Tremonti - HMV Ritz, Manchester, 17.02.13
Sending tremors through the rock world and surprising the majority with some mighty strong vocals; Tremonti came to shake Manchester’s foundations, even after another bomb scare!
First up were Glaswegians Logan who warmed up the crowd nicely with brutal drum beats and plenty of enthusiasm. However; any thoughts of the quintet were quickly forgotten as Heaven’s Basement took to the stage. Aaron Buchanan prowled this stage with charismatic intent and had the crowd wrapped around his little finger from the get go. Backed by an explosive classic rock sound, it’s not surprising the group are turning heads and gaining momentum.
The moment the room had been waiting for arrived and guitar hero Mark Tremonti walked out to a wall of cheers. Opening with Leave It Alone, the band ripped through all 12 tracks on the solo album, and the 2 bonus tracks, matching the energy of the passionate, rowdy crowd; so rowdy the last time infact, that they decided to film their second visit to the city. From the ferocious All I Was to the fiery So You’re Afraid, the audience screamed the words back as Tremonti dazzled with prolific shredding and booming vocals. New Way Out added a tender moment to the evening, followed by the thundering Decay; complete with audience participation. Leaving to rapturous applause and chants of his name, Tremonti shortly returned to deliver the explosive Brains.
It’s rare to attend a gig with such an electric atmosphere with energy levels never fading; the band and the crowd encouraging one another, Tremonti & co are at the top of their game, that’s for sure!
Picture from Rich Booth.
Laura Woodhead
Fabulous February!
After a quiet, and bitterly cold January, Winter gig season is rolling back into town with some great names hitting the UK this month. Here’s our recommendations…
Slash
Finishing up the Apocalyptic Love tour, Slash & co return to our shores for just 2 more dates in Nottingham and Blackpool. Always guaranteed a brilliant night with a great variety of Slash’s back catalogue getting an airing, it’s not a show you want to miss!
Tickets are still available for Nottingham here.
Mark Tremonti
After wetting the UK’s appetite last October with a couple of shows, Tremonti is back for a handful of dates across the country in support of his debut album. It promises a night of pounding heavy metal and killer riffs.
Dates and tickets can be found here.
The Virginmarys
Having just released their debut album and confirmed US dates for later this year, the future shines brightly for Macclesfield trio The Virginmarys. Harnessing that rock n roll spirit and producing gritty, irresistible music, we highly recommend you join their party!
See what the fuss is about for yourself and get your tickets here.
The Union
After successfully reaching their target on Pledge Music, The Union are out on their first headlining in tour in a year. Bringing their catchy, blues infused rock to a host of UK cities, they also have up and coming rockers BlackWolf in support.
Get tickets to a show near you here.
Deftones
With their new album receiving rave reviews, Deftones are back to shake the UK’s foundations this month.
Get involved and get your tickets here.
Interview: Tremonti
Known as one of the best technical guitarist in modern rock, Alter Bridge/Creed creator Mark Tremonti released his first solo project earlier this year. We caught up with him Newcastle during his first trip to the UK with Tremonti.
Did you originally intend to start a solo project or just decide the material you had written didn’t fit with Alter Bridge or Creed?
Mark: Most of the ideas for the record were tried with both Alter Bridge and Creed and they just didn’t fit, and this idea of making this record came about. I just wanted to get ideas out that were never going to see the light of day put on CD. Most of those were the heavier stuff that didn’t fit.
How did you approach becoming a vocalist/frontman? Did you ever think about bringing a singer in or always planned to do it yourself?
Mark: No, I just wanted to do it myself because my favourite thing is writing vocal melodies and being able to sing those melodies exactly how you hear them in your head is liberating.
How much creative input did the rest of the group have?
Mark: Well I would break out my laptop and play ideas and these guys would kind of ‘I like that one, I like that one’ and then we’d just sit and arrange them together and it kind of went really quick. It took us 3 or 4 weeks or something.
Garrett: Yeah we’d average about 2 songs a night so it was pretty simple.
How did you all come together as a band?
Mark: I’ve known Eric for probably 13 or 14 years. I’ve played so many ideas for Eric over the years it was just natural for us to work together. Then Garrett and Eric were in a band called Submersed years ago that I co-produced and that’s how I got to know Garrett, and he lived in Orlando as well and we definitely needed a drummer who could do all the more progressive metal drumming and have a good pocket which is hard to find. Wolfgang came in very last minute when Brian couldn’t do it the night before our tour and Wolfgang was in town and came to save the day!
