Oli Herbert (left) with his Ibanez Xiphos
and Mike Martin with his PRS Custom
22. Photo by Justin Borucki
Evolution can be volatile for a band.
How do you continue to evolve without
alienating the fans who were there
at the beginning? It’s a serious question in light
of the tough economic times that have put concert
ticket and album sales at an all-time low.
Do you continue the recipe that guarantees success,
or risk failure and pursue your changing
vision with the confidence that your fan base
will follow?
All That Remains chose the latter. Their
new release,
For We Are Many, is their fifth
studio album and it continues their legacy of
reaching beyond their metalcore beginnings.
Guitarists Mike Martin and Oli Herbert offset
their brutally synchronized 6-string assaults with
lyrical melodies and cascading counterpoint, all
in service of tuneful compositions. We recently
caught up with Herbert and Martin to talk about
the strong hooks, clean vocals, and dynamic
playing that works hand-in-hand with jackhammer
rhythms, death growls, and hammer-fisted
riffage on
For We Are Many.
How do you divide guitar duties between
yourselves?
Oli Herbert: I usually come up with a lot of
the guitar riffs. Mike has good judgment when
it comes to what’s too much. He’ll say, “That’s
a little crazy—maybe you should tone it down
a little bit.” He’s good at arrangement. He’ll
say, “How would that sound with the drums,”
whereas I’m thinking about putting it with a
string section. I kind of orchestrate, but we all
contribute to creating the songs. Mike also has
a really good right hand—especially for the fast,
rhythmic triplet stuff. He has an excellent sense
of timing that I don’t possess. My hand is not as
clean as his, so in the studio Mike takes care of
all that stuff. Things that involve more left-hand
finesse and chord switches, I’ll take care of.
Mike Martin: We’ve done it enough times that
it’s pretty easy to sort out. If someone has a riff,
we can tell right away who’s going to record it.
Whoever records the first part of the riff has to
record the harmony to it, just to keep the tightness
with the hands. If it’s a really difficult righthand
riff, I’ll usually track it. If it’s something
really difficult with the left hand, Oli usually
takes care of it.
I understand you and your bandmates have
very different influences. Does that make
it difficult to write parts that everyone is
happy with?
Herbert: The disadvantage is that it does make
it difficult to get people to agree—trying to
work around everyone’s completely different take
on what the music should sound like. But it’s
an advantage because I think we have a unique
sound. Obviously, we’re not a groundbreaking
band—we’re not trying to be like Frank Zappa
or something like that—but I think all our elements
combine to create something unique that
you don’t hear in any other bands.
Martin: It’s easier than you may think, considering
the differences in what we all like. There’s a
lot of clashing personalities with music in this
band, but everybody understands what variety
will bring to the song. There are a lot of bands
out there that, to me, sound really flat. A lot of
straight thrash-metal bands bore me to tears.
When you say there are differences, are you
talking polar opposites—like, there’s someone
in the band who wants more of a Dixieland
jazz sound?
Oli Herbert flashes
the metal sign as he
grips his 27-fret Ibanez
Xiphos, which features
EMG pickups, a 5-piece
body, gold-plated hardware,
a single Volume
knob, and a 3-way
selector switch. Photo
by Justin Borucki |
Herbert: We all know that we’re trying to make
metal music, but a lot of us don’t really listen to
metal too much on our own. For example, Phil
[Labonte, vocals] listens to a lot of pop music,
and Mike listens to John Mayer and stuff like
that. I like a lot of jazz and classical music. I
think it makes us the band we are. If we’re all listening
to the same five metal bands, guess what?
We’re all probably going to sound like them. I
think it’s cool to incorporate some of those more
eclectic influences.
Martin: But I don’t come into practice saying,
“John Mayer would play it like this!” [
Laughs.]
I would never come in with a riff inspired by
John Mayer—it wouldn’t fit. I don’t do too many
leads, but when I do play them, you can tell
they’re a lot bluesier. I like a lot of blues guitar
players. Oli plays such technical guitar solos—
he’s a note
festival—so I like to do something
completely out of the norm. Phil and I are basically
there to create some air. It’s a cool contrast
and it works out really well.
Compared to your previous record, For We Are
Many has more dynamics, more melody, and
more hooks. In my mind that’s a good thing,
but some of your fans are like, “They’re trying
to be more pop and mainstream!”
Martin: That crap has been happening for the
last six years now. As soon as we had one part
that had actual singing—which came out seven
years ago—people started running their mouths.
Those black-T-shirt metal kids are just scared to
death of melody. I never got that. I never came
from that whole school of thinking where it has
to be screaming and brutal, and if it’s not it’s
“gay.” Ever since we’ve had singing, there’ve been
people who are just like, “Oh, they’re going more
pop.” It’s just annoying. We’ve had singing on
the last four albums now, and people keep talking
about it. It’s stupid.
Herbert: We’re trying to create music that is musical and listenable. We’re
not a death metal band. We never have been. We have some heavy stuff on
this album, but we’re not going for that. We’re a melodic metal band. That’s
the best way I could describe it, so we’re going to piss some people off.