TheAlterBridgeNation.com

Totally stoked for this. I agree it would've been a nice idea for a double-AB album, but still - lets get it on!

mikeyd23 wrote:The problem would be easily solved if Mark's solo project didn't exist and he continued to contribute lyrics to AB. I still say AB are at their best when both Mark and Myles contribute lyrically to an album.

And this is why Blackbird (the album) was so incredible.

Mr. Slash wrote:

Jaded Rescue wrote: I think the reason I'm more hyped for Tremonti to do this is because he tends to be the more poetic of the two, lyrically. Myles used to be in the MF4 days and then something happened.

The edgy teenager in Myles died.

Or to be more precise: Myles addressed topics you can't be really poetic about. (politics, religion) I mean despite using several metaphors for purgatory and agony.

Yeah, and I think that's kind of what I mean when I sometimes say Myles doesn't write that honestly anymore. Of course I believe he's writing from his heart as always, but he's not openly writing about his feelings. He's writing about world issues. It's fine, it just never hits me as hard. If AB ever wrote something like 12/31 or Believe, from a lyrical standpoint, I'd be in heaven.

Jaded Rescue wrote:

mikeyd23 wrote:The problem would be easily solved if Mark's solo project didn't exist and he continued to contribute lyrics to AB. I still say AB are at their best when both Mark and Myles contribute lyrically to an album.

And this is why Blackbird (the album) was so incredible.

Pretty much, yea.

I'm not trying to hate on Tremonti doing a double or his solo project in general... Just pointing out that his solo project is probably the reason why we don't get Mark writing lyrics with AB anymore. And I'd rather have that.

Mark has mentioned in interviews that he believes that songs are more sincere when the person singing it writes the lyrics. He wrote a lot of the lyrics on ODR because they didn't have a singer at the time. He wrote less on Blackbird but still contributed. By the time AB III came around, Myles had been in the band for 6 years, and that's kind of when he took full control as the lyricist.

I have a feeling Myles would still be writing the majority of if not all of the lyrics for AB even if Tremonti's solo project wasn't a thing just based on what Mark has said in the past.

I thought Myles did all the Blackbird lyrics?

Ubik wrote:I thought Myles did all the Blackbird lyrics?

Mark contributes to lyrics on all of the AB albums

Yeah, but most of the time it's either a single line that he had in his head whilst writing the guitar part ("Isolation") or something that he's got a main vocal on. As far as I know anyway. Pretty sure it's been that way since Blackbird as Myles prefers to sing stuff he's written, open to correction though of course.

Ubik wrote:Yeah, but most of the time it's either a single line that he had in his head whilst writing the guitar part ("Isolation") or something that he's got a main vocal on. As far as I know anyway. Pretty sure it's been that way since Blackbird as Myles prefers to sing stuff he's written, open to correction though of course.

Yeah Myles does do the majority of the writing but we don't really know unless we were with them when they wrote the lyrics. I'm sure Mark contributes more than we think.

So it's like the complete opposite of how the band started. Mark wrote everything and was the only one playing guitar and now Myles is writing most and playing more and more solos. I think Mark said in an interview it's like 60/40 for solo playing now with him still doing the majority.

tzAB wrote:So it's like the complete opposite of how the band started. Mark wrote everything and was the only one playing guitar and now Myles is writing most and playing more and more solos. I think Mark said in an interview it's like 60/40 for solo playing now with him still doing the majority.

I'm biased so most of my posts are extremely left field but I've always preferred Mark's song writing/guitar over Myles.. I bet you Blackbird was closer to 50/50 lyrics. I just prefer the moodier lyric writing that I think Mark excels at

After going through the thread, I'll throw my 2 cents in.

I know they're comfortable with Elvis but it reminds me of a sports team that keeps the same coach. They have average seasons with maybe one good one thrown in on occasion. I'm not saying dump Elvis but look at the longevity of Metallica. Ride, Puppets, Justice produced by the same guy. Then they switched for the next four. No matter your thoughts on the albums themselves, we got different sounds.

I tend to agree with some of the others that while I like the stuff AB & Tremonti put out, it could be more dynamic. I think of it like this; when you've got a playlist of every AB song, you want to immediately recognize what's playing as different & not just sounding like just another song. ODR, Blackbird, AB3, Fortress, and The Last Hero all have some different elements but they also have songs that could be interchangeable among the other albums.

With Tremonti, we've AIW was basically all the ideas that Mark had around from previous work. I enjoy Cauterize & Dust, finding myself leaning more towards Dust. Personally, I want you to melt my face, make me have "the feels," then give me something to feel good about in the same album. They've done a pretty good job of doing that. Just experiment a little now! I think fans would appreciate it more if they took some chances.

All I Was had the best riffs, Cauterize had the best amount of good songs overall (I think).

I think Myles is the stronger lyricist (and guitarist/songwriter for that matter) than Mark, and I definitely think he executes moody/personal lyrics to a level far beyond Mark.

