Tremonti (band)

Tremonti is an American rock band founded and fronted by lead vocalist and guitarist Mark Tremonti, known as the guitarist of the bands Creed and Alter Bridge. The band also consists of rhythm guitarist Eric Friedman, drummer Garrett Whitlock, and bassist Wolfgang Van Halen. What originally started as a Mark Tremonti solo project evolved into a fully fledged band after the release of the group's first album, All I Was, in July 2012. That album featured Tremonti himself playing bass in addition to lead vocals and guitar, and the band was joined by Tremonti's Creed and Alter Bridge bandmate Brian Marshall playing bass on tour until his departure later that year. He was replaced by Van Halen bassist Wolfgang Van Halen, who contributed to the band's second album, Cauterize, which will be released in June 2015. The band also has an album titled Dust serving as a continuation to Cauterize that will also be released in the coming year.^[1]

History

During the time that Creed was at the end of its career in the early 2000s, Tremonti had intentions to form a speed metal side project called Downshifter (with Hatebreed vocalist Jamey Jasta and Slipknot drummer Joey Jordison), but the project never got off the ground. Later, in 2008, Tremonti and his brother formed FRET12, an online musicians' community, production company, and record label, to release his 2008 instructional guitar documentary DVD titled Mark Tremonti: The Sound & the Story, wherein he teaches all of his guitar solos from Alter Bridge's sophomore release, Blackbird. He also teaches warm-ups, alternate tunings, finger picking style, legato techniques, and other advanced exercises. His DVD, which is the first in The Sound & the Story series of instructional DVDs, also features guest appearances from Myles Kennedy, Michael Angelo Batio, Rusty Cooley, Bill Peck, and Troy Stetina. The aforementioned series also includes DVDs by Leslie West and Troy Stetina.

Tremonti later began expressing interest in releasing a solo album in 2010. "The bands are so different," he said of his two current main projects. "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." He is playing guitar and singing lead on all of the songs himself, and former Submersed members Eric Friedman and Garrett Whitlock perform on the record as well. Tremonti described the music as "melody driven," and in a May 2011 interview, Tremonti said that it would be a "heavier-sounding" thrash metal album. He later said that the album is "probably heavier than either Creed or Alter Bridge," and that it would have "lots of soloing."

On January 20, 2012, Tremonti launched a website for his album where fans can sign up to receive news, previews, live streams, and giveaways. A list of working song titles was also included on the webpage, as well as the album title, All I Was. He later launched a new website for his work after the album's release. It was set for a July 10, 2012, release on FRET12 Records and "You Waste Your Time" will be the first single from the album, and according to FMQB, "You Waste Your Time" would be released to active rock radio stations in May 2012. The entire song was made available for listening on May 6, 2012, one day before its release, on Loudwire.com.

One day after its release, the song reached number 10 on the iTunes Rock Songs Chart, and Tremonti's live music video for it premiered on May 17, 2012, on Noisecreep. The album's official release date was announced on Ultimate Guitar Archive as July 17, 2012.

His solo band originally consisted of Friedman and Whitlock alongside Alter Bridge and Creed bassist Brian Marshall playing bass guitar as a session/touring member. The band performed its first solo concert at The Social in Orlando, Florida, on July 17, 2012, with the performance filmed for a future video release. Wolfgang Van Halen replaced Brian Marshall as a touring bassist in September 2012.

Tremonti recorded their second album with Wolfgang Van Halen playing bass for the 2015 release. On March 3, 2015, Tremonti released a sample of the song "Radical Change" whilst revealing the album title Cauterize and the track listing for the upcoming sophomore effort. On Tuesday, March 17, 2015, Tremonti released another song preview for the track "Flying Monkeys" and also gave a concrete release date of June 9, 2015 for Cauterize. On March 20, 2015, Tremonti unveiled via Twitter that the first single, titled "Another Heart", would be released Tuesday, March 24, 2015. On March 23, 2015, the single Another Heart was made available for streaming via fret12. On March 27, 2015, the artwork for Cauterize was revealed and it was revealed that Cauterize will be the first of two albums to be released as the two albums were recorded together.

Musical style

The band's music is a departure from Mark Tremonti's main bands, featuring more of a speed metal influence.

Members

• Mark Tremonti – lead vocals, lead guitar (2012-Present)
• Eric Friedman – rhythm and lead guitar, backing vocals (2012-Present)
• Garrett Whitlock – drums (2012-Present)
• Wolfgang Van Halen – bass guitar, backing vocals (2012-Present)

Touring members

• Tanner Keegan - bass guitar (2015-present)

Previous members

• Brian Marshall – bass guitar (2012)

Discography

• All I Was (2012)
• Cauterize (2015)
• Dust (2016)

External links

• Official website

References