Creed and Alter Bridge guitarist Mark Tremonti is one of the most jaw-dropping virtuoso guitarists around, but he’s always been about the song, first and foremost. “I’ve been a songwriter since I started playing the guitar—I spent more time writing than I did practicing the guitar,” says Tremonti. For his debut solo album, All I Was, Tremonti takes it to the next level and casts himself in the role of lead singer for the first time ever. While there are many moments of mind-boggling guitar pyrotechnics, All I Was showcases Tremonti’s skills as a singer and songwriter, and reflects a heavier side of his musical personality that isn’t necessarily apparent in Creed or Alter Bridge’s songs—a side informed by his early diet of Pantera, Metallica, and Slayer. “It’s not a metal record by any means but it’s heavier than both bands. I had all of these ideas that were just collecting dust. Ideas that would never see the light of day that I wanted to catalog and just get out there. So I decided to take the chance. I had a break in my schedule and I figured it would be the perfect time to do it,” he explains.
Tremonti’s sense of “the perfect time” probably differs from most of us, as he couldn’t possibly be busier than he is at the moment. This interview took place on opening night of the Creed album tour, which sees the band celebrating the 15th anniversary of My Own Prison by playing songs from that album and Human Clay in their entirety. Two days prior to our interview, Tremonti played All I Was< live, song by song, for the filming of a video, and just a couple of weeks earlier, he had returned home from an Alter Bridge Australia tour. Couldn’t he have recorded his solo album when Creed had a five-year hiatus, you ask?
Tremonti gives us a firsthand look at the making of All I Was, discusses juggling his solo career with his bands, and unveils his secret desire to be a blues/fusion guitarist. Plus, we check in on a rumor that Wolfgang Van Halen might be onboard as bassist for Tremonti’s solo tour.
All I Was marks your debut as lead vocalist. Is this something you’ve always wanted to do?
It got to a point where I felt like it was my time. As you’re writing songs, you’re also singing them anyway and although I wasn’t a good singer—I’m still not a great singer—when I went into the studio and played through some ideas with Eric [Friedman, guitar and bass] and Garrett [Whitlock, drums], right off the bat, it flowed well and we had a blast doing it.
On the surface, it would seem like a solo record should be an opportunity for you to really go crazy with your solos. But you don’t go as overboard as you probably could have.
I do my best to write for the songs and I think all of my solos on this one fit the songs. If it’s a heavy song it’s going to have a heavy solo, if it’s a slow song, It’ll have a more melodic solo.
Did you develop this “play for the song” ethos from working with Creed and seeing firsthand what it takes to achieve enormous commercial success?
When you’re a kid you want to sweep and tap and go to the guitar store and pick up a guitar to show off some rad lick. But as you get older, you just want to play with class and make sure that your identity is put forth on these songs.
On some of the early Creed stuff, I actually wasn’t very well versed in guitar soloing. Back then it was kind of a mystery to me. The solos consisted of the few licks I had learned from instructional DVDs that I glued together to make a solo work somehow. Now, years and years later, I get a chance to really speak on the guitar. But it takes a lot of years of playing and experimenting to really sound like yourself on the guitar. I’m still trying to get there. I think every guitar player is always trying to improve—to really be able to express yourself as opposed to just regurgitating some exercise.
Did you use any material that you always wanted to do with Creed or Alter Bridge, but could never get the other parties to agree on?
Yeah, probably about half of the stuff on it is material that I played at many writing sessions with the other guys. Songs I probably threw at them 10 times but never made it to an album. That was the green light for me to use the songs because I don’t want to take a song that the guys would really love to have and put it on my solo record without giving them the chance to hear the parts first.
Where does your loyalty lie? Like, if you came up with a song that you knew was killer, who would get first dibs?
It depends on whatever cycle I’m on at the time, because whatever I’m working on at the time, I give 110 percent. If I had just come out with an Alter Bridge record then it would go to Creed. If I had just come out with a Creed record then it would go to Alter Bridge. But along those lines, I do try to make the Creed and Alter Bridge material sound different. When I write, I go back and log my ideas and by that point, I’ve pretty much classified it as Creed or Alter Bridge material.
