ALL THAT REMAINS FRONTMAN PHIL LABONTE DISCUSSES THE BAND’S MAINSTEAM SUCCESS IN METALSUCKS EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW
Thursday, September 3rd, 2009 at 2:30pm by Vince Neilstein
Sitting down with All That Remains frontman / Affliction-wearer Phil Labonte was a tad bit uncomfortable, for all the not-so-nice things (but not terribly offensive, either, comparatively speaking) we’ve said about his band. I’m actually not even sure that Phil knew with whom he was conducting an interview — the on-site press coordinator at the Rockstar Mayhem Festival simply introduced me by my birth-given first name, Phil said, “Hi, I’m Phil,” we sat down at a table and that was that. It’s probably a good thing too, since Phil is really into his iPhone, Twitter (which I asked him about) and claims to “read a lot of stuff on the Internet.”
So, whether he knew who I was or not, Phil and I chatted mostly about the band’s newfound mainstream success. What’s it been like? Has he seen a change in the audience at shows? Will it change the band’s approach on the next record? Has it alienated the core fans? Despite my best attempts to get some kind of averse reaction out of Labonte, he held his ground quite well and insisted that for the most part nothing about the band has really changed all that much. Phil was a nice chap and certainly seemed earnest about his answers.
Our chat, after the jump.
So how is the tour going so far? Generic first interview question.
It’s awesome. It’s probably a generic first interview question answer. Things are going great for the band. We’re in a really good place in our career, and we’ve had a lot of growth. The new record has been really successful, far more successful than we had expected. We were hoping that it would do well. We felt good about it, but when it came out, it sold plus 30,000 the first week. It was top 20 in Billboard. We’re almost a year into it, and it has sold over 200,000 copies. It’s great.
Are you seeing [the results] of that out on the road?
Yeah, and it reflects in our stage show. In the audience, people come out and are singing along — they know the lyrics.
Do you see a slightly different audience maybe than you did on prior records?
I don’t think so. I don’t think it’s a different audience. I think that there is a far greater exposure. If you look at a band like Killswitch, it’s essentially the same audience that we have, but they are going to draw twice/three times the people because they have a couple of gold records. They’re huge, and it’s the same kind of thing with Slipknot. There are Slipknot fans, and they sell millions of records. It’s not so much different, it’s just that we’re getting to more people because more people are finding out about the band.
That’s awesome. Obviously you guys have a ginormous radio smash. Was that something that caught you guys by surprise?
Oh yeah. I knew that it was a good song. When we were writing it, and I was talking to the people in the band about how things were coming and the ideas that we had. Everything was kind of roughed out and rough sketched when we were in the studio, and I was like, “that is going to be a big song.” We didn’t even have a name for it at the time. We had a couple of ideas for a melody and vocal lines, and we always have funny working titles. I’m pretty sure that it was called “Pulled Pork Surprise” which later became “Two Weeks.” I was like “yeah, Pulled Pork, that’s going to be the biggest song on the record. That’s going to be the best one.” People were like “oh blah blah blah and this and that,” and I’m like “nope, I’m telling you now.”
Not only is it the biggest song on the record, but it’s the biggest song that we’ve ever done and it made it to #6 on rock radio. It came out of nowhere. It’s not like we had some song that we had other previous radio exposure with. For most of radio, we were a brand new band that had done nothing, even though our fans knew we had 3 records out. They knew that we had history and a solid fan base and stuff. Radio was like “who are these guys?” They got behind it, and I can’t complain at all. It’s the best thing that has ever happened to the band – just people hearing that song and wanting to check out the record. It’s had a huge impact on us.
Do you think that that is going to affect what you guys do with this record moving forward as far as touring goes?
Yeah, a little bit.
Are you going to end up out with, for example, Shinedown and Saving Able and those kinds of bands?
I don’t see us going out with those bands, although I won’t rule it out because one thing that we have always tried to do is tour with different style bands because that’s the best way to expand your fan base. Get in front of people who don’t know who you are and have never heard of you. That’s the whole point in going out and supporting. I don’t see us doing stuff with Shinedown or whatever, but I could definitely see us doing a tour with bands that do have more radio history, probably a little heavier than Shinedown.
