Moe Train catches Phil Labonte backstage at Mayhem Fest, in the middle of a press day so packed that the All That Remains singer, who normally saves his voice and skips the interviews, has jumped in to help carry the load: 18 or 20 of them on the day. He talks the whole way through it anyway. The festival grind, two hour signings, Ozzfest mornings, Kerry King taking offense at silliness, and why his band of misfit toys keeps selling records. What follows is the full conversation, word for word, from the remastered tape.
Moe:
Feel free to swear. Swearing is all right.
Phil:
Exactly.
Moe:
All right, good. So, Mayhem Fest. You guys have been hitting the fest all the time. How's the festival experience been treating you?
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Phil:
It's good. It's really, really good. I mean, we're really fortunate that we've been a band that, since we got started, we've been kind of on the upswing, and we've been, you know, growing little bits and little bits, so this tour is no exception. I mean, we're a bigger band now than we were, you know, a year ago, and it really shows in the kids coming out and the reaction that kids, you know, have, and people singing along, which we love. You know, it's like, the more we hear kids singing the lyrics, the happier we get, you know. The more they're dancing around, the better our show. It's been awesome. We do our signing, like, after we get done playing, we sign stuff for like two and a half hours, two hours, something like that, every show, right. So, you know, it's amazing. We're lucky dudes.
Moe:
Yeah, I'm telling you, man. I mean, like I said to you earlier, we go to different festivals. After a weekend festival, I'm fucking exhausted.
Phil:
Oh, yeah.
Moe:
How in the hell do you do it, day after day, week after week? I mean, not just the road schedule. Your music's brutal. I mean, shit, all that together, it's got to be just exhaustion.
Phil:
Yeah, well, I mean, usually I don't do press, just because this is a really, really big press day. There's like 18 or 20 interviews that we got to do, so I got to jump in and help out. Normally I don't do any talking, right. I mean, normally I sit on the bus and I don't talk, because I got to sing, you know. So this tour is not too, too bad. It's only a half an hour set, so, you know, we do like six songs or something like that, three, right, seven songs, you know. So it's rigorous, but it's still fun, you know. And, you know, you just make sure that you don't do too much partying, too, you know. You don't get too crazy too early.
Moe:
Come on.
Phil:
Well, you find, you know, believe me, I mean, these tours, there's a lot of people that are drunk by noon, okay. Like, I was, specifically, when we did Ozzfest. Ozzfest, the doors open at 9:30, and so it was like, yeah, doors were open 9:30, you were on stage at 9:45, maybe 10 o'clock. Yeah, so there, it was very easy to be smashed by noon, you know, because you're up at 8 in the morning, you know, everyone's going to bed around midnight, you know. So, but you get used to the schedule, and you make sure you kind of pace yourself, and you know when to take a nap, and when to kind of, you know, tonight I need to take the rest, and I need to just go to sleep, or go chill out on the bus, go in the back and kind of hang out and not rage. So tonight, I think there'll be raging going on, but I'm not sure, you know. There's a lot of people around. Busy, busy day today, you know.
“Yeah, so there, it was very easy to be smashed by noon, you know, because you're up at 8 in the morning, you know, everyone's going to bed around midnight, you know.”
Phil Labonte (All That Remains)
Moe:
So, one thing I like about you, you look like you're having fun.
Phil:
I am having fun.
Moe:
What's up with, not everyone, a lot of people seem like they're so serious in this scene. And there's anger in the music, but there's also positivity coming out of the music, but it seems so serious. What's up with that?
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Phil:
You know, some bands, I get it. I get it from Cannibal Corpse. I get it from Behemoth. I understand, they're kind of like, they're serious bands, right. Other than that, I mean, it's like, you're people. Granted, you're playing metal, but you're still people. You can have fun, you know. You can, I mean, you look at a band like The Black Dahlia Murder, right. They get a song called Statutory Ape, and they have a dude in an ape costume that comes out and runs across their stage. Not every day, but I saw him do it. That's, you know, it's cool. It's funny. It's fun. They're, you know, they're all fun, cool dudes. They have a great sense of humor and stuff, so it's like, it's cool, you know. They, to me, they are, you know, what a metal band should be. They're brutal, they're aggressive, but they still can, like, get a joke, right, you know. And then with Killswitch, like, Adam, he runs around like a clown all day. Slayer takes themselves very seriously. Kerry King, in press, was bumming out on Adam, because Adam is silly. And it's like, why are you bumming on the dude, really? Actually, yeah, yeah, it was on Blabbermouth. Kerry King's like, I'm offended by the silliness. It's like, first of all, can silliness really be offensive? Can, can, can something be so silly that you're offended? Because I always thought things had to be, like, negative to really offend someone. Silliness is funny. It's, you know, and why, how, how are you, how are you offended, Kerry? How? I mean, it's not like someone pulled their cock out and snatched you in the face with it. It's Adam. That won't be the first time a dude from another band runs around like a moron on stage when they're playing, and you're bummed out. Yeah, you're way too bummed out.
