All That Remains Interview
August 12th, 2009 by Stephanie Stevens
Hometown boys and gal ALL THAT REMAINS are hitting the scene harder then ever with their sophomore album OVERCOME. The band has already gained radio success with TWO WEEKS and now on the verge of doing it again with FOREVER IN YOUR HANDS. The band is unstoppable and with a spot on this year’s Mayhem Festival the success is just getting bigger.
I was able to take guitarist Mike Martin aside when they played a the Boston Mayhem festival show to see how life is treating him and the band, how it feels to be playing a hometown show and what is in the future for touring for the rest of the year.
SO HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN IN THE BAND?
I have been in the band a little over 7 years.
YOU’RE AN OLD SCHOOL GUY!
Mike: Yea Oli, Phil and I are the old school guys.
OK SO LETS TALK ABOUT THE NEW SINGLE FOEVER IN YOUR HANDS AND THE VIDEO SHOOT FOR THE SONG, SHOOTING AUG 9TH?
Mike: Yea in the DC area, we already have lots of footage from all the shows already but at that date they are going to do an actual official single shot stuff during the morning and the rest of the shooting is going to be during Mayhem.
I FIND IT ODD FOR THIS SONG YOU ARE DOING A JUST STRAIGHT FORWARD LIVE VIDEO!
Mike: I guess it could go both ways because you can do a live video for any song if you really want to but at the same time with that song you could do a “Nickelback” video with all acting and stuff in it.
YEA I SEE IT THAT WAY FOR THAT SONG MORE THEN JUST LIVE
Mike: I heard that before but I don’t know, I think it would be cool to do both, but I don’t think they could work that out. (laughing)
DO YOU FEEL THAT DOING THIS SONG AS A SINGLE YOU ARE SHOWING A DIFFERENT SIDE OF THE BAND OR DO YOU THINK IT CONNECTS TO EVERYTHING YOU HAVE DONE?
Mike: I think it is a little bit of a difference. I think TWO WEEKS and FOREVER has that little more melodic side of us that people either get really excited about or pissed off about but the song as far as rock radio is concerned is doing wonderful things for us so we don’t really care if people are pissed off at us cause we are doing the melodic side but with rock radio 100 more people are listening to us and like us so its cool.
AND YOU HAVE TO MAKE MONEY TO LIVE RIGHT?
Mike: YEA!! We are trying to do this as long as we can so everything helps (laughing) but really we do like singing and everyone in the band listens to Iron Maiden and Metallica and bands that don’t have any screaming in them. But overall for our band I think those two singles have showed the more melodic side to us. There is always going to be a mixture of heavy and melodic with us, that is who we roll.
NOW I GET TO BOW TO YOU BECAUSE YOU DID A COVER OF ONE OF THE BEST BANDS ON THE PLANET NEVERMORE….
Mike: Exactly what I’m talking about (as we hi five each other) That record is the best record ever.
SANCTUARY GOT ME INTO THE WHOLE METAL SCENE. SO WARRELL AND NEVERMORE..GODS!!
Mike: Warrell is sweet. His solo stuff is amazing.
SO WAS THIS YOU’RE IDEA TO COVER BELIEVE IN NOTHING?
Mike: Somebody brought it up outside the band. I think someone on the label and they said you ever think about covering a Nevermore song? All of us were like yea that would be cool so we just did it.
NOT MANY BANDS DO COVERS BY THEM ALSO.
Mike; Yea and it is a great song. It’s more of a ballad esque song.
SO YOUR DRUMMER JASON IS NOT ON THIS TOUR WITH YOU
Mike: He is here today because he lives in Mass but he can’t play.
IS HE COMING BACK TO FINISH THE TOUR?
Mike: We were going to try to get him back the last week or two but it is looking like its better off for him to take the rest of the tour off. We go home for 5 weeks after the tour is done but we have some off shows during that time so he will be ready for them.
WHO TOOK HIS PLACE?
Mike: Tony Laureano, he use to play in Nile
DID YOU PICK HIM BECAUSE HE HAS THE SAME TECHINQUE AS JASON?
Mike: Our two tour managers just know him. So since the bands he has played in they knew he probably could do us so we really didn’t have time to think about it. We only had a week off so Tony had to be flown in for rehearsals and that was it. In that time we said I hope he can do it and he is really saving our asses, he is doing a good job. We have gotten a lot of positive feedback
WHEN YOU WENT INTO RECORD FOR OVERCOME DID YOU PUSH PHIL TO SING MORE?