Yeah, maybe that wasn’t a good example. Maybe more like Disturbed.
We’ve done some support for Disturbed. We’ve done some support for Slipknot. We would love to do some more because Disturbed and Slipknot are all really cool dudes. They’re really very friendly, and their crews take good care of us. Their crews took awesome care of us. The guys in the band are really nice. I didn’t have a lot of time to hang out or talk to them and stuff because when you’re in a band and stuff, you kind of go out and do your thing during the day. That’s just the way it is. The crew we spent a lot of time with, and they really went out of their way to be nice to us. We were in Norway, and they walked us onto the stage, and we got to watch Slipknot from the side of the stage, which is very rare. You don’t go to a lot of Slipknot shows and see people standing on the side of the stage while Slipknot is playing. They keep it pretty closed off, but they were super awesome. At that same show in Norway, Clown came out and watched 3 or 4 songs from our set which was really flattering to be honest.
That’s cool.
Yeah I would love to do more touring with bands like that because they’re huge. I love playing for bigger audiences and saying, “hey check us out”.
With situations like that where Clown is watching from the side of the stage and you feel flattered, people who have been into metal know that you guys have been around for awhile. You have several albums out. You’ve been working hard, touring, putting out records in basically the underground for a long time. Does it feel like “holy shit, finally some kind of vindication”?
Not “finally.” I don’t know. It’s really cool to get kudos. Anytime you get compliments from a band. From a band, if you stand and watch a band, that’s a compliment, from my perspective. If there’s someone taking the time, who is in this industry, who knows what it’s like, who sees a million bands all the time because really for most band members, they’re like “I have to really dig a band to go watch them because I got other stuff to do. I hear a million bands all the time. I’ve seen a million shows, so unless I’m really into the band, I don’t care. I’m not going to go.” So it’s a big compliment if someone goes and checks it out. If someone takes the time to stand there for 20/30 minutes and hang out and watch most of your set or whole set, that’s a big compliment.
Cool. Did I see you guys on a cover of AP [Alternative Press magazine]?
AP did a CD compilation thing that we were on, and there were 4 different bands on the cover. Four different covers went to Wal-Mart. It was a limited edition of like 850,000. We were on the cover of that. It was a really cool picture too. It’s one of my favorite band photos of us ever.
That’s a real different audience for you guys.
Yes, especially seeing that AP hated us at one time.
Really?
Oh yeah. They were not impressed with The Fall of Ideals at all.
Right. Is that bizarre for you guys?
It’s a little weird, but I’m not going to look a gift horse in the mouth. Anything that we can do to get more people to listen to our music and check us out, we’ll do it. That’s just what bands do, anything that you can do to get your music in front of a wider audience is good because it turns into just sheer numbers. If you can get your music in front of 20 million people, you’ll probably have a gold record.
Do you worry about alienating the core? “Oh they’re on the cover of AP, fuck those guys”.
There has been some stuff. I read a lot of stuff on the internet and stuff. There has been some people that say that, but when it really boils down to it, I can’t worry about it because we’ve never put out the same record twice. Every record has progressed, and every record has been different. We’re going to do stuff that is different from record to record, and we’re going to try new stuff. The next record is not going to sound like Overcome, it’s going to be a different record. We’re not going to do The Fall of Ideals again either because The Fall of Ideals is The Fall of Ideals. That’s the thing that I see the most, people that have heard about us through The Fall of Ideals and they’re like, “oh man, you should have put another record out like The Fall of Ideals.” It’s like, “no, we did that record.” I love Metallica, but Master of Puppets and Justice for All are the exact same record – it starts out with the fast one, then it’s got the big complex one, then you got the ballads — “Sanitarium”. They put out the exact same record, and I don’t want to do that.
Last question: you seem to be very into Twitter.
I Twitter, Myspace, Facebook. I’m very into my iPhone.
Ah the iPhone. The life changer. I just got one.
Yes. My mom’s getting one this weekend.
That’s fucking scary. [Laughs]
Kind of.
I don’t think my mom would have any fun with that.
