With veteran musicians from such legendary acts as Anthrax, Armored Saint, Adrenaline Mob, Machine Head, Overkill, Exodus, and Shadows Fall, it’s hard not to think of CATEGORY 7 as a supergroup.
The origins of the band began with discussions between Phil Demmel and Mike Orlando of their mutual desire to form a twin lead guitar hard rock unit harkening back to bands of the ‘70s such as Thin Lizzy. Jason Bittner was next to join the conversation followed by Jack Gibson. After composing some early music, it was obvious that the only vocalist that would fit the concept would be John Bush.
We caught up with John to find out more…
John : And there I am. Hello.
Andrew : And I’ve got you. How are you, my friend?
John : How are you?
Andrew : I’m really well, thank you. Welcome to The Rockpit. And look, it’s an absolute honour to chat with you. Congrats on the Category 7 album. My mind has been blown.
John : Well, that’s cool. Yeah, it’s a heavy piece of music.
Andrew : It certainly is. Now, I guess the big question in all of this is Category 7 a side project or a full blown band.
John : Well, I think it is a project, even though some people don’t like calling it that, just because the reality is that everybody is doing other things as well. So that’s just a fair assessment, but it’s a project that everybody really digs and think is really great. So I think it’s something that sometimes when people use the term project, it seems like you’re downplaying it, but I don’t think there should be downplayed because I think it’s a great record.
Andrew : Absolutely. Now the band was started by Michael Lando and Phil Demmel and Jason Bittner. At what point were you asked to join?
John : I think that one said Mike and Phil had a bunch of ideas together. Obviously the next step was to find a vocalist and because you’ve written a bunch of music, but now the next step is obviously putting some vocals and singing to it. So that’s when they played with a couple different people perhaps. I don’t know exactly who, but I was one of ’em. And they talked to me and I said, send me some ideas. I can’t say anything until I actually hear it. So they did. I thought it sounded killer, and I was like, okay, next step is let me try to write some stuff. Once I wrote a couple songs, we all collectively thought, wow, it is pretty awesome, so let’s write a couple more. And then we wrote a couple more, and that kind of went on until we had about nine songs, vocally with vocals. There’s one instrumental. And then it was like, wow, okay, I guess we have enough for a record. Let’s make an album.
Andrew : Did you have any reservations about coming into this kind of project?
John : Not really. I mean, for a long time I didn’t do anything other than Armoured Saint. Once I resumed after being in Anthrax for a while, I did Anthrax, and then after that I went into back to Saint, and the idea was to see my feeling with Armoured Saint was like, okay, I’m happy just doing this. And I was content doing that. But once there was actually some musical ideas and vocal ideas and everything that sounded like legitimate songs, then I said, okay, well let me see what more I can do with this and what more I can bring to the table. And it was actually pretty fun to make music and write lyrics and something completely new, something completely different with musicians I’ve never really played before. I mean Mike Orlando, I didn’t even know him. I had never even met him. it was cool that music was kind of the driving force for it. And I think that’s kind of the cool aspect about this whole album and record is that it’s kind of just started on its own and took off.
Andrew : I mean, when you listen to the album, obviously your lyrical contribution, and that’s one thing that I’ve always loved about your work, John, is your lyric has always thoughtful. Is always thought provoking. What was the inspiration for the lyrical content on the Category 7 record?
John : Thank you. I’ve been telling people that, and it’s real simple. I mean, I just think waking up every day and looking at the news, reading various sources, whether it’s the paper. I mean, I still love the newspaper, so it’s kind of a dining industry, but I still dig it. I’m going to be like the last guy waving the flag. We still can read the paper, but I think that was really the driving force is everything around me looking at things that were happening, whether it’s personal stuff or whether it’s developments of things that are going on in the world and various places in the world. And the United States is going through a lot of its own kind of dissension where that’s happening. And I think it’s taking place in Europe and South America probably a little bit in Australia as well. I don’t know for sure. But there’s a lot going on in the world that’s changing people’s mindset and changing people’s attitude about what, what’s important to them.
