Armored Saint, Exodus, Ex-Machine Head, Etc. Members Working On New Project

Phil Demmel (ex-Machine Head), John Bush (Armored Saint), Jason Bittner (Overkill), Jack Gibson (Exodus), and Mike Orlando (Adrenaline Mob) have joined forces for a new project. According to Demmel, the band currently have about 10 songs written and Bush has already recorded vocals for seven of them.

Demmel said the following during a recent interview with Marzi Montazeri (ex-Exhorder):

“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]. I forget what I was doing when I came back. And me and Orlando got together and we just got in the room and started throwing riffs at each other and came up with, like, a dozen or so riffs that he took back. And you know Mikey O — he’s got his own studio, and he gets behind something. And he’s got such a great ear. He’s a phenomenal guitar player. And he’s got a great ear for music and melody. So he starts putting the shit together. And we’re, like, Damn, this is fucking cool.’ … 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 ALLEGIANCE. 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.”

He also added the following about the musical direction of the band’s new music:

“[It’s] heavier than the early VAN HALEN and the early PANTERA stuff that’s on the — you know, the shuffle beat. It’s on the upbeat; a lot of it’s on the upbeat, not on the down. So it’s the head-bobbing type of type of BPMs, you know? So it’s different. Nobody’s really doing that now.”

[via Blabbermouth]