''All I Was'' is the debut studio album by
Tremonti, a band formed by the lead guitarist for the American rock bands
Creed and
Alter Bridge
Alter Bridge is an American rock band from Orlando, Florida. The band was formed in 2004 by vocalist and rhythm guitarist Myles Kennedy, lead guitarist Mark Tremonti, bassist Brian Marshall and drummer Scott Phillips. After their former ba ...
,
Mark Tremonti
Mark Thomas Tremonti (born April 18, 1974) is an American guitarist and singer, best known for his tenures with the rock bands Creed and Alter Bridge. He is a founding member of both bands, and has also collaborated with many other artists over ...
. Produced by Michael "Elvis" Baskette, the album shows prominent
thrash metal
Thrash metal (or simply thrash) is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music characterized by its overall aggression and often fast tempo.Kahn-Harris, Keith, ''Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge'', pp. 2–3, 9. Oxford: Berg, 2007, . ...
influences. It showcases the debut of Tremonti as a lead vocalist and features guitarist, bassist, and backing vocalist
Eric Friedman
Eric Charles "Erock" Friedman (born June 28, 1984) is an American musician, best known as the current guitarist for Tremonti and former touring guitarist and backing vocalist for Creed. He played with the band on their 2009 United States reun ...
and drummer Garrett Whitlock, both former members of
Submersed
Submersed (sometimes typeset as SubmerseD) is an American rock band from Stephenville, Texas. They first disbanded in 2008, reuniting in late 2021, early 2022.
History
Submersed was signed to Wind-up Records, and worked with Alter Bridge gu ...
. The album was released to critical acclaim on July 17, 2012, by FRET12 Records.
Background
Tremonti has expressed interest in releasing a
solo album
An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records co ...
since 2010. He said of his two main projects in an interview with the ''
Nottingham Post
The ''Nottingham Post'' (formerly the ''Nottingham Evening Post'') is an English tabloid newspaper which serves Nottingham, Nottinghamshire and parts of Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Lincolnshire.
The ''Post'' is published Monday to Saturday ...
'', "The bands are so different. And I write so much. I'm going to do a solo record because there are some songs that I'd hate to think wouldn't see the light of day because they don't work for
Creed or
Alter Bridge
Alter Bridge is an American rock band from Orlando, Florida. The band was formed in 2004 by vocalist and rhythm guitarist Myles Kennedy, lead guitarist Mark Tremonti, bassist Brian Marshall and drummer Scott Phillips. After their former ba ...
." He decided to do the album during "a three-month window when
lter Bridge singerMyles Kennedy
Myles Richard Bass (born November 27, 1969), known professionally as Myles Kennedy, is an American singer, guitarist, and songwriter. He is the lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the rock band Alter Bridge and the lead vocalist in guitarist S ...
was out with
Slash
Slash may refer to:
* Slash (punctuation), the "/" character
Arts and entertainment Fictional characters
* Slash (Marvel Comics)
* Slash (''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'')
Music
* Harry Slash & The Slashtones, an American rock band
* Nash ...
and
reed singerScott Stapp
Scott Stapp (born Anthony Scott Flippen, August 8, 1973) is an American singer, best known as the lead vocalist and lyricist of the rock band Creed. He has also fronted the band Art of Anarchy and has released three solo albums: '' The Great D ...
was doing some touring." He described the album as "melody-driven," and as "a heavier-sounding album," with elements of
thrash
Thrash may refer to:
*Thrashing (computer science), where increasing resources are used to do a decreasing amount of work
*Thrash (surname)
* Thrash, mascot of the Atlanta Thrashers
*'' Thrash Rally'', a top-down perspective rally racing video gam ...
and
speed metal
Speed metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music that originated in the late 1970s from new wave of British heavy metal (NWOBHM) roots.K. Kahn-Harris, ''Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge'' (Berg Publishers, 2007), , p. 31. It ...
.
In an interview with
Artistdirect
ARTISTdirect is an American online digital media entertainment company.
Overview
Founded in 1994, it owns several websites, including artistdirect.com and artistdirectinterviews.com. These websites are a group of affiliate websites offering mul ...
, he said that the album is "probably heavier than either Creed or Alter Bridge," and that it will have "lots of
soloing." He again emphasized, however, that it will maintain a strong core melody.
Via
Facebook
Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Mosk ...
, Alter Bridge announced on April 6, 2011, that the tracking for the album had begun, with an accompanying photo of the recording process. On January 20, 2012, Tremonti and FRET12 launched "The Tremonti Project," a website for his solo album where fans can sign up to receive news, previews, live streams, and giveaways. A list of working song titles, the musician lineup (consisting of Tremonti, rhythm guitarist and bassist
Eric Friedman
Eric Charles "Erock" Friedman (born June 28, 1984) is an American musician, best known as the current guitarist for Tremonti and former touring guitarist and backing vocalist for Creed. He played with the band on their 2009 United States reun ...