They feel about things pressing issues. And it motivates me to think, okay, what do I think about this and what are cents in this? And I don’t really ever try to write from a place of this is what you should, because the funny thing is I think my mind is always kind of developing and evolving and changing. I think that’s one of the problems in the world today is people think I have this belief and that’s it. I’ll never waver from this. This is it. And I think that’s kind of a shallow perspective. I think to really grow as a person, you should always be viewing all sides, and then you could kind of have a diplomatic understanding of things and really kind form an opinion. But those are the kind of things, some personal stuff too. But sometimes I write in ambiguous ways where I kind of want the listener to kind of form his own opinion from the words.
Andrew : Yeah, and I think that’s probably been evident throughout your career through saying an anthrax. You’ve always had that approach. For me anyway, it’s what I’ve found in your lyrical work. When it comes to a band like this and you’ve been sent music from the guys that have spit-balled some ideas and it, it’s a massive musical experience from what the guys are delivering musically. The riffs are huge. I guess in Armoured Saint and Anthrax, you’ve always been allowed a little bit of space around your vocal parts. With this, there’s something big going on in the background. Was it hard to flip a switch to write to this kind of music, having a lot of that probably predetermined for you?
John : Well, these guys are very skilled players and maybe there could be a tendency when you’re so talented as to kind of overwrite and overplay. I don’t really think that was the case. I think Mike in particular, somebody who, he is very gifted, but yet he’s able to bring it back to thinking in terms of songs. And I think that made it a little easier to sing on certain parts. There’s a lot going on for sure. There’s a lot of vocals going on, but I had questions sometimes about timing and spacing and what was, you kind of figure out what a verse and a chorus and maybe a b section is, but there’s parts. I was like, is there vocals here? Is this a lead part? What is it? And sometimes it’s like, I don’t know, right to it if you feel like there should be vocals there and put something there and which I did, it was pretty open. Once I got the ideas, I just kind of ran with it. And next thing I knew we had songs. So it kind of happened easily. Luckily, knock on the wood. Yeah, it’s cool. But again, there’s a lot going on. There’s a lot of music there, and I think that when you’re really skilled, probably the challenge is to not overplay. And I think they did pretty well with playing. It’s like Rick Mania, but there’s still songs there.
Andrew : Absolutely. The songs are great and as I mentioned before. The album is such a melting pot of influences. There’s something from, I guess everybody in the band’s career. There’s obviously previous or current musical influences there as well. Is there a song or songs on that record that are probably closest to what you are best known for?
John : Well, look, I mean, it is my voice and my voice, I want to say is pretty distinctive, especially in the world of metal and hard rock. Even when I get to sing a bluegrass song somebody will say, it sounds like Armoured Saint. It’s like, yeah, well, it’s this and it’s my voice. And then if you’re playing metal, it’s metal. I mean, God, I remember when ‘Only’ came out, some people even said, well, it sounds like Armoured Saint and that is because it’s my voice, it’s my sound. Musically, I don’t think it ever did.
I think there’s always going to be a correlation to my vocals and anybody’s vocals for that matter. When Sammy Hagar joined Van Halen, it sounded at times like Sammy Hagar and that’s because of his voice. I think you’re always going to have that distinctive connection with the voice musically.
I think Category 7 does sound modern, has some throwback old school vibe at times, but it sounds like a new band and a new vibe. And I think that’s great because I’m probably the oldest guy in the project. So here, I mean, if something could kind of push me forward without of course losing my style, which I certainly didn’t, I think that’s great. I want to stretch out as much as I can, especially within the world of metal. It’s sometimes hard, of course, because it’s metal and there’s a certain umbrella that it encompasses, but in the end, I think it sounds like a new group.
Andrew : Just touching on that, I mean, for me, I think some ‘Mousetrap’ and ‘Apple Of Dischord’ are probably stylistically more of what people would be most familiar with you on, and that comes down to the song structures behind your vocals as well. Were they ones that you majorly contributed to in the writing process? You said there were some songs that were already for you to add vocals and lyrics to, and then obviously you all collaborated more and wrote more songs as a band. Was there ever a direction that you gave to the guys musically that you said, well, why don’t we try going this way?
