H R H - I N T E R V I E W S

All That Remains (Phil Labonte)
Interview November 2006

Matthew: First I wanted to read you the review I wrote of your album. Then I wanted to speak to you about where you have been, where you are now and where you hope to be.

Phil: Cool.

Matthew: "The first syllables are uttered in a Death growl fashion and away the album goes! All That Remains is much more than death growls though; they are a unique, intelligent and surprisingly mature band. These boys have a tremendous feel for beautiful metal songwriting, incorporating strong riffs, tremendously pretty leads and killer solos together in a very refreshing way.

Along the glorious ride there are no less than five different styles of vocals. There are regularly sung rock vocals like Disturbed, screamed vocals like old Metallica, death growls like Cannibal Corpse, sung death vocals like early '90s Testament, and finally they do the twin styled vocals of several metal-core acts. Lead singer Phil Labonte formed the band while still the lead singer of Shadows Fall, and shows us one of the most range-covering albums ever recorded. Wow.

This New England based band is already in the spotlight already garnering a spot on the perennial top tour in metal Ozz-fest. The Fall of Ideals, the band's third album, is full of melodies and unique ideas that just simply work. This record was again produced by Adam Dutkiewicz (Killswitch Engage, From Autumn to Ashes, Norma Jean) and sees the band becoming even more technically proficient. The real winners here are the young people that hear a band that has guitar solos all over its album instead of selling out in the conventional nu-metal soft "my pussy hurts" fashion. And the best thing is all the solos on this album are unique and extremely well done.
The also do unique things with the guitar riffs and rhythms like breakdowns hard charging thrash metal riffs and even throw in a beautiful acoustic style ride on "Six." The best of the best though are the many distinct solos. Of them the smooth fast and talented one on "Become the Catalyst," the long old school speed metal licks on "We Stand," the ride that starts "The Air That I Breathe" or the clean levels of the solo in "This Calling." But seriously folks, this album is so much more than guitarhead fodder -- it is one of the best records of the year, as these boys defy convention with a genre busting effort for the ages!!

The regular metal fan of all types of genres should appreciate the talent of this band as the seamlessly blend several types of music without missing a beat. Buy one of these jewels today and this CD will stay in your CD changer till 2009 at least."

Phil: Wow. Thanks dude. You seem to understand it perfectly. We just want to play metal and have a good time. We are regular blue collar dudes; we are not trying to reinvent the wheel. We say "come on out drink some beer, hear a metal show and maybe buy a T-shirt and get away from your cares." We want you to have a good time and want to offer an escape for a few hours. If you can relate to our music and you enjoy it then that's awesome.

Matthew: As for the specific music dude, it is so cool to hear solos again and real metal with killer leads and rhythms. What's with this sick Oli dude? He is killer.

Phil: Oli teaches guitar, he has a 4-year degree in guitar and plays like 9 or 10 instruments. He is a musical genius. Honestly, we have worked together musically for 9 years and I don't want to be with any one else. We have both agreed on that (laughing).

Matthew: Maybe you are the modern day Dio. You go from Donais to Oli. Dio had Vivian Campbell, Rithchie Blackmore and Tony Iommi early who were special, then Goldy and Aldrich later. I always respected him a lot for that, having a great voice is one thing but playing with very skilled axe men is essential. What's with surrounding yourself with all the great guitarists ha ha (laughing)?

Phil: That's funny. You know Jon Donais is a great guitar player too, hell he kind of brought back the solo, he was underground playing solos. For a long time the solo went away with the Grunge movement and in the early '90s we had to search and search for a Testament show or any kind of metal show to hear a solo. It's funny, actually Oli helped teach Jon the guitar.

Matthew: That's interesting. Donais is one ferocious bastard. I hung out with him for a few hours one night here in Penn., and just talked guitar bullshit with him. Those guys are awesome and really treated me great. What are your dreams with this metal venture?

Phil: I want to do this for a living I want to have a house have a car have a family, tour and make music for a living, be an average middle American dude. When I get older I want to look back and see that I did this for this portion of my life. That's not something that everybody can say.

Matthew: On this album I have already highlighted all the different styles of vocals. Tell me there was somebody helping you. I searched the Internet and did not see anyone with backing vocal credits.

Phil: Nah. It was all me on vocals.

Matthew: Alright dude, cool. My obvious next question is an easy one. How?

Phil: Training, practice, I have a vocal instructor too. She has a DVD out that I am featured on. I have taken lessons and worked on it for years. It's funny cause all the members of the band have worked very hard on their respective crafts. You see, I was the guy all the time that was the "almost" or the "could have been," replaced in Shadows Fall by Brian Fair. So there was incentive to practice harder to not be that guy.

Matthew: I wasn't sure what the scene was with that scenario, please explain if you guys are still cool.

Phil: No really we still get along. It wasn't good for me (being replaced) but I had already started arranging All That Remains. Dude, we were not on the same page so why try and force it?

Matthew: Are you guys really still cool?

Phil: When we are in town together we all hang out. They (Shadows Fall) are in L.A Recording their Atlantic Records debut. We were playing in L.A recently with Dragonforce and Matt Bachand came out to hang out and see us play. Guys in Killswitch Engage, and other local bands hang out a lot. There are a lot of bands from the same area that have pretty much made it now. Hell, Monday night we all hung out and got hot wings and shit here in Springfield.

Matthew: What kind of band did you like growing up.. Suicidal, Bay Area shit?

Phil: Lights, Camera Revolution from Suicidal, Testament -Souls of Black, death metal.

Matthew: I like this records cause of all the different styles are married together so well.
This was not the cute Mathcore cutesy, Horse the Band, unique, interesting album that I put on the shelf and forget about as a novelty. This bitch has been in the CD changer for months.

Phil: Nowadays it seems like you can mix stuff without writing bad songs. You don't have to have it sound weird and stupid to do different styles. And you can still be heavy and extreme and still write a good tune.

Matthew: Dude, I interview some of the greatest guitarists that ever lived and love lead guitar. On your record, Oli and Mike are exceptional with having the solos match the songs and not trying for the masturbation solo technique.

Phil: Yeah dude. Totally. We don't write the song for the solo we write the solo for the song!

Matthew: Phil thanks a lot for being so generous with your time. Good luck with the record, it's outstanding. Keep being true to yourselves and you will keep succeeding and be respected. Unlike new Metallica. Ha ha (Laughing). The other day I heard "Blackened" and could not believe how great those guys were. What the fuck happened?

Phil: Yeah exactly that stuff was amazing. Not like the crap they have been releasing recently.

Matthew: Take care dude congrats and good luck.

Phil: Later.