INTERVIEW: PHIL LABONTE of ALL THAT REMAINS By Bob Cooper
I was first made aware of ALL THAT REMAINS when I was sent an advance copy of THIS DARKENED HEART that arrived amongst a stack of other recordings. Curious, I decided to risk that it would be yet another sound alike band of which there are too many. This premonition turned out to be to my advantage, for what I discovered was a fresh energetic new band that took good rock and metal and forged it into its own beast.
Fronted by ex-Shadows Fall vocalist Phil Labonte, ATR takes metal to a new height, and even in its infancy shows great promise. Not that ATR was just recently thrown together. Even as Phil was leaving Shadows Fall in the 90's, he was working on his own brand of rock in which he could sing and or play guitar at his own choosing, and began writing some songs that would later become ATR music. Once finding the players, the band was born!
I cornered Phil as the band winged it’s way through Portland with GWAR, and decided to pump the lad for more info. Join us now in the murky depths of The Roseland dressing rooms as Phil explains this group.
BOB: Ah, at last we hook up! How is the tour going, and how is the van holding up?
PHIL: Yes, the van has had a little bit of problems. We missed a couple shows because the axle was broken in the rear. Two shows. One in Toronto and one in Detroit, but other than that we have been out for a month and have about another month to go with GWAR. It’s been great, and GWAR have been good people.
BOB: It has got to be a gas touring with them.
PHIL: Yeah, it is really cool, aside from the fact that they are monsters from another planet and they are always trying to kill us, it’s cool. When they are not trying to kill you they are really nice dudes.
BOB: Yeah, I hear that killing is first thing on their agenda.
PHIL: Yes, it’s the first thing. If you can go ahead and avoid it until like 3 or 4 then they just get tired and start thinking about the show. Then you can actually safely talk to them.
BOB: Well let’s talk about your new record, THIS DARKENED HEART. This is your second or third isn’t it?
PHIL: This is our second album, which just came out in 2004, and our first album BEHIND SILENCE AND SOLTITUDE came out in 2002.
BOB: But you have been playing as a band much longer than that.
PHIL: Yeah, we’ve been going on as a band for just about six years now. 1998 is when I first started writing the music for All That Remains. We actually got together as a band probably in mid-99, so we are going on six years total, and about five years as a real band.
BOB: And so you were still singing for Shadows Fall at that point, weren’t you?
PHIL: I was in Shadows Fall until the very end of 1998. I started writing a couple months before we actually got together. Initially I just wanted to play guitar in another band. I was just doing vocals and I wanted to play guitar because I hadn’t played in a long time in a band and onstage and stuff so I started writing and I was just going to go and be the guitar player in a band, and it just so turned out that Shad was looking for a little bit different style. There had been a little conflict between me and the guys in Shad. Nothing that was real personal or nothing that was a real problem, but they were looking to go a different way than I wanted to so they got another singer and asked me to leave. It was cool, and we still go out. We went out a couple months ago for about two and a half weeks in the northeast hanging out and doing shows. It was a good time.
BOB: It is good to hear that it was an amicable split, because I have a great respect for that band.
PHIL: Absolutely amicable. We still hang out, and Brian is a great dude. We were home a month and a half ago or so, and me and Matt went out with a friend of mine and had wings and watched Monday Night Football and stuff, so we do still have good times.
BOB: Cool. I always loved that band, especially their new cd. It shreds.
PHIL: Their new album is amazing. I think their new album is their best work to date.
BOB: I would have to agree with you there. There is a common thread between your band Shadows Fall which is probably the main reason I like both bands, and that is the dynamics of the songs. I mean you are metal bands, but the songs have breaks and different parts rather than have the song sound the same way all the way through. There are the “cookie monster” vocals where needed, but you also sing with your regular singing voice. That adds about 100% more personality to the song without making it sound weak.
PHIL: We try to cover a lot of ground. There is a lot of stuff that we like, and I have a few different things I can do so we try to incorporate all of that different stuff in our music.