John : Not really. I mean, I didn’t really do any writing musically at all. They wrote the music and then they would send it to me, and then I would come up with some melodies and vocals to it, I kind of let them do that. That’s certainly not my forte. Mine is writing lyrics and coming up with some melodies and things of that nature or anything connected with singing. So, if that’s the case, I don’t know. It kind of happened. I didn’t really overthink things too much. If anything, it was just more about questions about arrangements, things of that nature. And I try to embellish the music that they gave me. So yeah, those songs are, I forgot about ‘Mousetrap’. That’s a really cool song. It has this kind of real cops and robbers vibe to it.
Andrew : Yeah, that’s probably the best way to describe that too, that real sort of in and out chase to it. That’s one of my personal favourites from the record. Do you have a favourite song from the album?
John : Not really. Once I make a record, I kind of let go, and I’m more curious about what the public thinks. Anytime I make a record, I always say that a fair assessment of my view on it is in about a year. Then I probably would’ve a little bit more of an honest perspective on it. But really in all honesty, when you’re so close to it and when it’s just completed, you’re just too close, really, quite frankly. I try to let go and I’m more curious about what people think and to me that’s more interesting. I did my part.
Andrew : Now the album, well, you started piecing the album together in March of 2023, is that correct?
John : Is that what the bio said?
Andrew : I think it does. How long did it take you to complete the record to have something that everybody was happy with?
John : Well, I made demos along the way, and a friend of mine was lucky enough or nice enough to record me doing that. He was a guy who had another project with called Electric Spaghetti, which is this blues country thing that him and I created. We were writing songs for that. At the same time, I was working on Category 7, which were vastly different. It was really cool because one day I’d go to his house and sing an Electric Spaghetti song that we wrote, and then a couple days later, I’d come back and go, okay, I have a new Category 7 song that I want to record. And he recorded it. He has a studio and pro tools, and it was real fun and exciting because he’s not metal at all. When he would hear these songs, he’d be like, man, this is crazy; this is cool. It was very just genuine. A lot of the vocals and a lot of the demos that we recorded at his place, which was in his apartment in between some construction that was taking place next door, we kept a lot of it. And then I went to Orlando’s house for about a week in Staten Island and kind of redid some stuff, supplemented some vocals, things that maybe were out of key or we could have fixed and make it better. And I was there for about seven or eight days. I don’t remember when that was now at this point, to be on as it was last year, I think. I don’t even remember. But yeah, so I guess if it says March 23, well, I mean the record’s coming on July. We probably finished it in about eight months actually. Yeah, was pretty quick.
Andrew : That’s pretty quick. Obviously you are keeping yourself really busy. You have Saint Electric Spaghetti, which I’m now intrigued about. I can’t wait to hear. But this Category 7 album, I mean, from the moment I put it on, I just went, holy hell, I haven’t heard anything like this before. Not as a concise record. I’ve heard bits and pieces and styles of it, but to hear your voice over that kind of music where it is so aggressive in places, but still melodic, but technically insane was just really exciting. And I think by the time I got to the third, listen, I just kept finding more and more in the record. I mean, do you have a favourite? Is there one that just stands up above and beyond?
John : Not really. Like I said, I haven’t listened to it for probably a couple months now because, well, one, I was on tour with Armoured Saint. We just finished a tour here in the US with Queensryche. We were out there for about eight weeks. I was been telling people I don’t even listen to any music when I’m touring. I just realized on this last run, because you’re inundated with music every night, and so the last thing I want to do, I was enjoying silence whenever I had it. Plus the NBA and NHL playoffs are going on. And so, I was pretty enthralled in that. I’d watch games at the end of the shows every night. But again, I think it’s good to step away from something once you finish it, because you’re close when you’re working on something and you’re writing it and singing it, and you’re creating stuff, you’re sucked in.