Is there a sense of competition between the three projects?
No, they’re all just different vibes. One of our biggest challenges was to make Alter Bridge sound different than Creed and I think, by our second record, we really came up with a different sound.
How would you describe what the difference is between these projects?
Between Creed and Alter Bridge? You’ve got a baritone in one band and a tenor in the other. Creed is much more straightforward and commercial sounding. Alter Bridge is a little bit more experimental and has a lot of the duo guitar soloing stuff whereas Creed always had the single guitar going on. My solo stuff is a lot different than both bands—it has a little more of a metal influence to it. A lot of my roots are in old speed metal and thrash.
Creed touring guitarist Eric Friedman is also onboard for your solo project. Does having him on your solo project make it hard to mentally keep the projects separate?
No, because he’s never really been in the band or been involved in the writing of the music. He just comes on the road with us and plays and sings backups. He’s a great player. I think all of those years with Alter Bridge really spoiled us—having two guitarists with completely different styles allowed us to have a really full sound. When we went back to Creed we had to pull Eric in.
The rumor was that Wolfgang Van Halen was going to be on the road with you. Is that going to happen?
We would have loved it. He actually sat with Eric and Garrett and learned a bunch of the songs and played them perfectly. He’s heard the record and digs it but he’s out with Van Halen. What can you do?
Let’s talk gear now. I’m assuming that your signature PRS guitar is your main guitar.
Yeah, my signature model is my main guitar. PRS also just made me a baritone guitar that’s just beautiful. I actually have two USA-made PRS baritone guitars, which are very, very hard to come by because they don’t have it doweled into their machinery. They have to make them all by hand.
A few months back, Brent Mason told us that he uses the PRS SE Mike Mushok baritone [“Brent Mason: A Chameleon in Tune Town,” February 2012].
Yeah, I have one of those as well and they’re great. But the American handmade ones are just that much more special—you can’t beat it. PRS also made me a three single-coil pickup guitar.
How did that come about?
I was talking to Winn [Krozack] at PRS and I said, “You know, the only time I’d ever need something other than a PRS is if I wanted to play something like a Stevie Ray Vaughan or an Albert Collins song. I’d need something like a Tele or a Strat.” It’s a beautiful guitar and they’ve put it into production.
Is it a new signature model?
No, it’s not a signature model.
But they originally made it because of your request, right?
Yeah, I guess originally they made it because of me. They made two different versions of it and they gave one to Carlos Santana and he just gushed over it.
Are you big on effects?
I love delays, so I went and found all of my favorites. My best delay is a Toneczar Echoczar, which is very hard to find. It’s a one-guy shop and another waiting list that you have to do. My favorite new delay—that’s much easier to get a hold of—is the G-Lab delay. In my live rig, I use the T-Rex Replica and I have an SIB Echo Drive at home. I also use an Ibanez Hand Wired Tube Screamer live.
Is there a perceptible difference in sound between the handwired version and the stock version?
Absolutely. The handwired version is warm, rich, and classy. I lined up all of my overdrive pedals—including the Klon Centaur, the holy grail of overdrives—and did a shootout, and I dug the Hand Wired Tube Screamer the best.
What about amps?
I’ve got a Cornford RK100 that I absolutely love—it could be my all-around favorite amp of all time. I recorded the rhythm and lead tones on my solo record with it. I also have a Two-Rock Overdrive Signature that they juiced up the gain for me, and some Rectifiers [Mesa/Boogie Triple Rectifier], which have always been the core of my rhythm tone. There’s also another amp that I discovered this year called the V-Rock by Voodoo Amps. We were on the “Carnival of Madness” tour with Alter Bridge and they brought out one of the amps to our soundcheck. I didn’t expect anything; it was just a random person bringing out an amp. But when I plugged it in, everybody looked over and said, “Damn, that thing sounds great.” So it took over as one of my rhythm amps, alongside the Rectifier, and I get this big wall of sound.