Moe:
Because there's a little clash going on between you and Slayer, or what?
Phil:
Oh, Slayer? No, I don't, I don't know. But Adam and I, I know Adam and Kerry, dude, and I just think it's funny that, like, you know, in press, on blabbermouth.net, he's like, I'm offended. And it's like, you really, you hang out with Marilyn Manson, yeah, you know. I mean, is Marilyn Manson not silly, right?
Moe:
Yeah.
Phil:
Come on.
Moe:
Exactly. Speak of the devil, and who should appear. The funny thing I saw, that, I don't know if you really said this, at Mayhem a couple weeks ago, you dedicated a song to all the girls' buttholes.
Phil:
Yes.
Moe:
That's why you got to be having fun.
Phil:
Yeah, to dedicate girls' songs to buttholes.
Moe:
Yeah.
Phil:
I dedicated songs to vagina, to buttholes, to female genitals in general, you know. Because it's the song that we do it, the song that I do it before, is kind of a, it's good, it's kind of our, like, singing song. It's a little, it's not, it's not a ballad, because it's, you know, there's distortion and stuff, but it's kind of a ballad. So, you know, the girls' song. And the best part of a girl is the vagina or the butthole. That's funny shit.
Moe:
It's all right, man. I was talking to Greg from Dillinger Escape Plan about camaraderie, okay, with the bands and the fans. How's your interaction with the fans?
Phil:
It's really cool. Like, I'm, like, I'm not the dude that's like, oh, look at me, I'm a rock star. Like, my Facebook page, my MySpace page, like, those are run by me. It's not run by the label or whatever. I have Twitter, and I reply to, you know, I reply to people's questions and comments. I don't reply to everything, right, because, I mean, obviously that'd be all day long, you know. But, like, if I, if I see an interesting question or something that hasn't been answered a million times in interviews and stuff, and I'll go ahead and I'll reply or whatever, you know. And I don't have a problem walking through the crowd. Now, granted, I don't like, when everyone's, like, lined up to watch our show, I won't walk through the crowd, because then they're going to recognize me. Like, everyone's going to be like, oh. But, like, after, after we play, it's like, it's not, you know, it's no big deal. I'll go ahead and walk through the crowd, and people are cool. They are like, what's up, Phil, or whatever, you know. A lot of times, the people that are coming to the venue, they walk right in front of our bus, you know. The buses will be parked in, because we play out in the parking lot on the second stages, so, like, a lot of times our bus will be right out in the parking lot, and I'll be out there, like, you know, exercising. Like, we got weights that we bring with us. I'll be up working out in the morning, and people are coming in, and they'll walk up, what's up, man, how you doing, take a quick picture, just so long as they don't sit around and talk when I'm trying to lift, I don't mind.
“Now, granted, I don't like, when everyone's, like, lined up to watch our show, I won't walk through the crowd, because then they're going to recognize me.”
Phil Labonte (All That Remains)
Moe:
You got to be focused.
Phil:
Yeah, you know. Look, it's cool that I'll stop for a second, but, like, if you're going to sit here and talk, I'm not getting my stuff done. And after I get done with this, I got to go eat and start doing stuff for, you know, my job, you know.
Moe:
Yeah. So, metal, I mean, metal, you sort of associate lifting, big guys, big front man, you know.
Phil:
Maybe a little bit. Maybe a little bit.
Moe:
The funny thing that I heard was, what's the least metal thing about your band?
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Phil:
I don't know that I'm the least metal about our band anymore. I think Mike Martin is a little less metal, but I'm one of the least metal things. Our band is, like, kind of like the island of misfit toys, you know. It's like, we're, we're all really kind of weird people in our own ways, you know. We got a girl for a bass player, you know. Oli's, like, a wizard, you know. He's, we're all, you know, we're all kind of weird. So, and we kind of embrace that, you know. It's like, we were just, we're five, you know, individuals that are not, like, when I say normal people, I mean not, like, rock stars, because we're definitely not normal. But, like, we're average, you know, I mean. But we got a sweet job, you know, I mean, and we're lucky to have it.
Moe:
So, how's your experience with your band now been compared to Shadows Fall?
