"New Blood, Same Beast" - An interview with Armored Assault
LOCAL LUNACY / INDEPENDENT INSANITY
By: Geoff Teach
(All Photography Courtesy of GoldilocksCG Photography)
Building a rabid fan base takes time, unwavering commitment, and a solid-as-steel connection through music with the listener...and here in Chicago, there are few bands that possess a more rabid fan base than Armored Assault. At any given metal show on any given night here in the City of the Big Shoulders, you can almost always find at least one person wearing an A.A. t-shirt or the renowned “Red Ass” hoodie. From properly putting in their time (the outfit has been around since 2003) to treating their fans and friends like family, Armored Assault have built a name for themselves one sweaty, insanely spirited show at a time, and by doing things “the right way”, they are now poised to begin accumulating droves of fans from far and wide. Recently, I had a chance to chat with Andy “Pindy” Pindelski (vocals) and Tommy Bellino (guitars) of the modern/progressive thrash quintet, and we talked about their newest member, their forthcoming album, “Call the Beast” (Due out October 4th, 2014), and their hopes and plans for the future. Although currently still mostly only known to those of us here in the Midwest, Armored Assault is working feverishly every day to change this and to put their name on the lips and tongues of metal heads the world over.
(Left to Right) Marc Notardonato, Elliot Moser, Andy Pindelski, Tommy Bellino, and Mark Suttner, otherwise known as Armored Assault, practice in the basement of the Red Ass Manor, home to Pindelski and Bellino, and overall A.A. HQ.
After releasing their reputed and highly-acclaimed E.P., “Dead Before Dawn” in middle-2012, Armored Assault unfortunately experienced the pain of having to let go of their lead guitarist (who also happens to be the brother of drummer, Mark Suttner), and while the kneejerk reaction would be to assume that finding a replacement would be easy, what with so many guitar players living in every known corner of the universe, such was definitely not the case for the Red Ass crew. In the fall of 2012, Armored Assault began playing live shows with a fill-in guitarist while the process of finding a permanent replacement got under way. Tony Notardonato, full-time guitarist of Miles From Exile, took over live lead duties for A.A., as he was already also the full-time guitarist of A.A.’s alter-ego tribute group, Metal Up Your Ass. Everyone in the group figured that this would only need to be a short-term solution, but as the unqualified and unimpressive applicants started piling up, the necessity for keeping Tony around became decidedly long-term. Finally, in the summer of 2013, after nearly a year of auditioning axe-slingers, the permanent solution was found, and right under their noses no less. Tony’s nephew, Marc Notardonato, also happens to be an accomplished fret-walker, and once he was free of his commitments to college, he was able to commit to the band full-time, and Uncle Tony was mercifully freed of having to pull triple-duty. “Huge thanks to Tony for helping us out as a sub and putting us in touch with Marc,” expresses Pindy, and though Tony’s departure was bittersweet in some ways, Armored Assault was thankfully whole again and ready to begin having their new member add his own touches to the new material that the band had spent most of 2013 writing. “All the material [for “Call the Beast”] was written before Marc joined, he just [quickly] learned the material and wrote his solos for the sections we had left open for him,” recalls Bellino, and immediately, the rest of the guys in the band could tell without a doubt that they had finally found their man. “Marc is awesome, we really couldn’t have asked for anyone better,” lauds Pindy, as Bellino adds “We’re definitely excited about what Marc brings to the table. He brings a whole new element to the band and we’re really excited to show that off,” and starting in early 2014, the rejuvenated and completed Armored Assault took to the studio to record their second E.P., “Call the Beast”.
The cover art to "Call the Beast", due out 10/4/14.
