In June 2024 — two years after they called it quits — Texas stoner-metal outfit the Sword surprised the metal world when they revealed they were reuniting for a performance at Austin’s Levitation Festival. Shortly after that November show, singer-guitarist John D. Cronise and his band dropped a faithful, flute-assisted cover of Jethro Tull’s “Locomotive Breath,” which got a lot of fans wondering: Were the Sword about to make a full-fledged return?
The answer is more complex than a simple “yes” or “no.” But, to the delight of Revolver readers who have been begging for a reunion, Cronise has confirmed that the Sword are officially back in action. (Meanwhile, he’s also active in Gold Pyramid, his project with Royal Thunder’s Evan Diprima, which will drop its debut LP later this year.)
The Sword — also featuring Kyle Shutt (guitar, vocals), Bryan Richie (bass, keys) and Santiago Vela (drums) — just announced two new Texas shows: April 10th at the Granada Theater in Dallas and April 11th at Paper Tiger in San Antonio. More live dates are also in the works, giving fans ample chances to hear their favorite stoned-out classics from the Sword’s first two decades.
In an exclusive Q&A with Revolver, the Sword’s riff master discusses the “weird” path of isolation and loss that led to the band’s return, his excitement for their future and why any new music “is not going to sound like old Sword.”
Tell us about the Sword’s reunion plans, what live dates are on the horizon?
JOHN D. CRONISE Well, right now we have a couple Texas shows. We’ve just played Baton Rouge and Houston and Austin, and we’re going to do Dallas and San Antonio [in April]. And then we got lots of more stuff coming up in the summertime.
The Sword announced their breakup in 2022. After 20 years with the band, what was the transition like to civilian life? Was it refreshing? Did you feel restless?
Well, I guess maybe restless is a word. I don’t know… because it wasn’t really a breakup. That’s kind of how people frame it, but I don’t think we ever used those words. … It was a dissolution, I guess, a cessation. … I just quit. That’s really the simple explanation of it. I quit.
But without me, there’s no band. That’s sort of the way our band is structured. We can luckily avoid those situations… like them getting a new singer, or something like that, and continuing on. That wasn’t ever really a thing that could happen. So if I quit, it’s kind of like, that’s it. So that was it.
I had to step away for a little bit for various reasons. It was freeing at first, for sure — but it was a weird period.
How did you spend your time?
Well, I didn’t do a lot, and that was kind of the problem. I wanted to, but I found myself living out in the middle of nowhere, sort of isolated, which turned out to not be such a great idea.
I was living with my two dogs, and they ended up passing away about a year ago — one from cancer and one from old age — within about a week of each other. It was pretty devastating. They were pretty much my whole routine. [My] daily life revolved around them. It was pretty rough caring for them the last few months of their lives. After that I had to change things up. Me living out in a little cabin in the woods would no longer work without the dogs as part of the equation. Not that it was working that great to begin with…
That was around that time when we actually saw the Revolver readers’ poll about bands that fans wanted to see get back together. Me going through what I was going through, I was like, “You know, maybe that’s not such a bad idea.”
I had to sort of separate myself from the Sword and look at it more as my project and my job. Before that, it was my whole identity. Any criticism of the Sword was a criticism of me. And I got in my head about it. I maybe took it too seriously. I had to separate myself from it so I could see it in a way that was more practical and, you know, [find] a way to have fun with it.
When you stepped away from the Sword, you said, “Everything I ever wanted to say and do with the Sword creatively has been said and done.” How has that sentiment shifted during your time away — and did that shift inspire you to reunite the band?
Yes and no. That statement was very true when I made it, and even now. Like, going forward I’m not sure what new Sword material is going to sound like. But it’s not going to sound like old Sword material — sorry to disappoint all the diehards. [Laughs] And it’s not necessarily going to sound like the last couple records, either.
I always have to try something different and new. When I said that at the time, it was kind of like: With the sort of genre we were perceived as — you know, stoner rock, doom metal, whatever — as far as that milieu is concerned, I was done. That was sort of me saying, “I can’t write any more of these stoner rock songs like I’ve written. I squeezed the last one out and I got no more.”
But, you know, that’s not to say I can’t. We’re still gonna write heavy material. But as far as traditional stoner rock like our first few albums…when I listen to them, they sound kind of weird to me. As an artist, I always have to move forward and try different things. So, that’s what I’m looking forward to — to seeing what we come up with. Because I’m not capable of writing Age of Winters II or Warp Riders II. I couldn’t do it if I wanted to.