BOB: I imagine the first album has songs from the beginning of ATR time.
PHIL: Yeah, the first album was written over the course of about two years and it was kind of loose and fun and stuff. We didn’t put a whole lot of thought into it because initially it wasn’t meant to be a full time thing. When we were actually recording it, my father had just passed away and so to just get it done and get it out of the way was the goal. I don’t think that Behind Silence got the attention that it should have had from us. Not from the media or anything, but from us in general as a band. I am still happy with the product. It’s a good album and it’s got a lot of really good metal on it but it was a little one-dimensional as a metal album. The new album covers a lot more ground and shows a lot more of what we can do as a band.
BOB: Well, whatever you think of your first album, remember that first album is necessary in whatever form it ends up taking because it defines your true beginnings. Also, you will learn a lot from these things that will make future projects better. If not for that, your growth as a band wouldn’t be as apparent.
PHIL: Totally. I agree.
BOB: Looking ahead, have you got much in mind for the next record?
PHIL: Well, we will write this one fresh and maybe have a song and a half written for the next record. We have almost nothing down for that right now so we will finish up touring for the next eight months and then take a couple months off before diving into writing the new stuff. I suspect writing will take two or three months. By then we will be eager to sit down at home and say, “We’ve got some work to do. Let’s make a new record”.
BOB: By the way, where is home?
PHIL: Massachusetts. We’ve been out a month with another month to go, and we all miss our wives and girlfriends.
BOB: Did you get to have any kind of Thanksgiving?
PHIL: No. We were in Victoria and they don’t have Thanksgiving there. I was talking to a guy there and he was saying that they actually do have a Thanksgiving, but everyone still works and it is pretty much ignored, like Groundhogs Day is here. Here in our country everything stops for Thanksgiving and Christmas, and that is it. I was staying with a friend up there and he says “By the way, it is your Thanksgiving Day today. Isn’t that a big deal?”. I said you are fucking right it’s a big deal. It’s one of the big three occasions in the states.
BOB: Up there they don’t have a Christmas, but on that day it is called Boxing Day, and they just sit around watching the boxing matches on TV, just as we would get together for Super Bowl.
PHIL: Really? That’s great. We have Christmas and get together with our loved ones and family, and they just watch somebody fight. It kind of doesn’t make any sense.
BOB: That is what makes cultures diverse. Are there any plans to film some shows for DVD release?
PHIL: Yeah. Actually on this tour and for the next six months we are going to be filming just about every night, just recording stuff and whatever happens to be going on so that way we will have a ton of footage. When we get home, probably in April or something we will start to really go through it, and hopefully we can have it out in June or July. We are just filming the shit out of everything and get as much footage as possible, and then take a week or two and have everyone sit down and watch tapes for hours and hours and decide which tapes have good enough stuff to use. We should have some kind of DVD out for summertime.
BOB: Awesome. Now, you write all of the lyrics yourself, and I was wondering what you draw from as far as subject matter. I hear dark as well as positive things within the lyrics.
PHIL: I am a very positive person in general so I guess maybe the lyrics are really kind of….well, I don’t really like to talk about things that are negative personally. I just don’t really like to get into it so it’s probably really an exercise in things that I don’t like to talk about in person. But none of our stuff is really on the down beat. Do you know what I mean? At the end of the day when you listen to the whole song, most of it basically has a really positive vibe. Most of the time it is saying, depending on whatever song it is, that this is a challenge in my life or this is a problem that I have, but I am not going to let it destroy my life. Because just living day to day there is always problems and there is always conflicts and stuff, and if you let that rule your life you will be miserable all of the time.
BOB: Yeah, you would definitely be on a downward spiral.
PHIL: Exactly. Ninety nine percent of the stuff that happens to you in your life you can’t control. The only thing you can control is your reaction to it. So if you let things get you down then you will be a victim. Just because bad shit happens to you, don’t be a victim. Don’t sit there and say “oh, poor me”, because it’s happened to a fucking million other people in the last five days. Don’t let it get you down and don’t be a victim.