By and by, “Call the Beast” is the culmination of over a year’s worth of hard work and effort. Completely self-produced, the E.P. sports five songs that are complicated, catchy, and epic. With an art concept that features imagery of monstrous great apes and even more monstrous landscapes envisioned by Croatian artist, All Things Rotten (who has also done work for such well-known bands as 1349, Children of Bodom, and Eluveitie, among others), “Call the Beast” is Armored Assault’s barbaric yawp from the rooftops, with ambitious songwriting as well as lyrical content. “’We’re Already Dead’ was really fun to write. It’s about zombies, and how we are all kind of zombies already [in our own ways], and ‘The Colossus’ is really about obsession and how it can consume you. It is about raising a colossal beast to help you gain power, but really it is the beast that controls you, and without it, you have no power,” explains Pindy, and while the messages of the songs are thought-provoking, the music itself is outright killer, with plenty of ups, downs, highs, and lows. Dynamically, Armored Assault’s musicianship rivals that of any of the greats of history, as they are not afraid to explore. Much like their predecessors and idols, the boys in A.A. love to branch out, enhancing their songs using elements of blues, thrash, death, acoustic, and even the occasional psychedelic twist to keep their listeners lured in and firmly in their grasp. However, as accomplished as “Call the Beast” may be, it is on stage that Armored Assault truly shines. Their live shows are always entertainingly energetic, and their stage presence is one of complete magnetism, drawing people to the front of the stage from the back of the room every time without fail, and when you consistently deliver performance after performance like this whenever you play, opportunities to play big shows will inevitably follow. Last year, A.A. opened in direct support for Sweden’s In Flames, and this year, Armored Assault have been offered the chance to open for Macabre at their annual Holiday of Horrors show (on December 26th at Reggie’s in Chicago). Now in its seventeenth year, Holiday of Horrors is one of the largest and most popular metal shows in Chicago, and the honor of being invited to play (along with Jungle Rot and Scythe) is not at all lost on Pindy or Tommy. “We are all super fucking excited for the opportunity to play this show!” exclaims Bellino, continuing “It’s pretty crazy that we are finally getting a chance to play with Macabre, and the fact that our brothers in Jungle Rot are also on the bill is just icing on the fucking cake!” “I have been going to Holiday of Horrors for years,” adds Pindelski, “It is truly an honor to play, and definitely something I’ll be able to check off of the Bucket List.”
Armored Assault, just hanging out...
Two big shows in your own hometown does not a large enough fan base create, though, so once they have released the album here in Chicago and have celebrated properly (anyone who buys the album at the release party will be given a wristband that is good for free P.B.R. for the rest of the night...I don’t drink, and even I think that that is marketing genius right there!), it will be time to get serious about breaking camp and spreading the new album’s gospel. “We plan to cover the Midwest, and probably hit the East Coast, as it is a bit closer and there are more cities to hit,” says Pindy, with Bellino adding, “We would really like to do a week or two run out East and hit some cities and states that we haven’t ventured off to yet. We have been talking to some other bands and contacts out that way, so hopefully we can get something set up for spring.” Simply put, Armored Assault does not plan to sit back and wait for others to take notice of them, but instead, they wisely plan to get out there and get their music heard. “Our goal is continue to get our name and our music out to as many eyes and ears as we can,” says Bellino, and obviously there is no better way to do so than to hit the road and play it live for new faces in new places. Armored Assault may not yet be a household name, but they are going to do everything in their power to remedy that and hopefully sign a contract with a well-known label someday.
Ultimately, though, the boys in Armored Assault know that getting signed isn’t going to make them rich in today’s industry, but it will certainly help make their dreams of writing and playing music full-time more of a reality. “I am very much at an understanding that there really aren’t any more Metallica’s these days,” quips Pindy, adding, “I would just love it if someone could help make it so that it doesn’t cost me a lot of money to the music I love to make.” Summarily, it is this acceptance of reality that shows just how much Armored Assault understands the current climate of the music business, and also just how little it actually effects them. “We just love to write and play music,” concludes Pindelski, and one listen to their compositions is all it takes to know unequivocally that this is a fact. Armored Assault’s music is heavy, complex, and absolutely fun to listen to (and even more so to witness live), and it is with this is mind that I urge you to grab yourself your own copies of “Dead Before Dawn” and “Call The Beast” so that you might hear for yourself exactly what I mean, and if you see their name on a flyer for a show in a town near you, be sure to get your ass out to see them, and tell them “Teach sent me!”.
Keep it metal, class dismissed!
To listen to the title track off of “Call the Beast”, just press play below!
Finally, to visit Armored Assault on the web, please click the following the link: