Remain Calm

Melodic metal band coming to Fayetteville

All That Remains will perform at George’s in Fayetteville with Devour the Day, Audiotopsy and Sons of Texas in a tour put together by Pointless Promotions.
All That Remains will perform at George’s in Fayetteville with Devour the Day, Audiotopsy and Sons of Texas in a tour put together by Pointless Promotions.

Heavy metal band All That Remains is on the road promoting its seventh and most recent studio album, "The Order of Things," and will stop at George's Majestic Lounge in Fayetteville on Wednesday. Formed in 1998, the band's lineup has changed a few times between albums, but original members vocalist Phil Labonte and guitarist Oli Herbert have been with the group since the beginning.

"At first, I thought it would be one of those things that was just a hobby, but then it became something I was really passionate about doing," Herbert says. "I think a lot of people are afraid to think outside the box and think they have to pursue a 'regular' job. But no matter how much money you make, you have to be satisfied in what you do, and this is what I want to do."

FAQ

All That Remains: The Order of Things Tour

WHEN — 7:30 p.m. Wednesday

WHERE — George’s Majestic Lounge in Fayetteville

COST — $20

INFO — allthatremainsonlin…, georgesmajesticloun…

With a bachelor's degree in music and 27 years' experience on the guitar, Herbert knows his way around writing. He says the music usually starts with the guitar part before the lyrics are ever written, so he will write riffs, then write riffs to go with those riffs, and spends a lot of time exploring variations on the melodies and harmonies.

"I'm constantly playing or writing. I don't know what the song will be called or what the lyrics will be until after I record the guitar part, so I make sure we have a lot of stuff to pull from [when writing songs]," Herbert says. "People write things and will go 'aw, that sounds bad' and they'll scrap it before it even has a chance to turn into something. So I really pride myself on being able to take the smallest kernel of an idea and see what can be useful. I listen to a wide variety of music [for influence] and try not to judge anything so [the writing] can happen naturally."

Herbert says people can relate to the group's music because Labonte's lyrics are personal. For "The Order of Things," the group brought in a new producer who had previously worked with Lamb of God and Gojira. Herbert says bringing in someone different brought a fresh perspective to the music, especially with vocal ideas. Because their sound can vary widely from ballads to "brutality," Herbert says sometimes people aren't sure what to make of All That Remains at a show.

"I'm not gonna turn out a poor performance because I don't think people are in to it -- that's not a good way to win over a crowd. So whether I'm kind of confined on stage, or it's a big stage with room for me to run and jump around and put on that kind of show -- it's really more about people smiling and head banging and being affected by what you're playing."

Melodic metal is the most accurate descriptor for the band, Herbert says. They play with harmonies, they play heavy metal, they include solo pianos -- they let influences from many different styles into their music.

"The average person who likes hard rock music will find stuff about us they like; the average person who likes metal will find stuff; I think even people who like pop or less heavy music will find stuff they like. I'm not a big fan of all the categories of music. It's all music -- you either like it or you don't. But we put on a high energy rock show and a lot of people will find something about us they like."

NAN What's Up on 11/27/2015

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