Armored Saint drummer Gonzo Sandoval is one of those people that just seems to radiate energy. From the moment he comes on camera, it’s clear that, despite it being a lengthy day (possibly even a lengthy week) of doing press for Emotion Factory Reset, he’s genuinely excited to be here and to be sharing the story behind the first Armored Saint record in six years.
Something of a restless creative, Gonzo is one of those artists who throws himself into his work. As he explains in the interview, if he’s into something, he’s into it all the way, and you can feel that spirit in the way he tackles each answer, sometimes racing off at a tangent, in his desire to make sure we understand the full story behind the new record.
Join us and dig into how Armored Saint have returned to bring a little light to a somewhat dark and troubled world…
Hi! Thank you so much for making time to talk to me, it’s a pleasure to meet you.
Right on! It’s a pleasure to talk about this new record.
Well thank you. So, I know you’re back-to-back with interview and probably having one hell of a day. The first thing to kick off with is that you are an incredibly busy, creative guy – you’ve got your photography, you work with Cymbal Sox, and I believe you worked with Black Raven – so the first question I have is, as a n artist with longstanding renown in the metal scene, how important is it to you to keep pushing your creative skills and how does that then come back into Armored Saint?
It’s an outlet for me. The creativity. I live in a creative world and that’s what I do. So, if I’m not doing Armored Saint, then I’m going to be busy with other things. I’m not going to take a pause; it’s not something that is part of me. I think that it’s all about having fun and finding the inspiration – the motivation – to explore.
Like you said, I’m a photographer as well. I mean, these are decisions that I made based on how I enjoy it and the possibilities of the art. I think that music is an art, photography is an art. I think art takes time to build – good, quality art – and, you know, if I’m not doing Black Raven, which was a situation that was brought to me by my friend Daniel Hicks (Rest in Peace). That in itself, the Black Raven story, should be a movie or a book at least. That’s kind of in my future, because it’s just so amazing how that record came about, the Black Raven Native Knight record. But that was an outlet that basically was brought to me. And I said, like all the things I get involved with, I said to Daniel, “send it to me. If I love it, I will do it. If I do not love it, I won’t waste your time or my time.”
So, I have to love what I do. If I do love it, that means it’s 150%, mind, body, and soul in it. And that’s the only way I roll. I’m not going to do something half-assed, or a little here or there, a sprinkle here, a sprinkle there. No. I’m either all in or I’m not in.
And so, he sent it to me – the music – and it made me laugh because I had known Daniel for a long time and, when I knew him, he was a little bit on the, how should I say… he was a mess up [laughs]. And the music I heard could not be coming from that image. So, to me, it’s like God took over and said to Daniel, ‘use this talent”. Because it was so mind boggling, it made me laugh. It made me laugh that that transition could take place in a human being, from whatever to amazing.
So, yeah, I made the record with him, it took seven years to record.
Wow!
And I’ll just say this, and this is part of the story. We had no money, we had no help, we had a mission and a vision. And that was to make music that could be dropped like a drop of water. And then it spreads all over the universe. And we called it “audio medicine”.
So, that was our mission and Black Raven Native Knight is the result. And it took seven years because people were part of the recipe. They gave us the money; they gave us the place. We met the person that opened the door for the recording studio, who paid for this, who paid for that. The vision carried itself, so people themselves are part of the recipe for the audio medicine that we developed. So, I encourage everybody to go to iTunes and check it out for yourself.
But, yeah, creativity is what I love and when I’m in, I’m in 100%.
And photos as well. I’m a photographer who seeks creatively correct exposures every time. I’m not just taking pictures to take pictures, even though I do have photofilia, which is a condition that sometimes I have to take a picture. I don’t know what it is, I just like have to, you know, take a picture. But not any picture. It has to be the picture – creatively correct exposure, whether it’s colour or whatever it is, it has to have that gravitas. That’s how I roll with that. Again, part of my creative process.