I understand that you checked out some Bludotones at the American Amp Show this past January, and you bought them all.
Oh yeah. I was on a waiting list for about a year before I played those at the amp show. I have the Bludotone Universal Tone. It’s the actual amp that Brandon [Montgomery] had at the amp show. I also have a Bludotone Bludo-Drive, which is out on the road with me now. I actually just put it in my rig yesterday.
Is the Bludo-Drive high gain enough for you?
It’s got all the gain you need. I’m an amp addict. I must have 20 of them. I get on all of the discussion boards and study everything that has to do with amplifiers.
Is it safe to assume that you post anonymously on the boards?
I don’t post, I just read.
Gearbox
Guitars
PRS Mark Tremonti Signature, Taylor K–12, Taylor 614ce, Taylor 12-string
Amps
Cornford RK100, Two-Rock Overdrive Signature, Mesa/Boogie Triple Rectifier, Voodoo Amps V-Rock, Bludotone Universal Tone, Bludotone Bludo-Drive, Dumble
Effects
Toneczar Echoczar, G-Lab SD–1 delay, T-Rex Replica, SIB Echo Drive, T-Rex Tremonti Phaser, Dunlop Uni-Vibe, Morley wah, Ibanez TS808HW Hand Wired Tube Screamer
You don’t seem like a typical Bludotone or Two-Rock type of guy.
I’m also a huge Dumble fan—I own a Dumble. I’m very different at home than I am out live. I have a secret desire to be a bluesman and I’m really bad at it, compared to my heavier, shreddy stuff. I’ve been trying to shift gears for years. I love Robben Ford and Larry Carlton.
That style of music is at the opposite end of the spectrum from what you’re known for.
It’s not the kind of stuff I write but when I’m sitting at home in my studio, that’s the kind of stuff I love to play.
Will you ever release a blues/fusion album?
If I ever get good at it. Myles [Kennedy, singer for Alter Bridge] and Eric [Friedman, guitarist] are both great blues and jazzy kind of players. They’ve got that nailed down. I think I still have a little ways to go.
YouTube It
For a taste of Mark Tremonti tearing it up with Creed and Alter Bridge, check out the following clips on YouTube.com.
This full-length concert footage of classic Creed from Woodstock 1999 offers a glimpse of Tremonti and company at the start of their ascent into rock superstardom. Robby Krieger from The Doors joins the band onstage at 51:45.
Tremonti and Alter Bridge front man Myles Kennedy step on the gas pedal with a killer duet breakdown at 2:24.
Tremonti and Kennedy go head to head in this smoldering guitar solo duel—dig Tremonti’s spidery legato run from 2:30 to 2:34.
Duane Denison of the Jesus Lizard, EGC Chessie in hands, coaxing some nasty tones from his Hiwatt.
The Jesus Lizard’s sixth album, Blue, served as the band’s final statement from the frontlines of noisy rock for the next 26 years. By the time of their dissolution in 1999, they’d earned a reputation for extreme performances chock full of hard-hitting, machine-like grooves delivered by bassist David Wm. Sims and, at their conclusion, drummer Mac McNeilly, at times aided and at other times punctured by the frontline of guitarist Duane Denison’s incisive, dissonant riffing, and presided over by the cantankerous howl of vocalist David Yow. In the years since, performative, thrilling bands such as Pissed Jeans, METZ, and Idles have built upon the Lizard’s musical foundation.
Denison has kept himself plenty busy over the last couple decades, forming the avant-rock supergroup Tomahawk—with vocalist Mike Patton, bassist Trevor Dunn (both from Mr. Bungle), and drummer John Stanier of Helmet—and alongside various other projects including Th’ Legendary Shack Shakers and Hank Williams III. The Jesus Lizard eventually reunited, but until now have only celebrated their catalog, never releasing new jams.
The Jesus Lizard, from left: bassist David Wm. Sims, singer David Yow, drummer Mac McNeilly, and guitarist Duane Denison.