How’s that been for you Wolfgang, coming in late and having to learn everything?
Wolfgang: Well yeah, having a night to learn the entire record was a little rough but yeah, we pulled it off and it’s been really smooth, fun month of touring.
How are you finding the UK shows?
Mark: Great!
Eric: Amazing!
Garrett: Cold!
What’s the difference in the crowd like between support and headline shows?
Mark: When it’s your crowd it’s definitely more energetic for you but I think the Slash crowds have been great as well because I think there’s a lot of Alter Bridge fans out there.
How did you end up landing the support slot with Slash?
Mark: I was…I forget what I was doing but I think I was on tour with Creed and my manager came up and said we just got the offer to do some Slash shows over here and I said yeah grab them up, definitely want to do them. Initially we were thinking about doing the whole tour but it just didn’t work out so we just did three.
Has Myles given you any tips about being a frontman?
Mark: No, no…
Wolfgang: Be anti-social and drink lots of tea!
Mark: He’s been taking vocal lessons from Ron Anderson for years and I took one lesson with Ron Anderson and just the other day before our first gig he kind of gave me tips on how to do his warm ups.
How do you keep yourself motivated for a solo project?
Mark: I’m always motivated; I just love doing it regardless of what band it is. Playing music is what I love to do.
Have you started work on the new Alter Bridge & Creed records?
Mark: Yeah, always writing.
If your career were to end tomorrow, what would you feel would be your greatest achievement?
Eric: That’s a good question!
Mark: I would say the song Blackbird is probably my greatest achievement.
Eric: For me it wouldn’t be any particular song or moment, it would just be the fact of making it to this point and getting out there and getting to be in a travelling band. Not having to pay to travel the world! It’s been incredible; it’s something you can’t really take for granted.
Wolfgang: Yeah same, just to be able to say that I do this and can look back on my life saying that, that’s what I did.
Garrett: Without sounding too corny, I would say this record. From a drumming stand point, since day one they’ve always been like ‘just swing for the fences, go for broke!’ And any other projects I’ve been in it’s always kind of been, you can only do so much so for this record, to do what ever I wanted was liberating.
Do you think you’ll all do another record together?
All: Absolutely!
How do you feel about the reception the album has received?
Mark: It’s been over the top! People have just loved it since day one and we see it live. People are still getting familiar with the record and when we play usually half the people have the record and half don’t so we hope they buy the record after and next time we come through there’s just bigger and better crowds everytime.
Will you be playing more dates when you return in February?
Mark: Yes, we’re just opening door with this tour and February will do a more extensive tour and maybe come back again in August.
Eric: Seeing the reception the way that it is, is just makes us want to go out there and play in front of as many people as possible.
Garrett: Then next time round everybody will know about us.
Eric: It kind of feels like we’re not doing the right thing if we’re not touring.
Wolfgang: The more people we play for now the more exponentially better it will be the next time.
Thank you for your time!
Mark: Thank you for coming down!
Check out our review of All I Was here.
Ginger Wildheart to hit the road with Slash (and Tremonti too!)
Ginger has revealed that he is to head out on tour with Slash, Myles Kennedy and The Conspirators in October. He will join the bill with his band as guests on both the UK and European dates, which are as follows:
UK
7th Edinburgh, Corn Exchange
8th Manchester, Apollo
9th Birmingham, NIA
11th London, Brixton Academy
12th London, Brixton Academy
15th Newcastle, O2 Academy
Europe
17th Brussels, AB Club (Belgium)
18th Cologne, E-Werk (Germany)
20th Paris, Zenith(France)
22nd Zurich, Volkhaus (Switzerland)
23rd Bologna, Unipol Arena (Italy)
24th Rome, Palalottomatica (Italy)
26th Padova, Geox Theatre (Italy)
And, as if that wasn’t enough, it has been announced that Myles Kennedys bandmate, Alter Bridge’s Mark Tremonti will be joining as extra support at both of the Brixton Academy dates in London and also the Newcastle date! Tremonti released his solo album last month, and there has been much demand for him to play some shows in the UK. What a line up eh?