So, we’re only here on this earth for a small amount of time, so make the best of it and use it wisely.
I love the passion and the excitement that you have for these things. From that, as an artists, you’re always exploring and pushing boundaries, does that translate into the way you develop your parts behind Armored Saint?
They do. Emotion Factory Reset is our latest record. It’s coming out May 22 on Metal Blade Records and we’re very, very excited. We have a new single called Hit a Moonshot and a video and I can’t wait for the world to see this video, that’s all I’m going to say. The premiere is in two days [it’s actually out now], and you can go to YouTube and be a part of it and I encourage everyone to do that.
As far as that creative essence in developing Armored Saint music, initially, way back when I started the band and I came up with the name Armored Saint, you know very young. I was thankfully aware enough to write things down that seemed to touch my heart. The name came to me after watching Excalibur and I was like, Armored Blade, Armored Sky, Armored Horse… Armored Saint and that was it! You know BING! The light bulb went off.
And the funny thing was, when I brought it to the band, which was – I came up with the name in the parking lot after the movie, when I was going to the car. When I got in the car, I went, “guys! I’ve got the band name.” Because we were a band with no name. We had some shows in the beginning, and we were like 18-19 years old.
So, I said, “I’ve got the band name guys, Armored Saint!’
And then, there was a pause, literally silence, and then all the guys turned back and they said, [pause] “that sucks!” [Laughs]
And I was like, “that sucks? Awwwww! Alright, whatever!”
So, a couple of weeks later, like I said, we had some shows and we needed I band name. And I had woken up and I wrote things down, like what does Armored Saint mean? And the answer was hope. Hope. Inner strength. There’s a lot of good in the world, there’s also a lot of evil in the world. To me, an Armored Saint is something that will battle the evil and be just as powerful and strong and end up winning. So, I wrote all that down, presented it to the guys, and they were like, “wow! That’s deep!”
And so, they said, “alright, yeah, Armored Saint sounds great!’
From then on, the rest is history but, the passion that I put into my drumming, into the recording of this new record, my journey… it’s not all smooth sailing. There’s been a lot of adversity, a lot of tragedy, a lot of life. And we are blessed to be able to, in 2026, be part of the music industry and deliver a record like Emotion Factory Reset through Metal Blade Records. And, to me, it’s important to keep that going. To lend some inspiration to the youth. A pathway or just a light, a guiding light, to say, “you too are creative. All human beings are creative, whether you tap into it or not, that’s your decision!”
So, my goal is to inspire the youth to tap into the creativity and then want to be in band, want to hook up with their friends, want to make a record because we’re, you know, older. And, you know, if God allows us many more decades, great! But we’re on that other side where the youth is at the beginning. And, if we inspire the youth, they too will one day be a big band, whoever they are, if they follow their dreams and their creativity.
So, to me, that inspiration is vital and for this record, I am 100% satisfied and happy with every single drum hit that I recorded. And I can’t say that [laughs] for all the records but for this one, I am 100% there and happy with my drums.
I’m D-drum endorsed. Thank you to Mike Petrak over at D-Drum. They sound amazing, in the studio and live, and I’m hoping people see the drumming, get inspired and love the band. Armored Saint is, again, like me – we’ve been through adversity, a lot of good, a lot of ups, a lot of downs, a lot of sadness, and a lot of tragedy, and all of that. Which is all exemplified in a movie documentary that hopefully soon will come out called Armored Saint Band of Brothers. And that, in itself, says a lot.
Well, there are a couple of things I’d like to pick up on from what you’ve just said. I’ll start with this – you were talking about inspiration and youth. One of the things that has always come through loud and clear when it comes to music is the importance of community – and the community of fans that Armored Saint has built up is a really important part of your longevity and some of that must surely come from the hope and positivity that you built into the name.
