Armored Saint have released the official music video for the song Lone Wolf. The song appears on the band’s latest album, Punching The Sky, which was released on October 23rd, 2020.
Video director Robert Graves says, “With Lone Wolf, the band and I agreed right away that this was an opportunity to create a narrative driven video that would convey the song’s lyrical themes, while also creating an engaging visual experience. And so a noir-styled heist in the heart of L.A. just seemed to fit the song perfectly.
We decided to keep the story simple and allow the tone of the video to help convey the song’s significance. This gave us (the crew) the opportunity to create an aesthetic that intensified the song’s mood, while also getting some incredible action scenes to tell the story. Needless to say, Armored Saint fans are in for a ride. I think they’re gonna love it.”
Bassist Joey Vera adds, “Working again with director Robert Graves was incredible. Not only is this video great to watch, but underneath the storyline lies a layer of allegory, metaphor and symbolism. Kind of a first for us. John Bush’s great lyrics twist and turn into meanings not visible at first sight. It’s a view into a person’s journey through life and how they maneuver through it all and what they gain from that experience in the end. The neo-noir look Robert created in both the story and the band performances make this a great addition to the Armored Saint video catalogue.”
Vocalist John Bush adds, “Working with Robert is awesome. The guy is truly amazing. He’s gonna be a star. This time we pushed the dialogue. It was challenging for me, but I had fun with it. For motivation, I tried to channel some of the great actors who come into the casting studio that my wife and I run.
Wolf tackles the view of people who spend a lot of time on their own. Something I spent years doing. The solitary individuals that always keep us guessing. This video is dedicated to them.”
To listen to previously released songs from Punching The Sky, click on the highlighted song titles: End Of The Attention Span, Standing on the Shoulders of Giants and Missile To Gun.
Punching The Sky track listing:
1. Standing On The Shoulders Of Giants
2. End Of The Attention Span
3. Bubble
4. My Jurisdiction
5. Do Wrong To None
6. Lone Wolf
7. Missile To Gun
8. Fly In The Ointment
9. Bark, No Bite
10. Unfair
11. Never You Fret
26 Responses
Armored Saint is an awesome band that should have had much more success. IMO, it just doesn’t seem fair that a talented band like Armored Saint couldn’t break through, but a much less talented band like Poison can find success.
Armored Saint is just one of those bands that I’ve never read or heard a negative comment about from any metal fans. All metal fans seem to really like them and their albums are always solid….still, they never found the success they deserved.
“Yes, you’re made of honor, and Saints will Conquer”! \m/
Rattlehead,
I completely agree, Armored Saint solid band solid songs. Maybe, the songs were a little too heavy for mainstream and not hooky enough or memorable enough choruses?? Who knows??
Poison, God I could go on & on about how lucky these guys were. They were smart enough to take advantage of the hair metal idiotic trend. IMO, guy’s in girls make up, clothes and lipstick acting tough on stage … Jesus christ it was the most idiotic thing I think I had ever seen. Tt still makes me laugh out loud to this day , and women liking it total head scratcher to me too… I only really liked “Talk Dirty To Me” , the rest was pure schlock … I wish Armored Saint great success with their new music.
Hi Robert,
Last time I checked, as the lone female on the site, I will answer your Potion inquiry. Once again, this is purely my subjective opinion.
My girlfriend and I liked Poison because we found their songs catchy, upbeat and entertaining. Nothing But A Good Time pretty much sums up their whole vibe, nothing complicated, just fun. Look What The Cat Dragged In is probably one of my favorites, if not my favorite, song.
As for the band looking like women, I could have done without that image, but that is what glam metal was all about. I thought Bret Michaels was one of the prettiest men I had ever seen (John Sykes notwithstanding), and to this day, I still think Michaels is a real pretty boy.
Additionally, I admire his intelligence. He has great business acumen (he insisted that the band starve, rather than sell their royalties. To this day Poison owns 100% of their catalog) and he supports many causes I believe in, namely veterans charities.