, and drummer Garrett Whitlock), and the album title were officially announced on the webpage.
On March 20, the album artwork was revealed. According to Tremonti, the album will be released in July 2012 and will be distributed by
EMI
EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British Transnational corporation, transnational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in March 1 ...
. He also said he hopes to release the first
single
Single may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Single (music), a song release
Songs
* "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004
* "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008
* "Single" (William Wei song), 2016
* "Single", by ...
from the album soon. In addition, Creed and Alter Bridge bassist
Brian Marshall
Brian Aubrey Marshall (born April 24, 1973) is an American musician and songwriter best known as the bassist and co-founder of the rock bands Creed and Alter Bridge.
Early life
Brian Aubrey Marshall was born April 24, 1973, in Jackson, Missi ...
said on Twitter that he will be the bassist for Tremonti's solo project, and he was later confirmed to be a member of Tremonti's touring band for the first leg of the tour. In late April 2012, Tremonti revealed previews for three songs from his album.
According to ''
Billboard'', ''All I Was'' was set for a July 10, 2012, release on FRET12 Records; "
You Waste Your Time" was also announced to be the first single from the album.
''
FMQB
''Friday Morning Quarterback'' (better known as ''FMQB'') was a trade magazine which covered the radio and music industries in the United States. Its coverage included programming, management, promotion, marketing, and airplay
Airplay is how ...
'' reported that "You Waste Your Time" will be released to
active rock radio stations in May 2012, and the song was made available for listening on May 6, 2012, on
Loudwire.com, a day before its release. The song later reached number 10 on the
iTunes Rock Songs Chart. A live music video for the song was released on May 17, 2012. The album's final release date was announced as July 17, 2012, on
Ultimate Guitar Archive
Ultimate Guitar (Ultimate Guitar USA LLC), which is also known as Ultimate-Guitar.com or simply UG, is an online platform for guitarists and musicians. Its website and mobile application provides guitar tablature catalogues and chord sheets. ...
.
In September 2012 it was announced that
Wolfgang Van Halen
Wolfgang William Van Halen (, born March 16, 1991) is an American musician. The son of guitarist Eddie Van Halen, he performed alongside his father as the bassist for the rock band Van Halen from 2006 to 2020. He also performed with the heavy m ...
would replace Marshall as the band's touring bassist. Van Halen was subsequently named an official member of the band in March 2013.
A previously unreleased
B-side, "All That I Got", was released as a single on April 16, 2013. Another B-side called "Gone" was released as a single on September 16, 2014.
Reception
''All I Was'' has received critical acclaim. While declining to give a star rating,
Allmusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...
's James Christopher Monger stated that the album "blend
the stadium-sized choruses of Tremonti's previous band with the ferocious attack of classic speed metal, resulting in a voluminous hybrid of brooding post-grunge and breakdown-laden hardcore."
In his review of the album, Rick Florino of
Artistdirect
ARTISTdirect is an American online digital media entertainment company.
Overview
Founded in 1994, it owns several websites, including artistdirect.com and artistdirectinterviews.com. These websites are a group of affiliate websites offering mul ...
gave it a positive review and a rating of 5 stars out of 5, commenting, "''All I Was'' stands out as perfect from top to bottom."
Paige Camisasca of ''
Revolver'' magazine wrote, "''All I Was'' reveals the remarkable depth of talent behind one of hard rock's core guitarists."
Track listing
Personnel
;Musicians
*
Mark Tremonti
Mark Thomas Tremonti (born April 18, 1974) is an American guitarist and singer, best known for his tenures with the rock bands Creed and Alter Bridge. He is a founding member of both bands, and has also collaborated with many other artists over ...
– lead guitar, lead vocals
*
Eric Friedman
Eric Charles "Erock" Friedman (born June 28, 1984) is an American musician, best known as the current guitarist for Tremonti and former touring guitarist and backing vocalist for Creed. He played with the band on their 2009 United States reun ...
– rhythm guitar, bass, backing vocals
* Garrett Whitlock – drums
;Production
*
Michael "Elvis" Baskette –
producer
* Jef Moll –
engineer
Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the limit ...
*
Ted Jensen
Ted Jensen (born September 19, 1954) is an American mastering engineer, known for having mastered many recordings, including the Eagles' ''Hotel California'', Green Day's '' American Idiot'' and Norah Jones' ''Come Away with Me''.
Biography
T ...
–
mastering
Charts
References
External links
*
{{Authority control
2012 debut albums
Albums produced by Michael Baskette
Mark Tremonti albums