All That Remains Like Justin Timberlake

11/19/08 1:58pm

by Pete Richards (CHARTattack)

All That Remains are inarguably one of the most successful metal bands of the last decade.

Love 'em or hate 'em, they're a hard-working powerhouse known to try new things musically and promotionally, alienating the self-proclaimed "truest" of metalheads in the process. We talked with vocalist Phil Labonte about the band's success, their summer stint on Warped Tour and what seems to piss people off most about them.

ChartAttack: So you must be happy with the sales and response so far to your latest release, Overcome.
Phil Labonte: I couldn't be any happier. It's a surprise how well it's doing, to be honest with you, considering the way record sales are today.

You must have had some idea of how it was going to sell.
Well, it's weird. We thought it was going to sell a certain amount, you know, between 20 and 25,000.

Then DragonForce's record came out and their previous record has sold a lot, like, 300 to 400,000 or something like that. Their first week, they did right around what we thought we were going to do, so we all adjusted our forecast because our last record hasn't done nearly what DragonForce's last record has.

Then the record comes out and we start getting some preliminary numbers from Best Buy and stuff like that, then the final numbers came in and it was 28-and-a-half. I was flabbergasted. I couldn't believe it, just because of the fact that nobody buys records anymore.

I've heard you say you're not too concerned with record sales and charts. Now, you compare your record sales to DragonForce. Is there competition between these elite metal bands nowadays when it comes to record sales?
No, no. I don't think of it like that. I just think when it comes to numbers and stuff like that, it's just kind of a way to figure out and predict what we're going to do. We're not DragonForce. We're not Killswitch Engage. We're not Shadows Fall. We're not Unearth. We're not DevilDriver or any other band.

I don't think of it as a competition. They're creating what they create for a reason. Without sounding too artsy, we're artists. I mean, I'm a really blue-collar kind of dude. I'm the kind of dude who gets along a lot better with our crew than with artists who are intent on trying different kinds of wine and being artsy. I'm not an arty dude. I'm a blue-collar, normal dude.

A lot of musicians are like, "Oh, it's all about the song." It is about what you're creating to a certain extent, but to me, it just seems so pretentious and so fake. I don't worry about what other bands are doing, or if they're in competition with us. I worry about if we're going to have a successful record, or if we're going to be successful.

So you're not a heavy metal wine-taster.
No, no. And I know some dudes who are, man. I know some dudes who, you listen to them talk and you're like, "You're not even a guy!"

You're not going to mention any names, I guess?
No, not at all. Of course not. What are you, crazy?

No, just curious.
Well, you'll stay curious, too.

How was your Warped Tour experience this summer?
It was awesome. It's cool to get on a tour and be unquestionably the heaviest band on the tour. I get up there and I say some really offensive things intentionally and just get up there and own the spot.

A lot of the bands were wearing pink and a lot of the guys were wearing tight pants and they were really concerned about their haircuts, dancing around and shaking their butts. We were kind of like, "You know what? These bands are really gay. We're a metal band and we're going to get up there and just lay it down."

Do you find that touring on a non-metal festival alienated any of your fans?
No, no. I think Overcome did that far more than Warped Tour did.

Why's that?
Well, people bum on singing. Just because there's more singing on this one than on the last one, I get hate mail. But whatever, dude. Seventy per cent of the record is still screamed. There are two originals that had singing all the way through and a cover that originally had singing all the way through, and then there's singing on other songs, but it's like, there's still screaming on more than half of the record.

People get bummed on singing, but whatever. We've never been Lamb Of God. We've never been Cannibal Corpse. We like heavy stuff and we let that stuff influence us, but I like Justin Timberlake just as much as I like Suffocation. If people don't like us because of that, they can go listen to another band.

I find that branching out and accepting other styles of music is something that tends to come with age.
When I was 17 or 18 years old, if it wasn't Suffocation or Cannibal Corpse, I didn't want to hear it. I'm really not concerned with writing music to try to please other people. As soon as you start trying to make people happy, you're screwed.

And that's when fans can really tell that you're not sincere.
Exactly.
Female voice in background: I'm lucky you're on the phone? Really?
I'm sitting here with my personal trainer and she's getting lippy with me. I told her she's so lucky I'm on the phone because I will kill her.

Personal trainer, huh?
Yeah. Well, she's really cute.

Oh, nice. Does she squat over you and help you stretch?
I wish, but no.
Female voice: Did he ask if we were dating?
No, he asked me if you squat over me and help me stretch.

So you work with your personal trainer before you head out on tour?
Well, she's a friend of mine. We've been friends for years and that's what she does for work. Basically, I go to the gym and she calls me names. "Lift that. Chin up. I will punch you in the face if you don't get that up over your head," stuff like that.

Well, you look to be in pretty good shape, so I guess it's working.
I try.