WayTooLoud.com recently caught up with ALL THAT REMAINS frontman Phil Labonte. The following is a brief excerpt from the interview:

WTL: I remember in 2003 and 2004 there were a lot of bands getting signed in Massachusetts, but that seems to have slowed down, and I don’t hear about too many anymore. Have all the good players been absorbed into signed bands?

Phil: "I’m not really there much, so I can’t really tell you about the 'scene', but I can tell you that the dudes that were playing in bands when I was young that were serious about it, are all in bands that are going now, pro bands, real bands. The guys that weren’t serious about it, that didn’t want to be on the road, or couldn’t fit in with a band, those dudes are at home working. I haven’t heard anything out of western Mass that’s made me stand up and say 'Hey, that’s cool and different' because it, almost everywhere sounds like a copy of other bands. No one has a sound of their own.

I think the group of dudes that started that whole… you know the guys in SHADOWS FALL and KILLSWITCH ENGAGE, and UNEARTH, and us to some extent, and the other guys and their other bands aren’t doing much because they weren’t the ones who were really starting it."

WTL: You’ve said at one point in time that All That Remains plays metalcore. Do you think you still play it, or do you think that you’ve changed into something different?

Phil: "I think people are going to call it what they’re going to call it. It depends. It doesn’t matter what I say it is, I mean really. I’ve heard people describe us to everything from hardcore, which is kind of ridiculous to me, but I guess if that’s what people think hardcore is… whatever, it doesn’t change what we sound like. I’ve heard people describe as progressive, and that to me is DREAM THEATER and SYMPHONY X, and we ain’t that! We’re not IGNITE, or SNAPCASE, or EARTH CRISIS, or BLACK FLAG, even hardcore bands of today, we’re so far from HATEBREED or THROWDOWN or something like that. Not that there’s anything wrong with that music, it’s just not what we are. It doesn’t matter what people call us, it’s not going to change the way our records sound, especially since they’re already recorded! (Laughs) So whatever! I don’t care."

Go to this location for the complete interview.