She wants the TomTom application on it.
Twitter specifically, though, is definitely a unique thing. What’s your general opinion on it?
I love it. I think it’s really cool. I have an RSS feed and Google Reader. I’m like a gadget dude. So I got an RSS feed, and that’s sort of what Twitter is, but it’s an RSS feed from people that you’re interested in or bands that you’re interested in or whatever. You go out and see their updates. Most people that use Twitter tweet a couple of times a day, so you find out what’s going on in their life or with this band/comedian or whatever. It’s an RSS feed for life or for people as opposed to websites.
-VN
Mainsteam?
Disturbed 2.0
so true. so true
More like Avenged Sevenfold 2.0.
You should have asked why he can’t sing live.
Seriously making the crowd sing every single chorus gets really annoying.
seriosly should have asked why the clean vocals are so different from the record before
Because scream verse auto tune sing chorus sells records.
God I’m bitter I really loved them till the newest CD.
We all did, I think. Fall of Ideals was amazing melodic metal… almost completely eliminated the metalcore elements (E.G. a serious lack of breakdowns), and made them an amazing band. Then they took a diagonal step backwards into this radio rock trash. And they fucking ruined a nevermore song.
Where did the power from fall of ideals go?? Oh yeah, into Phil Labonte’s wallet.
Where did the creative basslines under clean parts from This Darkened Heart go? Oh yeah, down the drain with a shitty sub-par fem-gimmick bassist.
ATR is no longer a band. Kids that wear plaid shorts listen to them now. They’re just trash. If i saw phil labonte in the street id fucking spit on him and kick him in the balls.
Hey…this dude that wears plaid shorts didn’t like the new album at all.
Hmm… I think I have a pair of sharts that has plaid on them, although I have them for two reasons… 1, the plaid is basically darker khaki on top of lighter khaki, and 2, because I’m tall and it’s nigh fucking impossible to find shorts that don’t look like daisy dukes on me. (That might be a slight exaggeration… but I like my shorts long, and I can almost never find anything that hits at my knees.)
Hahahaha, yep – they all have Corvettes now and diamond-studded sunglasses. They’re fucking loaded, dude!
just keep convincing yourself of that
Well, its nice to know Labonte is a total liar. ATR was plugging the SHIT out of Two Weeks on myspace (”Vote for us on your local radio station” “Request Two Weeks in your town NOW!”). A “total surprise”? My ass, brah.
Bands often plug shit like that. The “surprise” is that it worked…
Why the fuck wouldn’t you want to promote your own music?
That was directed at Stacey, not Rik
Each album has evolved. Yeah, evolved into shit. They’ve lost me as a fan, even after seeing them at Mayhem and putting on a good show; their song selection was unsurprisingly, inexorably shit. Now, they’re nothing more than a textbook example of selling out.
i really like this band and im a fan of some radio “metal”, but two weeks is reeeeally boring
Seen these guys twice and they are pretty good live, I don’t see what the big deal is. They are a pretty good band too. Fall of Ideals was awesome.
Justice for all is waaay more complex than puppets, the fact that they both have heavy openers and closers doesn’t make them the same album.
Also this band sucks, and this guy is right wing Christian/republican douche
Yeah, I found that Master of Puppets/Justice for All comment a little ignorant.
Yeah, that’s really irritating. Metallica fan or not, those two albums are very different, but both awesome in their own way. If he had said that about Slayer, I’d understand.
totally
+ 1
Yeah… I noticed that both albums are structured very similarly (opening with a longer thrashy number, having a slower song around track 4, having an instrumental second to last, and ending with a short, thrashy song), but they are far from the same album.
Musically they are different, but the structure of the two albums are damn similar. He really should have noted that instead of a blanket statement
RTL, MOP and AJFA are all like that! Start out with a thrashy song, Title track 2nd, Balld 4th, Instrumental 2nd to last…but musically they are totally different…
there next album will be ALL radio friendly. sad to see from a ‘use to be’ good band that helped push my influences into metal. oh well there are plenty of other bands out there to listen to.
Sorry, I usually try to be positive, but All That Remains for this band to do is simply quit. Seriously.
