maiden cover band Titanium Tart.
Meanwhile, Maiden have just concluded a tour of North America; they will continue their ongoing 50th-anniversary Run For Your Lives world tour at Estadio GNP Seguros in Mexico City on Friday (October 2), then through more dates in Central and South America, Oceania and Asia. The setlist features songs from their first nine albums, 1980’s Iron Maiden up to 1992’s UK chart-topping Fear Of The Dark. They’re reissuing the same albums in a vinyl box set on December 11.