And then it’s good to kind of pull yourself out. And I don’t want to say I have anything of a favourite. Usually songs kind of ebb and flow. To me. That’s always how it’s been in the past with certain records, with anything I’ve done back to all the Armoured Saint records back in the eighties and some of the Anthrax records in the nineties. I think it’s just, it kind of ebbs and flow of certain songs like, oh, you forget. Wow, I love that song. I forgot how much I liked it. Then maybe you come back to it and go, wow, I don’t know if I actually liked that album or that song. But you kind of step away from it and come back to it.
Andrew : Now. I guess the pressing question too is are there any plans to tour Category 7?
John : I don’t know yet. We’ll have to wait and see what comes up. I think we’re just kind of letting the public get a taste of it and see what happens from there. Take one step at a time. We put out two videos, which were really cool, and I think very exciting. We’re just letting the public get a chance to digest that. So who knows? We’ll see, as I told people, I don’t think that anybody in the band collectively wants to go out and rough it. I’m not saying I’m above that, but well, maybe I’m above that (laughs). I’m willing to do certain things, but I don’t want to get in the van and go play 20 club dates. And not that I expect somebody come knocking and say, come play arenas with those, but I just think that that tour, whatever would be in the dates, they have to be right.
It has to feel right. Everybody in this band has toured a lot, and they’ve toured at a certain level, and I don’t mean we’re not spoiled, and nobody’s in this band doing what Dave role does every night, but at the same time, you have a certain level of what you expect and what you want and what you’re willing to do. And I think it would hopefully live up to that. We’ll see; I don’t know. I mean, again, it’ll just depend on what the public says and what the vibe is. And I don’t know. I really don’t know yet.
Andrew : And just to close things off, I mean, what does the next six months look like for John Bush personally?
John : Well, I’m going to Europe next for a month with St. We’re doing four weeks. We haven’t been to Europe since 2019 when we did a tour with Metal Church, some dates through 2019 summer. It’s going to be fun to go back to Europe because like I said, we haven’t been there in a while. And I love Europe and Armoured Saint has always done great there, and we’re playing some places we’ve never played. We’re playing Transylvania, so how cool is that? Some festivals and some headlining dates, so it’ll be a cool combination. We play vodka, which is always just a big show, and so it’s going to be great. It’s going to be fun. It’s not too long. We’re not going out for eight weeks, which we had a great time with Queensryche, but it was a little long. This is more like three and a half, four weeks, so it’ll be in and out to some degree. But it’ll be fun to play some dates in Britain, Germany, of course, and play some places we’ve never played like Slovakia. It’ll be real exciting to go back to Europe. And then we’re still writing songs for Armoured Saint record that hopefully we’ll see the day in 2025. So I have a lot of work to do still.
Andrew : Awesome. It sounds like you’re a busy man and Electric Spaghetti. When can we expect this?
John : Oh, I mean, I would love to make an Electric Spaghetti record. That would be a lot of fun. The music’s really cool. It’s kind of hearing a different perspective of John Bush, but Phil’s kind of natural. I would love to make that record. It is really just about who would be the appropriate label to put it out really. I have to figure that out. There’s maybe some investigative work, which I’ve done a little bit, but see if some people are interested and maybe outside the metal realm. We’ll see, but I would love to do that. We’ve only done a couple of shows, but they’ve been great.
Andrew : Awesome. I’ll keep an eye out for it. Look, thank you so much for your time, John. Hopefully we get to see you out here in Australia again in some format, whether it be Category 7 or Armoured Saint. I just want to thank you for the legacy of music you’ve left with me since the eighties. It has been an absolute honour to chat with you today John and appreciate it. Congratulations on the Category 7 record.
John : Oh, thank you very much, Andrew. Appreciate it. And hopefully we’ll get to Australia soon. I want to go real bad.
Andrew : Very good. Alright, John, you have an amazing day. We’ll talk again I’m sure.
John : Alright brother. Thank you. You have a good day. See you soon. Bye.