I liked some of their riffs on previous albums but they are pretty shitty. I saw them live at Mayhem and they did not sound close to what they do in the studio.
Their next album will definitely be all radio friendly. Bye bye All that Remains.
I kinda liked these guys back in the day, but they faded into the metalcore crowd and I stopped caring.
the vocal direction they’ve taken with the albums after “this darkened heart” makes me cringe. “two weeks” was laughable. sounds like it could be disturbed with the dude from linkin park singing. terrible. sad because i liked them at one point.
i heard their new album. the entire thing is boring and the mix is really flat/compressed. haven’t heard their old stuff
and what a fucking idiot. master of puppets and …and justice for all aren’t anything alike. they’re both by metallica. that’s about it, both have 8 songs. one is thrash, one’s more progressive. he wears affliction, thus he shouldn’t be taken seriously. lump them in with the winds of plagues and avenged sevenfolds.
Absolutely loved them up until the new record. I heard Chiron and Two Weeks before it came out and thought they were great songs, but then the rest of the album was utter shit.
Overcome was a huge dissapointment. It’s not that they should have done a Fall Of Ideals part 2, but at least make an album that is at least original and not cookie cutter. What I loved about All That Remains before was that they wrote metalcore songs that each truly felt unique and each stood on their own. The new album is just a verse chorus verse chorus mess.
It sucks to see one of your favorite bands put out such a terrible album. Them being played on the radio doesn’t really matter for me. If the songs are good and they become the next big band, great. I ‘ll still be a fan. But the songs still need to be good and original.
I really dug This Darkened Heart. Solid record on all fronts. They’ve gotten worse since, and are definitely looking for ways to make money, but I’m all for capitalism so I won’t fault them for that. As far as losing me as a fan, I bought a used copy of Overcome for about $6, and I thought that was about all it was worth. I can’t really take them as seriously as I used to at this point. And as far as the Affliction shirts and shit? Who cares? Am I the only person who doesn’t give a crap about that stuff? A band could wear giant pig costumes for all I care (actually that might be cool), but if they put out a solid album or a good live performance, that’s all I’m looking for.
Affliction shirts are for tools.
The pig costumes reminded me of Primus’ brilliant ‘Mr. Krinkle’ video. Awesome.
Best. Music. Video. Ever.
And the fact that it’s all done in a single take makes it that much more impressive.
single take? you’re like pop up video! that video was badass!!
yeah…….. this band can suck it
It’s a good thing I heard Overcome before The Fall of Ideals. Otherwise i’d probably hate Overcome.
The thing that pisses me off about them is that Phil talks about how he doesn’t want to be metalcore, and he doesn’t want to have the good cop/bad cop vocals.. but then every time you hear them you get the same shit. They don’t do the breakdowns anymore, but even Two Weeks has that generic punk/hardcore riff that has been played out time and time again. I would rather have the breakdowns back then have that blatant metalcore riff still popping up all the time.
How come Phil Labonte gets tons of shit for wearing Affliction Clothing, but I haven’t seen a picture of Tom Araya in 5 years where he’s not wearing an Affliction shirt? Personally I don’t really care who’s wearing Affliction or not and don’t care for ATR, but it seems Tom Araya gets a free pass on that one.
nah, he’s a chode for it too, but people are too busy ripping on other bands.
These guys are too mediocre for me to even bother to insult them.
Ive lost all respect for them after seeing them live the last 2 times. Dude def can’t pull the singing off live.. hell at myhem fest, he sounded all around bad. And they lost their balls when Shannon lucas quit there band and joined BDM. He was the reason why Fall of Ideals ripped. Took there sound to another level. His drumming on that cd is unreal. ( Not to shabby on BDM’s 2 albums either)
I think I’ll always like this band, but that last album was not so great. Hopefully the next one will draw me back.
The first time i listened to the song, “Two Weeks”, i thought i was listening to Justin Timberlake…lame.
This Darkened Heart and Fall of Ideals are amazing albums…too bad they fucked up with Overcome.
They downtuned the guitars, they downsized the drummers talent, and the singing ability.