Mike: It was all that just came out. Whatever the music calls for we do, all natural. If we have a song that just has brutal guitar riffs and we want to hear brutal screaming we do that or more melody we do more singing, whatever flows and that usually is what works. A lot of kids can tell when it is forced and I don’t think we sound forced with what we do but that is just my opinion I’m sure people disagree but it seems to be working so far (laughing)
BEING ON SOMETHING LIKE THIS TOUR OR PLAYING HUGE STAGES OVERSEAS DOES YOUR PERSPECTIVE OF YOUR CAREER AND SUCCESS CHANGE IN THAT INSTANT MOMENT BEING ONSTAGE?
Mike: Sometimes you think about the most random stuff onstage like what restaurant you want to go to because your so in the routine of doing the same songs every night so sometimes your just daydreaming and it just happens but then there is certain times like in Sweden when we played to 20,000 people it was probably the best shows we ever played. I was just playing onstage that day and looked out and saw the jumbo trons and all the people were into it, it was just one of those times you are thinking I cant believe I just started doing this in my basement with my friends from high school and now this is happening. You definitely kind of sit back and smell the roses because sometimes you can get really angry and pissed off and jaded and that was happening to me for a little bit but now I’m starting to sit back and say OK things are going well and I should appreciate this (laughing)
YEA BECAUSE IT CAN CHANGE WITH A SNAP OF THE FINGER!
Mike: Yea it can end easy enough
DO YOU SEE A DIFFERENT DRIVE IN YOUR BAND BEING ON A FESTIVAL LIKE THIS OR GOAL CHANGES SINCE MAYBE TALKING TO OTHER BANDS ON THIS TOUR?
Mike: We have gotten advice for sure but really you just watch a band like Cannibal Corpse who have been doing it for twenty years, you kind of sit back and say wow I want to do that so we definitely admire that kind of longevity and that is the main goal with ALL THAT REMAINS and plays none of us are good at anything else unless we want to go work at Subway. It just a matter of doing music you love to do and the kids will keep listening to you.
WHAT IS THE BIGGEST FRIENDSHIP YOU MADE ON THIS TOUR?
Mike: If you are talking about new friendships cause we have known a lot of these bands on the road with us but for new I have to say the Cannibal Corpse guys are the biggest sweethearts on the planet and you would never really think so with the song titles and how brutal the music is but they are the most genuinely nice people so they are my biggest surprise so far. The WhiteChapel guys are real nice. We have known the guys in Black Dahlia, God Forbid, Killswitch forever so all in all this tour is just an awesome summer camp for us.
ARE YOU WORKING OR ANYTHING NEW OR JUST FOCUS ON TOURING?
Mike: Really just doing the touring thing. We have all American touring for the rest of the year and some in Canada too. We spent so much time out of the country we need to focus on here for the rest of the year. The beginning of next year we are ready to write for the next record.
WILL WE SEE YOU GUYS HEADLINING?
Mike: There will be a headlining tour and a hard drive like radio tour and we will be headlining that and then there will be a co headlining tour with some bands that I don’t even know yet.
WHAT IS BETTER HEADLINING OR CO?
Mike: I think headlining is better because sometimes with Co headlining with other bands things can get awkward or uncomfortable because of wants and needs. But usually whenever we do Co Headline we get along with everyone, I have heard horror stories about bands co headlining but we usually do fine. The band that will co headline with us I heard were the nicest people so I cant say right now who it is
OF COURSE I ALWAYS GET INTERVIEWS RIGHT BEFORE RELEASING INFO!
Mike: (laughing) I know sorry
ANY IDEAS YOU WANT TO GO FORWARD WITH IN WRITING?
Mike: We have guitar parts and things like that which get written on the road but there is no like plan of attack of what we are going to sound like. The main reason for that is because we just wing it all of the time, whatever we feel at the moment we will write.
SO ANYTHING ELSE YOU WANT TO SHARE WITH YOUR FANS?
Mike: Not really my closing statement usually is we are not a Christian band and not a metal core band!!!! We always get those two and for the record it is not Metal core just because your music has dynamics. We are just a metal band!! One last thing is just go buy OVERCOME!!!