The Sword played their first reunion show at 2024’s Levitation festival. Was that like a test run to see if the chemistry was still there to do something larger?
No. Like I said, we didn’t really break up because of any sort of internal conflict or anything like that. It’s not that we don’t get along. It was that I, personally, felt I had to not do the band for a while. So, getting back into it, it’s… we know each other, we’re comfortable. It’s kind of like putting on a comfortable pair of sneakers. It’s not weird. But [Levitation] was a great show though. It went really well.
Did that performance immediately confirm that more touring was the right move, or were you still undecided?
We know there’s demand. It’s not a matter of that. It was gratifying and great that [the] show was a sellout. And, you know, I’m sure Pentagram being on the bill helped. But it was a great return. But, you know, even if it had not been that great, I don’t think that would have stopped us.
The thing is, being in the Sword is what provides each of us with the most income. So, if you want to look at it that way, too, that was definitely a factor. Like, nobody really likes what they’re doing more than [being in] the Sword — [in terms of] what they have to do to make money. I’d much rather go on tour and record music than work at some regular nine-to-five, you know?
You released a cover of Jethro Tull’s “Locomotive Breath” for an Aqualung tribute album last fall. Tell us about that cover, did you record it recently?
We actually recorded that a couple years ago. That was the last thing we recorded before we stopped. But, you know, that song has guest musicians on it. [It’s] more of a collaboration. I would like to do more collaborations with other musicians in the future.
I did see us take some flak for that cover … like, we didn’t change it at all. It’s just a very straight cover. But to me, that was the challenge of recording it. Those old records [are] so layered [with] all these the parts. To dissect that and then reconstruct it was the challenge, rather than to reinterpret it. Because, let’s face it, we’re not going to make some MTV TRL video, you know, like Limp Bizkit doing some Who cover — you know what I mean?
The Sword’s last full-length, Used Future, came out in 2018. Have you started working on material for any new songs?
We have a couple demos laying around, but we have yet to really get together and concentrate on it. I’ve been in such a transitional state with moving. I was sort of semi-displaced by Hurricane Helene. I lived in Black Mountain, [North Carolina], and I couldn’t really go back to my house after that. I was actually not in town when the hurricane happened [in September 2024], luckily. But I had to move out right after that. So I’ve been in a holding pattern here for the last couple months, and I’m finally moving to Austin in the next couple days. Then we’ll be able to get into the nitty gritty of working on new material.
I’m sorry to hear you were impacted by the hurricane.
Yeah, luckily, I didn’t have much damage. I had to move everything out of my house, because my house got so humidified during the storm. Everything inside was wet — even two weeks later when I got back there. But nothing was permanently damaged, luckily.
This year also marks the 15th anniversary of the fan-favorite album Warp Riders. Do you have plans to celebrate that milestone?
Yes, indeed. We will probably be embarking on some touring later this year around the anniversary of that record. And we might have a Record Store Day release of that record that might be special in some way.
Looking back on that album now, does one song stand out as a particular favorite of yours?
My favorite song on Warp Riders is…well, I don’t know.
I think “Tres Brujas” is probably the best song on the record, objectively. But my favorite song is probably “[The] Chronomancer I [Hubris],” because I think it has the most riffs of any Sword song. And it’s just kind of absurd, because it keeps going from part to part to part. Even when I listen to it now, I’m like, Why? What were we thinking? Because, yeah, now we have to relearn all that stuff. [Laughs] It’ll be a challenge.
We have this catalog that’s actually pretty extensive. These records have been out for a while, and they hit these anniversaries. It’s good to observe those. It’s also the 10th anniversary of High Country this year. I don’t know if we’re going to be doing anything special for that, but we’ll see. … But we’ll be back out there doing some shows — and, you know, probably some new music. We’ll see…
How are you feeling now that you’re officially announcing the Sword’s return?
Well, I mean, we’ve been playing for a little bit now. So, it’s just kind of letting more people know. We’ve been playing shows since Levitation — and it’s funny to me that every time we announce anything on Instagram, there’s a certain small number of people that have just crawled out from under their rock that day, and they’re like, “What? You’re playing shows again?” [Laughs] But yeah, it’ll be nice to have more people aware of that. We’ll have more tour dates that we’ll announce later — so people can look forward to catching us live sometime this year.
But be patient! In this age, people want to know everything right now. These things happen in stages. You can’t know everything all at once, so just be patient — and things will be revealed. But I am looking forward to 2025, as far as what we’re doing is concerned. And hopefully we’ll be able to have some fun amidst the chaos.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.