All that Remains Hits Machine Shop in Between Jagermeister Stops

On Monday night, Springfield's metalcore band All That Remains made a stop in Flint at the Machine Shop during a break from their Jagermeister Music Tour with The Damned Things, Hellyeah and Buckcherry.

The band is currently out promoting their fifth album For We Are Many, which came out in October.

Before the show, I sat down with rhythm guitarist Mike Martin to talk about the tour and album while founding member and lead guitarist Oli Herbert warmed up in the background and occasionally chimed in.

Q: This is your only one off date from your current tour with Buckcherry. Why a one off and why Flint?

A: Yeah, this is it. I don't know why this is it. With the Superbowl you know they never book a show and a lot of times with tours you are off on Mondays so with two days off in a row you're kind of hemorrhaging money so why not grab a quick show. We've already had two shows in Canada cancelled because of the snow so might as well play when you can. It's been the worst Winter I've ever seen.

Q: Have you been playing a lot of the areas that have been hit hard?

A: Yeah we were in Chicago and got cancelled. Peoria got destroyed by snow. We got stuck there for like four days. We played our show and then for three more days we sat in a hotel room. It was a really nice hotel though so it was cool. That and Iowa. Waterloo, Iowa got cancelled because of the weather. Other than that we've had fairly decent luck. The tour started on the West Coast.

Q: The Jagermeister Music Tour runs through the end of the month?

A: Yeah we drop off three shows early because we've got to go to Australia. We're done on the 20th in Maine. They do like three dates in Charlotte, Atlanta and Orlando without us because we've got to get out to Australia on time. We've gotta fly for like three straight days just to get there.

Q: How has the tour been going so far?

A: Awesome. Weird and awesome! Weird mixtures of like middle-aged ladies freaking just scared to death while we're playing. They cover their ears and put their heads down in the front row. There are a lot of people there for us too and it's cool. It's a cool mixture. It's cool to see that many people that you don't get normally. We don't tour with rock bands that much. It's cool; it's got a good diverse bill. It's fun. I love Buckcherry so I'm having a blast watching them everyday. I actually missed them in Minneapolis on Friday night. I'm like jonesing for it again so tomorrow night I'll be out there rocking my ass off to them!

Q: So you've been enjoying touring with the other bands?

A: Yeah the Buckcherry guys are as nice as can be. The Hellyeah guys are the same. The Damned Things we knew a couple of them already from Everytime I Die and the rest of the guys I've met and are awesome. Everyone on this tour has been great. The vibe is just cool. There are no douchebags at all.

Q: You've played out in Flint before?

A: Yeah this place [The Machine Shop]. This is going to be our third or fourth time at least. It's always cool. It's a weird cool small intimate place. I don't know we've always played on a weekend so we'll see how it is on a Monday. It'll be interesting. Hopefully people will come out. It's our only Michigan headliner for awhile so hopefully people will care.

Q: Most of this tour has been larger venues?

A: Yeah really large. Some of them are way too large. There's been a couple of 4 or 5,000 seat places and there are like 1,500 people there and you're just like this is just way too big. We played a place in Vegas that holds like 3,300 people. It was just gigantic and it wasn't full. Some of the event centers and stuff like that are just with the weather and the economy not practical. It's better to just play the small places. The smaller shows that we've done with Buckcherry have sold out. Smaller venues I like better. The big ones are cool because you get a shower and a dressing room and stuff like that but I'm sorry we'll live! We have a functioning shower on our bus this time so it's been so much nicer than usual. We really desperately need a shower on our bus!

Q: You've got a Jagermeister show tomorrow?

A: Yeah in Ohio. Youngstown. It's like a 4,000 room tomorrow. It's gonna be one of those Tuesday night 4,000 packed arena. We need Nickelback on the bill to get some people in there. We have amazing shows in Ohio but not 4,000 people shows so we'll see how it is. We'll be a little thin and echoey but that's okay!

Q: You have the new album For We Are Many out. What type of reaction have you seen so far?

A: It's been good, very good. People are still digesting. It's been out for four and a half months and I usually don't see a real reaction to the songs until about five or six months into the release. Right now is when you can start seeing the single with people reacting to it and it's selling with the state of the music industry right now. It's selling hot right now and people are digesting. I'm sure by like Fall or Summer when we do some headlining stuff we'll get more reaction.

Q: What makes this album different?

A: With this one we had more time which was nice. We argue a lot about agreeing on stuff which is the hardest part about doing it because we all like different stuff but we had the time to take stuff apart and put it back together. It wasn't like hurry up and get on tour this time. It was just nice to go through it with a fine tooth comb.

Q: How was working on the "Hold On" video?

