Incidentally, “metalcore” isn’t a label the band takes kindly. They’re an opinionated bunch, as Team Last Call found out first-hand during a recent interview with guitarist Mike Martin.
Team Last Call: Prior to “Two Weeks,” was radio success even on your radar?
Mike Martin: Not even close. We were actually thinking about not putting the song on the record, because when we heard it was all singing, we were like, “That’s weird.” I initially was just like, “Wow, kids are going to hate this so much.”
TLC: You’ve taken some flack for making your sound more melodic. Do you care?
MM: Nope. When a record comes out and sells five times faster than your previous record – which sold fairly well – you really don’t have time to care, because everything’s too busy going awesome.
TLC: It probably takes the edge off of little Billy’s mean blog post when you can finally have a good per diem.
MM: Or you get on stage and there’s a thousand people at your headlining show. It’s like, “Well, OK, the little jerkoff who’s masturbating to Internet porn all night in his mom’s basement doesn’t really know what he’s talking about.”
TLC: At this point, how do you measure success for the band?
MM: I guess you could already consider it a complete success, making a living off of it, making enough money. None of us have jobs when we go home anymore because we don’t really have time. We’re literally living off music. We’re playing every night of the week. That’s considered “making it” to a lot of people.
TLC: To be a touring musician and not going home to live in your parents’ basement is a success to a lot of people.
MM: Which all of us still do, basically, but whatever.
TLC: I’ve always heard All That Remains referred to as a metalcore band, but I just don’t hear it in the music.
MM: That just makes you smarter than everybody else, because we’re not.
TLC: Well, go on ...
MM: That’s the stupidest word for music ever invented, basically. It’s just dumb. If a metal band has dynamics in their music and it isn’t just this straight double-bass crap the whole time, it’s called metalcore. It’s just annoying and awful. We’re just a metal band, and that’s really all there is to it. It’s simple.
TLC: Which is worse, when people call you metalcore or when people call you a Christian band?
MM: I saw this one post like, “These guys are a bunch of Christian assholes.” Which is hilarious, because we’re the furthest thing from it. Just another example of people being completely ignorant and having no idea what they talk about.
TLC: When you get to those nasty sites like Lambgoat, sometimes it’s just best to turn off the monitor ...
MM: Lambgoat’s just straight-up vicious. I went on that website one time, and I was like, “OK, I’m never coming back.” I saw one comment that was like, “I hope this band flips off a cliff on their bus and dies.” Like that’s really necessary. Jesus Christ.
TLC: Is it true that [frontman] Phil [Labonte] is a conservative Republican?
MM: I don’t know what he is. I just know that he talks about politics a lot, and every time he does I leave the room. He sits in the front lounge on Twitter and watches MSNBC for 15 hours a day. He Tweets about everything that happens every 15 seconds. If you start talking politics with him, be prepared to be busy for hours and hours, and be prepared for me to not be in the room.
*Reprinted from Fly Magazine
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