Photo by Joshua Black Wilkins
Back in 2018, Denison, hanging in a hotel room with Yow, played a riff on his unplugged electric guitar that caught the singer’s ear. That song, called “West Side,” will remain unreleased for now, but Denison explains: “He said, ‘Wow, that’s really good. What is that?’ And I said, ‘It’s just some new thing. Why don’t we do an album?’” From those unassuming beginnings, the Jesus Lizard’s creative juices started flowing.
So, how does a band—especially one who so indelibly captured the ineffable energy of live rock performance—prepare to get a new record together 26 years after their last? Back in their earlier days, the members all lived together in a band house, collectively tending to the creative fire when inspiration struck. All these years later, they reside in different cities, so their process requires sending files back and forth and only meeting up for occasional demo sessions over the course of “three or four years.”
“When the time comes to get more in performance mode, I have a practice space. I go there by myself and crank it up. I turn that amp up and turn the metronome up and play loud.” —Duane Denison
the Jesus Lizard "Alexis Feels Sick"
Distance creates an obstacle to striking while the proverbial iron is hot, but Denison has a method to keep things energized: “Practice loud.” The guitarist professes the importance of practice, in general, and especially with a metronome. “We keep very detailed records of what the beats per minute of these songs are,” he explains. “To me, the way to do it is to run it to a Bluetooth speaker and crank it, and then crank your amp. I play a little at home, but when the time comes to get more in performance mode, I have a practice space. I go there by myself and crank it up. I turn that amp up and turn the metronome up and play loud.”
It’s a proven solution. On Rack—recorded at Patrick Carney’s Audio Eagle studio with producer Paul Allen—the band sound as vigorous as ever, proving they’ve not only remained in step with their younger selves, but they may have surpassed it with faders cranked. “Duane’s approach, both as a guitarist and writer, has an angular and menacing fingerprint that is his own unique style,” explains Allen. “The conviction in his playing that he is known for from his recordings in the ’80s and ’90s is still 100-percent intact and still driving full throttle today.”
“I try to be really, really precise,” he says. “I think we all do when it comes to the basic tracks, especially the rhythm parts. The band has always been this machine-like thing.” Together, they build a tension with Yow’s careening voice. “The vocals tend to be all over the place—in and out of tune, in and out of time,” he points out. “You’ve got this very free thing moving around in the foreground, and then you’ve got this very precise, detailed band playing behind it. That’s why it works.”
Before Rack, the Jesus Lizard hadn’t released a new record since 1998’s Blue.
Denison’s guitar also serves as the foreground foil to Yow’s unhinged raving, as on “Alexis Feels Sick,” where they form a demented harmony, or on the midnight creep of “What If,” where his vibrato-laden melodies bolster the singer’s unsettled, maniacal display. As precise as his riffs might be, his playing doesn’t stay strictly on the grid. On the slow, skulking “Armistice Day,” his percussive chording goes off the rails, giving way to a solo that slices that groove like a chef’s knife through warm butter as he reorganizes rock ’n’ roll histrionics into his own cut-up vocabulary.
“During recording sessions, his first solo takes are usually what we decide to keep,” explains Allen. “Listen to Duane’s guitar solos on Jack White’s ‘Morning, Noon, and Night,’ Tomahawk’s ‘Fatback,’ and ‘Grind’ off Rack. There’s a common ‘contained chaos’ thread among them that sounds like a harmonic Rubik’s cube that could only be solved by Duane.”
“Duane’s approach, both as a guitarist and writer, has an angular and menacing fingerprint that is his own unique style.” —Rack producer Paul Allen
To encapsulate just the right amount of intensity, “I don’t over practice everything,” the guitarist says. Instead, once he’s created a part, “I set it aside and don’t wear it out.” On Rack, it’s obvious not a single kilowatt of musical energy was lost in the rehearsal process.