Phil:
I was only in Shadows Fall for, like, two years, so, I mean, but, I mean, that band, it wasn't my band, you know. It's not my band. This is my band, so, you know, it's a few more ownership with, well, yeah, yeah. I mean, I started this, you know. This was my, my baby. Oli's been with this the long, the longest, you know. Me and him been in a band for ten years now. But, you know, the band was together for almost nine months before I'll even join, so, you know, it's a, I didn't feel a sense of ownership with Shad, because it was Jon's band. Jon Donais, really, Jon and Matt started the band. With All That Remains, it's mine, you know. Oli's the wizard.
Moe:
So, when you were in Ozzfest, did you get to hang out with Ozzy at all?
Phil:
No, God. I haven't hung out with Marilyn Manson either. No, or Slayer. Well, actually, no, I take that back. I have hung out with Slayer a little bit, because those dudes, those, like, I haven't hung out with Kerry at all, but I know that, like, Dave and Jeff, they've been walking around, like, they were, we were out on Bullet's bus hanging out, and Dave and Jeff Hanneman were there, and it's really cool. Like, they're really chill, unassuming dudes. I've met Kerry a couple times, but he wouldn't know me. Like, he wouldn't be able to pick me, I don't think he would, at least. But, but he was always, he was always cool. And Tom Araya is super, super nice, real low-key. We did a photo shoot one time, and he was there with, like, his family, his kids were there and stuff, and, and I was like, man, I just want to say, it's really cool to me. He's like, thank you, man. And he was really, really, really nice, super, super classy dude.
Moe:
So, that's good to see, because, I mean, bouncing around different festivals, I've seen a lot of the Rockstar ship.
Phil:
Oh, yeah.
Moe:
A lot of Rockstar.
Phil:
There's some Rockstar stuff goes on every once in a while, you know. It's cool. You hang out with some people, you know, like, drink with people, we hang out with people, whatever. But then you see the Rockstar shit going on and, like, fuck, man. Just, you're, like you said earlier, you're still a person. That's all, you know. And it's, like, that there, people need to understand, like, if you're, if you're, you know, be backstage or something like that, a lot of times the band, people in bands, don't want people to come up and say, hey, man, you're so awesome. But if someone comes up and says, hey, man, check out your show, good, shook your hand, okay, cool, man, thank you, and then just leave it at that, you know. I mean, maybe grab a picture, but, you know, even still, if you've got a backstage pass, grabbing pictures is kind of, like, you know, you're back here, kind of just chill out. Remember, this is where everyone lives. This is where they work. Appreciate the privacy.
“They may have, they, I'm sure they have respectable state, you know, respectful shows, people are coming out and stuff, because they're, you know, great live bands.”
Phil Labonte (All That Remains)
Moe:
Exactly, exactly.
Phil:
And, and more than likely, you know, 99% of the people that you come up to when you say, hey, I like this or like that, real cool, really nice, you know, and it's chill, you know, cool. But the problem is when people are like, oh, my God. I'll try to see, well, try not to do that to you.
Moe:
So, what do you see your band going in the future? What's your, what's your vision?
Phil:
You know, to be honest with you, if we can do this for another ten years and put out another, you know, four or five records, that would be, like, I mean, what more could I ask for, you know. I mean, I'm a lucky guy as it is, you know. The, the things that have been going on for this band, and the continuous progression that we've made, and, and we're just really fortunate. And, you know, we keep selling records in a time when a lot of people aren't selling records, you know. I mean, a lot of band, and not just people, like, people come to our shows and stuff, but we're selling records, and there's a lot of bands that ain't selling records. They may have, they, I'm sure they have respectable state, you know, respectful shows, people are coming out and stuff, because they're, you know, great live bands. But there's a lot of bands that just aren't selling records, and, you know, we're fortunate that we continue to sell records. So, I just want to write another record that we believe in, and continue to do that, just keep putting out music that we like, because that's really what, that's, what's gotten us to where we are. It's, like, we put out stuff that we wanted to hear, you know. It's, like, we, we put out what we felt, you know, we would like to hear as a, as a metal, you know, as a metal band, you know. So, and it's worked out great. So, if we're, hopefully, we'll continue to write records that people dig, and, and, you know, that, you know, people are into.
Moe:
Your songwriting.
Phil:
Absolutely.
Moe:
Thanks a lot for being with us. Appreciate it.
Phil:
Thank you.
Moe:
Do a little drop for me?
Phil:
Sure. It's Moe Train's Tracks. Moe Train's Tracks. What's up? This is Phil from All That Remains, and you're listening to Moe Train's, Moe Train, Moe Train's Tracks. What's up? This is Phil from All That Remains. You're listening to Moe Train's Tracks.