Robert, I think John Bush is a great singer, who still sounds awesome today. I also think the other band members are great musicians of their instruments. Plus, their songs are always solid. Again, it just boggles my mind that less talented bands find success while other deserving bands, like Armored Saint, do not. And, I too, would prefer Saint over what I consider lesser talented bands who may have had greater commercial success. I think Poison is a fun band with fun songs, but there is no way in hell they are more, or as equally, musically talented than Armored Saint.
I am so sick and tired of everybody picking on Poison, they created alot of great, fun, catchy upbeat tunes, and yeah ok, so what, so their songs got played on radio, what the f–k is wrong with that??? Since when is having your songs played on the radio a bad thing??? By the way, “Ride The Wind” is my favorite Poison song, not because it kicks ass, but because it is me, 100%!!! I would love to do a Poison top 20 right now, but why bother? Who would care??
DANA,
great points , he is probably a very nice guy – it’s fantastic he is so charitable, I just am not a fan of poison, I never liked Brett’s voice or the hair metal look in general – and personally I thought most of their music was pretty weak , I don’t have anything against good looking guys in rock n roll or in general – art is subjective – I’ll take armored Saint and priest over poison all day –
Hi Robert,
Comparing Poison to Priest is like comparing Faster Pussycat to Iron Maiden, it is incomparable. But, I get your point, you prefer metal to glam metal, and that is perfectly fine, most men are not fans of glam metal.
As for Michaels’ voice, I understand. He is far from my favorite vocalist, but I think his style suits Poison’s sound. Having a power singer crooning Unskinny Bop, would sound ridiculous. Also, to each their own, but I actually find his voice far more palatable than Vince Neil’s.
Forgot to add, I got the pleasure of meeting Mr. Michaels up at Eddie’s once when Rock Of Love was on the air. He could not have been be more gracious and lovely. Also, he was so pretty (far prettier than I), it was infuriating. He even had beautiful hands…damn him-LOL!
D 🙂
“Unskinny Bop” is really the only Poison song that I don’t like, but every band has at least 1. Always hated that term – “glam metal,” almost as much as “hair metal” or “hair bands,” – like all those great bands from the 60’s and 70’s didn’t have long hair? With a few exceptions. What is “glam metal” exactly anyway? Was Ozzy “glam metal” in ’85/’86 when he was all dolled/flashed up?? Music is music, period, any and all kind of music (whatever it’s labeled) can be good or bad, to each their own, but if I like or dislike a song, it’s all about the song, not about the “look.” When it comes to MUSIC, I never cared what the artists look like, unless of course they’re impersonating someone else –
Variety is the spice of life, I love Priest, Maiden, Sabbath, Zeppelin, as much as anyone else, but bands like Poison, Bon Jovi, Cinderella, Motley Crue, have their own style of music to offer, and I for one am happy about that, the definition of rock & roll is not defined by 1 band or 1 “style,” there are many different “styles,” which is a good thing, a VERY good thing.
Glam describes the IMAGE, not necessarily the sound.
So yes, if we are going by image alone, Ozzy had a “glam” look once he frosted his hair blonde and started wearing rhinestone studded Muumuus. Additionally, his sound evolved into something poppier, and far more commercial on Ultimate Sin. Although, it was written by Phil Soussan, Shot In The Dark, was very commercial. That is what happened to a lot of bands in the mid 80s, it was indicative of the era. God, even my favorite band Judas Priest went “glam” in both look, and sound, on Turbo (God, it still pains me to type that title-LOL!)
Hair metal is definitely a far more generic, broad brushed term to describe any band with “long hair” that was around in the 80s. So, many bands that did not have a poppier sound like Bon Jovi, and Poison, got unceremoniously lumped in that category (For example: Tesla, Dokken, Ratt, WASP, etc..)
However, I do feel like there is a sub category for “sleaze rock,” which to me was a sound far more akin to bands like L.A. Guns, Roxx Gang, Jetboy, some Faster Pussycat (Bathroom Wall for example), etc.