Yeah, oh definitely, definitely. You know, to be honest, the genre of heavy metal has a lot of branches – death metal, thrash metal, heavy metal, power metal – whatever you call it. So, for a time there, when Armored Saint started, our inspiration was Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Michael Schenker, UFO – and from that, Armored Saint. So, that, in itself, when thrash metal came in, that kind of took over and created its own genre that went so mega. We were in that battle. We weren’t thrash. We weren’t speed metal, but that’s what the kids turned into loving. That transition, and it’s proven to me by people coming up to us and saying, “hey, I’m really sorry,” like after a live gig.
And I’m like, “sorry for what?”
And they’re like, “well, I’m sorry I didn’t get into you in the 80s!”
And I’m like, “wow, that’s unusual to say!”
And they reply, “because you kicked so much ass that I feel sorry that I missed it!”
So, it gives me chills, and then I tell them they’ve got time right now. We’ve got a new record, we’re still playing the best we’ve ever played together and we’re ready to inspire the world in a time when, I think, that inspiration, that light, is vital, it’s needed! So, that’s where that’s at.
The other thing you mentioned is wanting to inspire people in your drumming. I think sometimes the role of the drummer is a little bit unsung in metal because everything’s very loud and maxed out, but actually the best drummers in metal – and I hope you’ll understand I’m including you here – are very dynamic and understand the importance of allowing that push and pull. So, one of the roles, IU guess, that falls to you is bringing that dynamic into the music.
Yeah, that’s something that, initially I might have been a heavy hitter, or was looked at as a heavy hitter. And that’s alright with me because I believe that the harder you hit the drum, the more projection you get and the more it’s heard. And, like you said, loud guitars, loud vocals, loud bass, and then the drums.
But that’s not how I think. I think the drums and then everything else surrounds it, and that pumps! That’s how I look at it.
But not everybody does. So, the drumming that I’ve made on this record, you know, I’m 100% loving it and proud of it and satisfied with it and I just look forward to inspiring, again, the youth and all our loyal fans. It’s a heavy metal community, a heavy metal family, and we’re producing music in 2026 and being relevant, which is important. And getting it out there.
What does Emotion Factory Reset mean to you?
Emotion Factory Reset to me personally is like, we’ve all got emotion, we’re all human, and that connects us – every single human being on the earth, on the planet, is connected. We’re not separate. We have a factory called the planet. So, the humans in the factory, working together, and we need the reset. The reset to guide towards the light, towards helping each other, towards loving each other. There is that vein of humanity and I think that that is the nucleus of what will help us fight through this turmoil we’re going through.
So, Emotion Factory Reset is something that affects every human being and I think every human being needs a copy, through Metal Blade Records, of Emotion Factory Reset. And that’s how I look at it. Not everybody looks at it that big, or that vast, or that deep. But, again, I am a creative individual. I love being involved with things that I love, and I don’t get involved with things that I don’t love.
Another thing that has always been important for me in bands is that the lyrics – they’re intelligent, they’re articulate, they reflect what’s happening in the world… but they don’t preach to the listener. That’s at the core of metal, I think, and Armored Saint – be yourself and we’ll give you some guidance, but you can interpret what we’re saying, right?
Yeah, for sure. We don’t tell people. I don’t like to be told what to do or whatever, nobody does. We’re not doing that, we never have. What we are doing is that we’re making music that hopefully entertains. That is the bottom line of what we do. Yes, it’s music. Yes, it’s heavy. Yes, it’s our version. Yes, the lyrics are varied, speaking with different subjects with a little sarcasm or humour, whatever the song is. But, you know, we want to offer that in a guiding light. Not telling you what to do or whatever – nobody likes that. We want to have the mind expand. Hear it one way, and it means something else to somebody else, but to me it means this and that’s OK. It all matters. There’s nobody who’s always right or this is the way. It all matters.
But the definite thing that I love about Armored Saint is that it does have a light to it and that light is the same light that each human has living in their own heart. So, Armored Saint to me is something that’s needed and I think the timing is now.