Denison issues his noisy masterclass with assertive, overdriven tones supporting his dissonant voicings like barbed wire on top of an electric fence. The occasional application of slapback delay adds a threatening aura to his exacting riffage. His tones were just as carefully crafted as the parts he plays, and he relied mostly on his signature Electrical Guitar Company Chessie for the sessions, though a Fender Uptown Strat also appears, as well as a Taylor T5Z, which he chose for its “cleaner, hyper-articulated sound” on “Swan the Dog.” Though he’s been spotted at recent Jesus Lizard shows with a brand-new Powers Electric—he points out he played a demo model and says, “I just couldn’t let go of it,” so he ordered his own—that wasn’t until tracking was complete.
Duane Denison's Gear
Denison wields his Powers Electric at the Blue Room in Nashville last June.
Photo by Doug Coombe
Guitars
- Electrical Guitar Company Chessie
- Fender Uptown Strat
- Taylor T5Z
- Gibson ES-135
- Powers Electric
Amps
- Hiwatt Little J
- Hiwatt 2x12 cab with Fane F75 speakers
- Fender Super-Sonic combo
- Early ’60s Fender Bassman
- Marshall 1987X Plexi Reissue
- Victory Super Sheriff head
- Blackstar HT Stage 60—2 combos in stereo with Celestion Neo Creamback speakers and Mullard tubes
Effects
- Line 6 Helix
- Mantic Flex Pro
- TC Electronic G-Force
- Menatone Red Snapper
Strings and Picks
- Stringjoy Orbiters .0105 and .011 sets
- Dunlop celluloid white medium
- Sun Studios yellow picks
He ran through various amps—Marshalls, a Fender Bassman, two Fender Super-Sonic combos, and a Hiwatt Little J—at Audio Eagle. Live, if he’s not on backline gear, you’ll catch him mostly using 60-watt Blackstar HT Stage 60s loaded with Celestion Neo Creambacks. And while some boxes were stomped, he got most of his effects from a Line 6 Helix. “All of those sounds [in the Helix] are modeled on analog sounds, and you can tweak them endlessly,” he explains. “It’s just so practical and easy.”
The tools have only changed slightly since the band’s earlier days, when he favored Travis Beans and Hiwatts. Though he’s started to prefer higher gain sounds, Allen points out that “his guitar sound has always had teeth with a slightly bright sheen, and still does.”
“Honestly, I don’t think my tone has changed much over the past 30-something years,” Denison says. “I tend to favor a brighter, sharper sound with articulation. Someone sent me a video I had never seen of myself playing in the ’80s. I had a band called Cargo Cult in Austin, Texas. What struck me about it is it didn’t sound terribly different than what I sound like right now as far as the guitar sound and the approach. I don’t know what that tells you—I’m consistent?”
YouTube It
The Jesus Lizard take off at Nashville’s Blue Room this past June with “Hide & Seek” from Rack.
Phat Machine
The Phat Machine
The Phat Machine is designed to deliver the tone and responsiveness of a vintage germanium fuzz with improved temperature stability with no weird powering issues. Loaded with both a germanium and a silicon transistor, the Phat Machine offers the warmth and cleanup of a germanium fuzz but with the bite of a silicon pedal. It utilizes classic Volume and Fuzz control knobs, as well as a four-position Thickness control to dial-in any guitar and amp combo. Also included is a Bias trim pot and a Kill switch that allows battery lovers to shut off the battery without pulling the input cord.
Silk Worm Deluxe Overdrive
The Silk Worm Deluxe -- along with its standard Volume/Gain/Tone controls -- has a Bottom trim pot to dial in "just the right amount of thud with no mud at all: it’s felt more than heard." It also offers a Studio/Stage diode switch that allows you to select three levels of compression.
Both pedals offer the following features:
- 9-volt operation via standard DC external supply or internal battery compartment
- True bypass switching with LED indicator
- Pedalboard-friendly top mount jacks
- Rugged, tour-ready construction and super durable powder coated finish
- Made in the USA
Static Effectors’ Street Series pedals carry a street price of $149 each. They are available at select retailers and can also be purchased directly from the Static Effectors online store at www.staticeffectors.com.
Galloup’s Plek tech Adam Winarski preps a Yamaha acoustic for the machine.