Fuck that album.
I’ve talked to Phil 2 times in the past year, always a really chill dude, as for Overcome, not really too impressed, didn’t like the production sound. Chiron, Before the Damned and Relinquish were a great taste of older material but those were really the only songs from that record I could get into as much as say This Calling or This Darkened Heart…. Here’s hoping the next album brings back some balls.
Although…. Two Weeks is an EXCELLENT song for a song that gets played regularly on the radio…just sayin.
Looking forward to seeing them in October for sure, always an entertaining show.
But Phil… the whole Affliction thing… I AM DISAPPOINT.
I’m another disappointed fan who holds “This Darkened Heart” up like Killswitch’s “Alive or Just Breathing.” ah, well.
ATR is one of my favorite bands to date and all of their albums are amazing! I don’t care one bit about any one of your guys’ complaints about this band. Overcome is an amazing album no matter how good or bad it sounds! Every song on the album is amazing! You guys just don’t see the good things about the album because you miss the sound that came from The Fall of Ideals! And also, I saw them twice in one year (one with Chimaira and one with In Flames) and they sounded really good live. Even with the singing, Phil sang extremely well when I saw them with Chimaira and pretty good when they were with In Flames. Luckily for me, I got to catch their last show before they had to drop out of the In Flames tour due to Phil’s vocal issues. At first I thought they were a Christian band, but when I saw ATR with Chimaira, the moment before they played, I saw Phil binging on a lot of liquor, and although that was a disappointment to see him like that, there’s really nothing bad about this band. The only things that really pissed me off about ATR was that when both ‘Two Weeks’ and ‘Forever in Your Hands’ got played on the radio, both of those songs were edited. Two Weeks was shorter and cut out half the guitar solo and the screaming in Forever in Your Hands was simply cut out. It sounds so horrible. But ATR will forever be one of my favorite bands! If you guys really though that Overcome was a terrible album, you just need to re-listen to it and just focus on the music and not the different style of music.
Oh and another thing, their cover of Believe in Nothing DESTROYED Nevermore’s version! Nevermore’s singer is really annoying and I can’t stand his vocals. Phil actually has a voice and covered it really well and gave it some meaning with a vocal tone that’s actually good to hear. I don’t care what you guys think about my opinion on that.
I agree with you! I think all their albums are great! Phils singing live, isn’t the best, but they make great music!
“Overcome is an amazing album no matter how good or bad it sounds!”
You sir, are a moron. How good or bad an album sounds is the determining factor of how good or bad the album is……
That said, I actually do enjoy Overcome. Fall of Ideals is 10x better though.
The comment on Metallica was completely uncalled for. Whether Phil is getting some press or not, he needs to remember his place in the poles. Metallica may as well be a fully grown lion to ATR being a baby zebra, they will be eaten and spit out talking that kind of crap. They ruined their music for me, specifically Mr. Labonte did so thanks a lot Phil!
The Metallica comment was not so smart I think, considering both in question are classic records. I’ve never been very impressed with ATR. Minus a alright song here or there they still haven’t managed to put out a consistently quality album. I didn’t like the mastering on Overcome, like it deteriorated in sound quality from Fall of Ideals, it just seems muddy to me. ATR in general should focus on creativity rather than acclaim. Hopefully their next record will be better.
Man. I liked the Fall of Ideals so much. What the fuck happened?
Amen to that, easily in my top list of go-to CD’s when i’m in the car. From start to finish it felt like a huge shot of holy fuck and then….Overcome. I just don’t fucking understand.
I think the newest album is pretty good, although the fall of ideals was a lot better.
I like Overcome, and Phil, Shadows and Killswitch all started in my town or next to it.
Definitly lost some credibility to me by saying both Metallica are the same, at least RTL with MOP would make some sense (for a confused metalhead) well All That Remains has always been about This Darkened Heart nothing really considerable after this one, acceptable records should I say ?
Creed Volume 2.0.
hahaha who does he think he is to make comments about metallica like that? I’ve seen these guys live and theyre terrible, and you can tell the whole band just think they are the absolute shit.
This awful band is still around? Wow I didn’t know that.