Armored Saint guitarist Phil Sandoval has confirmed that Metallica frontman James Hetfield will appear in the band’s upcoming documentary. He made the revelation in a new interview with Eonmusic.
Sandoval spoke about Hetfield’s continued support for Armored Saint. He recalled the Metallica singer watching the band’s set at Sonic Temple Festival in Ohio last year, and he later discussed the status of their documentary, “Band of Brothers.”
“Yeah, he did. We took a picture with him, and he stayed there the whole set,” Sandoval said. “It’s pretty amazing that he has endeared our band like that. All we need is a couple of shows with Metallica and that would be great. Just kidding! But that was pretty amazing.”
On the documentary, he added: “We have a documentary coming out. Hopefully it’ll be out soon, one of these years, and he’s in it.”
Asked directly whether Hetfield is in the documentary, Sandoval replied: “Yeah, he talks a little bit about us.”
Asked about the early days of Metallica, when the band was still finding its feet and there was even talk of Hetfield not singing and John Bush potentially joining, Sandoval reflected on how the emerging thrash scene was viewed at the time.
“It was kind of unbelievable, but at the time, Metallica was so new, and it’s like, ‘Those guys aren’t going to make it.’ It’s like thrash, whatever,” he said. “But of course, we were just like feeling like that, and look what happened. Little did we know that that was the thing.”
“Look at Slayer talking about all these dark things, and that sold, and it gathered an audience, like a wave of an audience that crashed and took over,” he continued. “And we stayed true to our guns and stuff, and now we’re realising that the changes were ahead of us. And it happened. Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, all these bands became very successful playing thrash. We were just doing our thing, playing metal. Maybe our next album should be a killer fucking thrash album!”
Sandoval’s comments point back to a period when the two bands were closely linked, and to a film that has been in the works for a long time.
“Armored Saint: Band of Brothers” was announced in October 2022 as arriving “soon” through select theaters and streaming outlets. Russell Cherrington directed the project. The film held its world premiere on May 23, 2023, at the Harmony Gold Theatre in Hollywood, the band’s hometown, and Cherrington introduced it and hosted a Q&A with band members afterward.
Hetfield is not the only major name in the film. Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich also appears, along with Anthrax guitarist Scott Ian, Metal Blade Records founder Brian Slagel, producer Ron Fair and manager Cliff Burnstein. Hetfield and Ulrich are both set to discuss the early touring history shared by the two bands.
That shared history includes one of the best-known “what if” stories in metal. In 1983, after the release of Metallica’s debut album, “Kill ‘Em All,” Ulrich invited Armored Saint singer John Bush to audition for Metallica. Hetfield was reportedly unsure of his own singing ability at the time and wanted to focus on rhythm guitar.
Bush chose to stay with Armored Saint, which had formed in Los Angeles in 1982 around a group of school friends. Metallica kept Hetfield as its lead vocalist. The episode remains a central part of the connection between the two bands, and it is the period Sandoval was asked about in the interview.