A: That was cool because it was near home. It was like an hour and half from our house so we just drove and did the video and went home. It was easy and it was another typical like video filmed in a dark warehouse and we just played. We just did another video last Sunday for "The Last Time" in Chicago on a high rise building. It was really cool. It was the fortieth floor and the whole skyline was behind us. It looked really good so the performance came out really well. I don't know how they're going to edit all of the other stuff and what is going to be in there so we'll see how it comes out. Should be out soon. It usually takes them three or four weeks to edit it and put it together to release it. Having the Chicago skyline behind us looked really awesome. It's actually different. We have so many videos of us just in a room playing and it is so overdone at this point so it was cool to have like this kind of moment where we got up to the fortieth floor and looked out and we're like this is going to look good at night. It really lit up at night.

Q: Are you playing the new songs tonight?

A: Yeah we play like four new ones I think. We're doing a lot of songs tonight because it's one of our first headliners in awhile. So we're doing some extras that we haven't done.

Q: How long is your set?

A: About an hour. After that people are tired and don't want to hear it anymore! Sometimes people chant for an encore and then we come out and play and they go I don't know this song. It's like we've already played all of the songs that we know you like and now all we have left is all of the songs that nobody knows! Encores to us kind of suck but if people chant we do it and if you don't recognize the song oh well you asked for it!

Q: Is there a song in your set that you like playing the most?

A: Right now it's a new one "Some of the People, All of the Time" especially on this tour because it's like really, really heavy and it just scares the living piss out of everybody because we're the heaviest band on this tour. It's been kind of funny to see the reaction when we play it live. It's not a song that probably necessarily should be played on this tour but we're doing that on purpose. We play it and it just goes into this part at the end that's just so heavy and you see all of the moms in the crowd just baffled. It's my favorite so far.

Q: What else do you have coming up. You said you're heading to Australia?

A: Yeah Australia at the end of this month and a couple of shows in Japan on the way home. April and May is probably going to be some more American stuff. Some radio festivals and stuff like Rock On The Range in Columbus, Ohio. In June we're gonna go back to Europe. We just got back from Europe around Christmas time. We had a month over there. This time we're gonna do some club shows and then some of the big Summer festivals like Wachen, Download, Rock Am Ring and Rock Im Park. That's it for now. That's all that's set as far as I know.

Q: Do you see a big difference in doing the festivals?

A: Yeah the energy of some of those festivals are unbelievable especially the German ones. We've never done Download and we're real excited. We did Rock Am Ring and Rock Im Park two years ago and those festivals were great. It just explodes. There are thousands and thousands of people so it's really unbelievable. There's a bunch of good ones. Europe is just different in general. You see a difference. They appreciate it because you're not going through there three or four times a year.

Q: I saw you on Rockstar Mayhem a couple of years ago and you guys drew a pretty big crowd just to see you.

A: Yeah man in Michigan I got food poisoning. It was so bad! I was so messed up that night. I specifically just remember that Mayhem date. The next night we were off and I just laid there drinking Gatorade.

Q: You said you've been enjoying touring with Buckcherry. Do you like touring with bands that have a different style?

A: Yeah it's cool. We've always done tours that are different. A lot of metal bands like us usually stick to one kind of tour but for us we've been kind of lucky. We've been able to tour with death metal bands and then we did Warped Tour. We've done every kind of Summer tour, every kind of club tour with Warped Tour bands and bands like Cannibal Corpse. We've always gotten away with playing with a lot of different kinds of bands. It's been good. If you're playing for a roomful of death metal fans you assume they'll hate you but there are actually some that aren't that anal and are like you rock. We've always been fortunate enough to have music that is really versatile enough to slide us in on any tour. It's nice.

Q: I think that's something that Michigan is known for. Every show seems to draw a diverse crowd.

A: Yeah which is cool. I mean there are so many subgenres now. It's like whatever just play and rock. It's all music! People will sometimes say oh you're that kind of band you know but what is that? I mean I like every kind of music.

Q: What were your influences?

A: All late eighties hair metal stuff. That was all my favorite stuff. I was into Bon Jovi and Guns N' Roses and Motley Crue. Skid Row. Those were all my favorite bands.

Q: Is there someone you want to tour with in the future?

A: Yeah a band like Buckcherry which is why it's so cool to be out with them. They're one of the last true sleazy rock bands. There are not many bands like that anymore so to tour with them is awesome. It's not something you see very much. It's all just autotuned disco crap techno whatever metal now.

Q: For people that are coming out to the show tonight what should they expect?

A: Just a warm, loud atmosphere. This place here has a age limit so you see a lot of older people just kind of drinking. It's a different vibe here. It's not the people killing each other vibe it's just one of those ones where people are holding their drinks up to you. It's like a bar party. It's gonna be one of those kind of nights. If people come. I'm hoping they do. It should be good. The Damned Things have a pretty good buzz going too being a super group. They're one of my new favorite bands too. I'm excited to watch them tonight. I'm gonna be standing on the side of the stage watching. It should be a fun night.

Martin had nothing to worry about as fans packed into the Machine Shop making the night a sell out.

Flint opener It Lies Within, The Damned Things and All That Remains went on to put on a amazing rock show for the energetic crowd.