I’ve heard two songs so far – Close to The Bone and Hit a Moonshot. The production on this is next level. Obviously, Joey Vera producing, Jay Ruston doing the engineering. You’ve obviously got into a really good rhythm of identifying the right sound for the band.
So, recording this – the drums themselves, we did at 606 Studio, which is Dave Grohl’s studio, and this is what he said to me, “this room, the drum room, is built by drummer for drummers.”
It’s amazing. And it is thoughtful in the way that they did it – the bigness of it, the sound of it. We worked for amazing people – Oliver Roman was engineering the drums at 606. It was an honour to work there, and I look forward, hopefully, to making more records there. The process was really smooth. It was a challenge learning the songs that were demoed because of time restraints. Usually, I have a lot of time to work things out. This time, it was like six songs, six weeks, and then record. So, I was like, “oh, shoot!”
So, you know, the pressure was a little bit on, but I came through with flying colours. I think we had seven days booked and I finished in five. I felt good about that, because what I wanted to put on the record, I played and… could there be more added? Sure. Could we try some experiments, sure? But, at the end of the day, I don’t think that was needed. I think this record is focused, I think you’ve said it right, it’s a sound that’s been building and it’s definitely next level. Everyone is playing and John is singing the best that we’ve done! And we started in ’82, you know! So, these are decades and decades, we could have peaked in the middle and we haven’t.
And I’m hoping that our peak is now. That this record touches the world. That everybody gets a copy.
I’m really excited for it. And of course, the final piece of the puzzle is the artwork – who did that and how involved were you in doing that.
So, the artwork – yeah, I had a lot to do with that. I wanted to have a knight on there, so I was working with that. I think it was DDKing that Joey talked to and he produced some good ideas that we liked, I think it’s visually appealing. I think it’s new-school looking and I’ve seen a lot of really creative memes coming out of that image!
What do you think is behind the longevity of Armored Saint?
I think that Armored Saint is the positive light in a world of chaos, and I think that the process of making this record was really, really smooth and, like I said, we’re playing better than we ever have. We’re going to be touring a lot; we have Hit a Moonshot – that’s our next single. It’s our next video and it comes out in two days [actually, it’s out now] and I encourage everybody to tune in to YouTube, that’ll be the premiere, and we have a third one in line too, for later on.
But, Close to The Bone sounds great, it’s doing great. We worked with two great video producers, Dave (Brodsky) and Ali (Woest), and they did Hit the Moonshot. Bottom line is Armored Saint has got a chemistry. I don’t really know bands that don’t play for six months, do three rehearsals and then get on tour. We’re able to do that, because I think that the chemistry from John, Joey, Jeff, and Phil (my brother) and myself – there needs to be some acceptance in your role and, at the same time, pushing the limits to go where we haven’t been. I think that Armored Saint’s been blessed that we’ve made records that are not duplicates of itself. We didn’t make the same record nine times. We made different records, based on the time of where we were living and how we were feeling and I think Emotion Factory Reset is a perfect example of where we’re at.
We have lots of things coming out. We have a movie coming out called Band of Brothers. We’re still trying to iron out the final legal thing – that’s coming soon. We’ve got the new record, new videos, we’re going to hit the road, new stage look. And all of that is amazing to me and I’m humbly and happily ecstatic to be a part of it. At this age and in this year. With the music business ever-changing or whatever, we’re still forging ahead. Armored Saint is a rock band, for sure, and to me, Armored Saint is also an energy. That energy, like I said in the beginning when I came up with it, it’s an energy that’s battling evil. But that energy is positive and it’s a winning energy and I look forward to one day, hopefully, millions and millions of people grab it, and we’re like “wow!” Together, you know?
I’m genuinely excited to see where this takes you. Thank you so, so much for spending this time with me.
Emotion Factory Reset is out May 22 via Metal Blade Records
