All That Remains interview w/ Mike Martin
by Amber Hartman – 2008
Your new album came out in September, what’s been the response so far?
Very fantastic. The only way I have to gauge it is by talking to people at shows and how’s it’s been selling and It’s been selling really well. Usually the people I talk to at shows aren’t like, “you suck,” so that’s a good thing. There’s been some negative stuff on the internet, but it’s always there. It’s #16 on the Billboard charts.
The name, “All That Remains,” insinuates that there’s something behind it. Is there any meaning behind your band name?
There is no hidden meaning behind it at all. Phil came up with it like 10 years ago, just because it sounds cool and it wasn’t taken, that’s the only reason behind it. It sounds metal and it wasn’t taken, so we kept it.
Who or what has influenced your music?
In Flames, oddly enough. Not even just saying that because there are on tour with us, but they always have. At The Gates, Arch Enemy….a lot of the Swedish stuff. All those bands have been an influence on the band for a long, long time. Along with some American bands; the Massachusetts bands, we’ve been friends with Shadows Fall and Killswitch Engage, because we’re all from the same state and everybody has been in bands together, so there’s that influence too.
Who has been your favorite band to tour with?
Probably, Killswitch Engage, just because they all live 20 minutes from us, and we know them so well. They are always super gracious on tour. They go out of their way to make sure that all of the bands are happy. They really are just the coolest people ever.
Growing up, was there any band that you looked up to or idolized?
For me, Guns ‘N’ Roses, that was like my first MTV experience. Collectively, pretty typical stuff…Iron Maiden and Metallica. Any metal band that says they’re not influenced by Metallica is lying.
I noticed that through the years there have been a lot of different members of the band, how has that affected your sound?
Not a whole lot, oddly enough, because me Oli and Phil have all been here for the last three albums and that’s when the band has really developed the sound. The first one kinda doesn’t count; it was that local garbage release. Only Oli and Phil are on it, I’m not even on that one. It hasn’t affected it that much. We know what we wanna do; it’s just making sure we get the right people that can do it. It’s basically just been a drummer and bass player situation. Those have been the two positions that have rotated in and out for six years, but it’s been solid for two or three years now and we’re hoping to keep it that way.
Is there anything that sets you apart from other bands or musicians?
Yeah, we want to be able to get away with doing a little bit of everything, like doing things that other bands don’t. Not all bands have like a straight up death metal song and then have a song that’s all singing. Versatility, I think we can pull off a lot more styles and pull them off well. That’s what I hope. That’s what I think.
Who does the majority of the writing for the band?
Oli. Music, Oli. Phil writes all the lyrics and he sings all the parts too, there’s no other members doing backing vocal or anything. He does all the vocals and writes all the lyrics. As far as music goes, Oli writes the bulk, he’s a wizard.
Is there any one particular show that stands out?
Yeah….there’s a couple. We just did a co-headline tour with Trivium, the show that we played in Connecticut was one of the most insane shows I’ve ever seen in my life. There was four security gaurds on stage because you couldn’t keep the people off of it. It was like an old school hardcore show with 1300 people….it was just ridiculous. And the Loudpark in Japan, we played the arena show with Marilyn Manson, Tesla and all sorts of crazy bands. That was our first time in Japan and it was pretty unbelievable. We played at 11 in the morning and they were amped up. There was like 7,000 people in the area, just going nuts. At 11 a.m., it was pretty memorable.
How does having a female member affect the dynamics of the band?
It doesn’t affect it at all. She’s pretty much a guy. She definitely isn’t girly at all. She’s super quiet and sits there and takes in all the disgusting things that us guys have to say or do. She’s barley a girl and I don’t mean that in an insulting way….ever since I’ve known her, she’s been one of the guys. It’s just the way she is. For us it’s never been like, “there’s a girl in the room.” Once you get used to her, you don’t even consider her a girl. And like I said, I mean that in the least insulting way….that can sound bad, but it’s not.
How have the albums evolved over the band’s lifespan?
The second album was our first time with a producer and really learning about song writing and realizing that just because a song is difficult to play, doesn’t mean it’s good. Adam D produced it, from Killswitch Engage and it was out first time learning how to write songs that make sense and he taught us a lot about that, but we didn’t have the drummer we wanted at that time, so the one after that was the first time we actually knew how to write songs and we had a fast metal drummer who could do everything we wanted. This new one has just kinda expanded on that and we just kinda evolve accordingly. They’ve all expanded in their own little ways.
The album just came out, but do you have any plans for the next one?
No. There won’t be a record until 2010.
How long did it take you to write this one?
Not long, because the style of touring and writing that we do is go tour for two years, take six weeks off and go write and record the album and then go tour for two years again. We’re on a good two-year cycle.
Do you get much done while you’re on tour?
No, nothing. Oli does, he gets a lot done. He’s got his little guitar pro program and he’ll sit there and write guitar riffs and put them on the computer. As far as arrangements and getting the whole band to get stuff done…not a chance, especially on a tour like this where we’re supporting. We just put our stuff up there and play, we don’t get sound checks or anything.