That being said, I will agree that Myles' lyrics aren't what they were during the MF4 days (or even ABIII, which is his strongest lyrical output with AB). Part of that could be due to him simply not being the tortured young artist that he once was, but I'd wager that a large part of it is to do with their fanbase. Many of their most popular songs are very simplistic lyrically (think In Loving Memory, Rise Today, etc), and I think the band recognise this and want to remain connected with this portion of their fanbase, which would otherwise feel alienated by the heavier, more progressive route the band is taking.

And in saying that, Myles has contributed some killer lyrics on recent AB albums. Like I said, I think ABIII is easily the strongest AB album lyrically, but even since then: Lover is dark and heart-wrenching, I really dig the lyrics in Fortress and the mood they give off, Cradle to the Grave is a standout and very personal. I feel like most of the criticism his lyrics are getting are from the overly cheesy and uplifting songs. And some of these are deserving - I feel the lyrics to songs like My Champion and You Will Be Remembered leave a lot to be desired, but at the same time people are using those examples and forgetting much better examples such as Calm the Fire and Twilight.

I agree that Mark's lyrics can sometimes be more poetic, but not always in the best way. Sometimes they come across as across as less mature attempts at weaving a clunky line together that says the exact same thing that a more direct line could have said. And he's also guilty of writing cheesy lyrics too: I cringed pretty hard the first time I heard Another Heart, and although I quite like Unable to See as I song, I don't think it's anywhere near as strong lyrically as many seem to suggest it is.

At the end of the day, I consider them to be both really good lyricists, I've just never had a Tremonti lyric cut right through me the way that some Myles lyrics have, ie. Fallout (MF4 song), Overflow, White Flag, Blackbird, All Hope Is Gone, Show Me A Sign, Lover, etc.

And to follow on from my comment about preferring Myles as a guitarist/songwriter (though honestly, both he and Mark are in the top 10 for either of those categories for me), I think I want to tie that into an earlier comment I read on this thread.

Someone mentioned that Myles seems to do better with the progressive ideas and arrangements, whereas Tremonti seems stuck in the same pattern. Firstly, I think it's a big oversimplification, as Mark has shown plenty of potential in that area. But I think it does demonstrate a difference in their songwriting approaches. Why do we think it took Myles 6 years to finish writing and recording his solo album, and now that he has done it, he's sat on it for another 18 months and is talking about writing a whole new album with no release date in sight? Yet, in the space of 6 years, Mark has already released 3 albums with his solo project and is already geared up to have a new double album out most likely before Myles gets his album out?

Mark is the type of songwriter who just KEEPS coming up with new ideas. He just writes and writes and writes, and Myles taking time away from AB to play with Slash meant that Mark needed an outlet for all those ideas. Which is great! But unfortunately, it's meant that there isn't really a filter anymore. Having to wait 3 years between albums meant Mark could only bring the best of those ideas forward, and he had an equally component songwriter in Myles sitting across from him to use as checkpoint. Now he can just write a new album whenever he is free, and there is no second prominent songwriter in the Tremonti project for him to filter his ideas through.

Mark is the type of guy to write 50 cool guitar parts that are all melodic and interesting. Myles is the type to take those 50 guitar parts, select 10 of them, and turn them from being interesting into being amazing. It's how some of AB's most daring work has come about. Blackbird, Bleed It Dry, Fortress, This Side of Fate ... in each case, Mark came to Myles with a great foundation for a song, and Myles turned it on its head to make it something special.

Good posts, Elliot.

I'm actually excited for Mark to do this with Tremonti vs AB. ODR was mostly Mark and if he's learning towards a greater emphasis on sappy/heartfelt/less hard (per the article) for one of the albums we might see a fresh take on that with everything he has under his belt now. Especially since we know they have no intention of AB revisiting that style with their pre and post-Blackbird era (how the band views their own albums) it will be fun to see what he can cook up. I know a lot of the actual guitar work for Unable to See was from an older recording but if we're going to get more stuff like that I'm not only all for it, I'm stoked. Bring on them clean tones baby.

The only thing I'm worried about is if he plans to crank out lyrics for another 20 songs all at once that it could be difficult writing-wise. He said in an interview for Cauterize/Dust that he found he was repeating himself a bunch and had to try and swap things out. I think he's a perfectly capable songwriter who has likely written a lot of my favorite AB/Tremonti lyrics, I just want him to take his time so it's strong all the way through.

Any timeline for this?

One Drew Remains wrote:Any timeline for this?

I think the plan is to finish touring with AB through this year, then they'll meet up early 2018 (probably after the holidays) to write with the intent to release a new album late next year. I know they briefly met up a few months ago during an AB touring break and put a song together that Mark's brother described as "heavy" (shocker). Flip backed this up the other day in an interview too. That's all I know.

One Drew Remains wrote:Any timeline for this?

Id say studio from January to March.. Spring tour (April-may) to cover Dust songs in the US. Album release in Julyish followed by a Euro tour in the summer. Come back to the states in the fall. Maybe one last Euro tour late fall/early winter. Then AB!

This is based on how they normally run things in the AB Tremonti camp. It usually takes about 4 months after studio to get album out. Id say 3-4 tours next year is likely.