By the way, where is it written that just because you like a band like Poison you can’t like a band like Armored Saint or Megadeth? Why even compare? Why can’t you just like what each has to offer? If every band was exactly the same, sounded the same, wrote the same lyrics, “looked” the same, what kind of life would that be?
Exactly, it was just a sign of the times. Sure, early on in Poison’s career they looked really silly, but all that mattered to me was what they sounded like, no, they weren’t the greatest musicians in the world, but again, they did create some really catchy songs. In my opinion, it would be really boring if every band sounded (and looked) the same, too many people listen with their eyes. When even the Prince Of Darkness got caught up in the scene, that didn’t matter to me at all, In my opinion “The Ultimate Sin” is a great album. “Turbo?” Turbo took some time to grow on me, not because of the way JP looked at the time, but because of the way they sounded, it wasn’t bad, just very different than what I was used to, but once I got used to it, I really enjoyed it. Image never meant much to me at all, give me good songs, and a good show, and I’m good to go!
For me, when the needle dropped on my Turbo album, my heart sank. LOL!
I understand completely all the different points of view being given , my point is that as a musical style or art form , wearing make up teasing your hair and trying to look femme or androgynous was not something I enjoyed , and most of the bands doing that in my opinion were not very good – I like hard hitting blues rock , heavy hitting bands and hard rock metal bands , guys looking like men on stage , I’m not a homophobe I don’t judge, I just like what I like , reading the original post about armored Saint and their new music got me to reply to a comment I happened to agree with , I don’t really know why a band like armored Saint can’t break through – for some strange reason hair / glam rock became a thing …. and poison capitalized on that, so I do credit them with working hard and being smart ~
Robert,
I have wondered that about MANY artists/bands, especially Blue Murder.
For the life of me, I could never comprehend why Sykes wasn’t huge. The songs on Blue Murder’s debut album were very good, with Jelly Roll in particular, having mass radio appeal. Sykes even had provenance from having co-written Whitsnake’s most successful selling album to date. Additionally, in my opinion, he was just as good looking, if not more so than, Jon Bon Jovi, etc.
Tora Tora, is an example of another band, I think is grossly underrated.
Sadly, I think it has to do with luck, timing and how much effort the record label exerts on promotion.
Armored Saint should have had success based on talent alone. Bands like Poison needed image and glitter to make up for mediocre talent.
I don’t know, bro, the first time I heard “Talk Dirty To Me” on the radio, I went out and bought the album – “Look What The Cat Dragged In” without having (or caring) any idea of what they looked like or how glittery they were, or weeks before even seeing the video. Saw them (the 1st time) opening for Ratt at MSG in ’87, they were awesome! Of course, that was until Bret passed out!
Doug, my first time seeing Poison, they opened for Witch and Stryper at the Country Club in Los Angeles. This was before their 1st album came out. Bret Michaels fell off the stage, broke his ribs, and the band had to cut their set short.
My first time seeing Armored Saint was opening for Metallica at The Backdoor in San Diego, a 400 capacity venue. Armored Saint blew Metallica away.
Cool! I’ll be honest, I never paid much attention to Armored Saint until 4-5 years ago? Sometimes (for whatever reason) some bands just go and slip under our radar, even today, every now and then I’ll hear a song from the ’80s (just when I thought I heard em all) and I’m like, WHOA! How the hell have I never heard this song before, impossible! But it happens. Remember when you were a kid growing up in the ’70s sitting in the back seat of your parents car and listening to that AM radio? And a song came on that you really, really liked? Did you think about for a second or care at all about what the band or the artist looked like? No, of course not, all you cared about was the song, and that’s how it still is for me today.
Yes, like Career Girl. 🙂
Exactly! 😉 Or “Just Let Me Rock” by Saxon! A couple of months ago I was watching Metal Mayhem and the video/song “Just Let Me Rock” comes on, and I was like – WTF??? Holy shit! How in the hell did I never hear this great song before??? See, it happens.