BOB: Sometimes you can even turn it around to work it to your advantage.
PHIL: The title track is the last song, This Darkened Heart, and the last line at the end that is repeated over and over is “I will not be held down again”. And that’s really a great way to sum up the record. I don’t care what happens, I don’t care what anyone says about me, my band, or my family or anything, I am not going to let them dictate to me how I live my life. I think the end of the title track sums up not only my personal belief, but kind of sums up the record too.
BOB: Nobody else should make up the rules for you. If they do, they have enough issues of their own.
PHIL: Yep- if you are focusing on MY problems, then you have one additional problem.
BOB: How long does this tour run?
PHIL: Until December 22 or 23. Actually we will be at home on the 23rd at about noon. We will then take some time off, and then we have ten days headlining, then after that we have ten days in the UK with Twelve Tribes and Killswitch Engage. Then after that we might go back on tour with GWAR, so we will be out pretty much through spring. Then we will be writing the next record full-on. I mean we hope to get some writing in between tours before then, but that is when we will go at it all the way. At any rate the next record will probably be coming out at the end of 2005.
BOB: So in the mean time you will be promoting this record solely?
PHIL: We want to. This record is getting a lot of buzz behind it which really makes us feel great, and there is still a lot of hard work left to be done on it. Our label is letting us do a second video. We are going to shoot that in a couple days, and that should be airing on Headbangers Ball by January or February. We want to give this record the chance that our first record didn’t have. Our first record came out, and we did one tour and had some member issues and we were down for about six or eight months, when we did some more touring but on this record we are going to work it more.
BOB: Yeah, with any band you can figure that touring the first record is not highly profitable money-wise, but the value is in the exposure. It is a very important part of letting the world know who you are.
PHIL: We have been on the road since April, and we have not made a cent, so there you go.
BOB: So as long as you can get people to distinguish you from that other band, All Else Fails, you’ll be doing well.
PHIL: You know to be honest with you, there was a remark today about that, but other than that we haven’t had much of a problem. We are the good ones. I don’t want to take anything away from All Else Fails, but our records stand strong.
BOB: Yeah, your record is a strong product. The elements of good composition that were present with Shadows Fall shine through to this band, with out “riding on the coattail” of Shadows.
PHIL: There are some differences between us and Shadows Fall. They had two guitarists. We have just one vocalist and Shadows had three. There is enough difference that you can say “he used to be in Shadows Fall, but this is a different band”. Sure, the listener will hear similarities, just like with Killswitch and Unearth. We are all from the same area. I live within fifteen minutes from two of the guys in Killswitch, three of the guys in Shadows Fall, and I can hop on my bike and visit any of them within fifteen minutes, so the influence is there, it is just interpreted differently.
BOB: Lastly, speaking of influences, what were the bands that made an impression on your career?
PHIL: My influences? Iron Maiden and Metallica. Then I got into death metal with Carcass, Cannibal Corpse and that stuff, and it progressed from that. The first death metal band that I was into was definitely into was Iron Maiden and Judas Priest. Good Stuff.
BOB: Did you happen to catch Judas Priest on this years Ozzfest?
PHIL: No. I have seen them before in 91 or 92, but it was the Painkiller tour and Testament and Megadeth opened up. It was in this civic center or something and it blew me away.
BOB: I was apprehensive before hearing them this time. I mean we have the long-departed Rob Halford rejoining the original lineup, and you have seen many sad comebacks over the years. But he was absolutely perfect, and did all of the material as well if not better than he did back then. Others agree. I interviewed Superjoint Ritual and Dimmu Borgir, and they said the best part of being in Ozzfest was to get to work alongside Priest, and they were all honored.
Well, that’s all for now. Thanks for taking time to go over the workings of your band, and I hope to see you back here soon.
PHIL: My pleasure Bob.