Presently, many certified guitar-repair specialists possess the expertise required to deliver an instrument that both sounds and plays wonderfully. The standards set by manufacturers and distributors have significantly risen, safeguarded by rigorous quality protocols to guarantee the best possible acoustic experience for customers. Additionally, lutherie training has raised the bar for critical processes, and one of the most tricky is fretwork.
Traditional fretwork once involved manual labor, with technicians utilizing sandbags or similar supports to steady the neck as they straightened it with a truss rod during the filing process. A notable advancement in this field came in the mid 1970s when Don Teeter, an author and repair expert, imposed a new method: fixing the guitar body to the bench and using blocks to maintain the neck in a playing position. This refinement was one of many in the continued quest to produce superior instruments by standardized methods.
An example of the Plek’s readings from an acoustic guitar.
Photo courtesy of Galloup Guitars
In the late 1970s, another pivotal innovation was introduced by Dan Erlewine. He created an advanced fret jig with a specialized body-holding system and neck supports, adding another layer of precision to the repair process. During my collaboration with Dan in 1985, we developed a rotating neck jig that counterbalanced the forces of gravity, keeping the instrument in its playing orientation while adjusting the neck supports. This step represented a significant leap in establishing control and standardization of fretwork procedures in our industry. By 1986, our approach had evolved into a freestanding workstation coupled with a sophisticated hold-down mechanism and enhanced neck supports, culminating in increased accuracy, efficiency, and consistency. Over the decades, the Erlewine/Galloup rotating neck jig has become a benchmark in numerous shops, enhancing fretwork performance.
"This step represented a significant leap in establishing control and standardization of fretwork procedures in our industry."
By the 1990s, automated and computerized technologies permeated the guitar manufacturing and repair sectors. Initially applied by import companies in the mass production of guitars, the technology, although expediting processes, did not immediately achieve high execution standards. However, the tech dramatically improved over time, with computer-driven systems eventually transforming the industry. Contemporary automated production utilizing such advancements meets exceedingly high standards of precision. Some bespoke guitar manufacturers, such as Steve Andersen, were pioneers in adopting these methods, but it was companies like Taylor that established them in the modern era.
Inevitably, the progression of technology extended beyond the mere production of parts. Around 1995, German engineer Gerd Anke envisioned the integration of computer-assisted technology into enhancing instrument playability, giving rise to Plek technology, which uses computers to precisely measure and analyze the various components of a guitar, like neck relief, fret height, nut and bridge specs, and more. Nashville guitar-repair tech Joe Glaser was among the first to recognize the machine’s value, followed by San Francisco luthier Gary Brawer. When Heritage Guitar Inc. invested in a Plek machine, the guitar industry could no longer disregard the significance of this innovation.
“The machine’s scanning data confirmed that there was one nature of an ideal fret plane, done by hand or machine, and unsurprisingly, it conformed exactly to what physics predicts, not personal mojo.”
In the spring of 2022, Galloup Guitars obtained its first Plek machine. Promptly, our technician Adam Winarski paved the way for the Plek’s integration in our shop. Now, it’s a rarity for an instrument to leave our shop without having undergone Plek analysis and machining. Impressed by the results of our integration, we created “Intro to Plek” as a course for all students enrolled at the Galloup School of Lutherie, offering our students a practical introduction to this technology. We furthered this educational initiative with a comprehensive one-week intensive “Plek Certification Training Course” for both students and the public. This advanced Plek course serves those seeking to boost their knowledge base and employability in this high-precision field.
Plek is rapidly becoming an industry standard for major manufacturers and smaller shops alike. However, this does not mean that those without access to this technology cannot execute proficient fretwork. Personally, I continue to use my Erlewine/Galloup neck jig—not only out of nostalgia, but also because it remains an excellent method for delivering accurate and reliable guitars. Still, it’s undeniable that the process of fretting, fret dressing, and analytics of fretted instruments has undergone significant transformation, resulting in better sounding—and playing—guitars. And ultimately, that’s what it’s all about.