Tremonti - All I Was
After being part of one of the biggest rock bands of the 90’s and headlining Wembley arena last November, guitarist Mark Tremonti put both Creed and Alter Bridge aside to produce his first ever solo album. A self confessed metal head and tackling the task of vocals himself, let’s see how he got on.
The heavy influences of his childhood are evident in opening riffs of Leave It Alone and anyone sceptical of Tremonti’s solo vocal skills will have their doubts squashed by the end of the first verse. It is hard hitting to match the accompaniment yet has a soft centre. With a shredding guitar solo, it is the perfect attention grabbing opening track, and that quality doesn’t fade. The thrash mental influence of Slayer shines through in the ferocious riffs of Wish You Well whilst New Way Out shows a softer side, much like the first Alter Bridge record which was mostly written by Tremonti. First single Waste Your Time has some brilliant sliding melodies and proved some weeks ago that this album was something exciting to look out for.
Former submersed members Eric Friedman and Garrett Whitlock provide a solid backing, both instrumentally and vocally, whilst letting Tremonti shine out on lead. Decay is an album highlight with its punchy rhythms and off beat hooks. The shouts of ‘fading like decay’ bare similarity to the style of James Hetfield; another big influence to the guitarist and a great way to finish the record.
Overall, this a strong debut album and shows a different side to Mark Tremonti that his current bands can’t accommodate. He has used his knowledge of heavy metal with excellent precision and proven he has the vocals that can stand on their own. Charging its way up the rock charts both here and the US, All I Was is creating a storm, a metal storm you should get caught up in!
Laura Woodhead
Mark Tremonti posts solo preview clips
Alter Bridge/Creed guitarist Mark Tremonti has posted 3 preview clips from his upcoming solo album All I Was. Under the name of The Tremonti Project, Mark takes charge of lead vocals for the first time on this record, due for release in July. A big fan of heavy metal, and known for his shredding riffs, the clips don’t disappoint!
Check them out here.
Alter Bridge - LG Arena, Birmingham, 22.11.11
It’s been a long road for Alter Bridge, with plenty of struggles along the way, but the band have finally arrived at the top and are playing their first ever arena tour. There is an air of excitement, not just for them, but for the support acts.
First up were Theory Of A Deadman, appearing onstage to South Park’s Blame Canada, I am pleased to say that they have a lot more charisma than their latest album suggests and were fun to watch. Their half an hour set gives an opportunity for the crowd to sing along with some old songs thrown into the mix. Huge cheers erupt for Kentucky quartet Black Stone Cherry, having them on the same bill is really something special. They burst into Change and it is clear they are going to provide a high energy, entertaining set. Vocalist Chris Robertson is sure to thank the fans and let them know how grateful they are for their support. He gives is raw, powerful vocal a chance to shine in Things My Father Said, a heartfelt moment for all present. Once again their cover of Adele’s Rolling In The Deep makes an appearance, before a string of fan favourites, ending on their biggest hit, Lonely Train.
The lights go down and the eerie intro to Slip To The Void rings round the room. Myles Kennedy slowly makes his way on stage to sing the opening verse. One by one the band members appear to fully kick into the track. They go straight into White Knuckles, much to the crowds delight, and even include some early audience participation with Myles splitting the crowd to see who can cheer loudest. Alter Bridge have no fancy tricks or massive displays, they’re all about the music but; seeing as this is an arena tour, they do have a web of lights covering the back of the stage. Myles has three strategically placed microphones so he is able to connect with all sides of the audience, switching between them. After a trio of songs from their first album, Myles is left alone onstage, accompanied by a stool and acoustic guitar, to play beautiful renditions of Wonderful Life and Watch Over You. This solo performance really give the audience a chance to hear just how stunning Kennedy’s voice is and the emotion he puts into these songs. The epic Blackbird follows with a flawless solo change over between Kennedy and Tremonti, before the frantic Ties That Bind. The band make an extra effort to keep the crowd involved, always engaging them in their performance. There’s also a nice little note at popping their arena virginity! Finishing on Isolation, there is plenty of chanting and stamping feet to get the guys to return. Open Your Eyes and Rise Today are the chosen songs with a guitar duel sandwiched between.
Alter Bridge truly are a fantastic live band. They sound amazing, they love to get fans involved and they are nothing but grateful to each and every person. Along with two great support acts and USB so you can take the show home, you really shouldn’t miss it!
Photo’s by Laura Woodhead.
Laura Woodhead
