AB VI Speculation

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AnybodyListening.net
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Re: AB VI Speculation

Post by AnybodyListening.net »

Seems like most of us are on the same page as to what we're hoping for.

The "time" issue is always tricky. In this day and age, I totally understand the need to have multiple things going, so there's no real downtime, and to be frank, a continual stream of income. As successful as Creed was, Mark, Brian, and Flip aren't rich. And Myles hasn't had any top-selling record or major public landscape-shifting type success either. So the business end of things is always there, and it should be, and it is understandable.

Buuuuuut, that does hamper to a degree the way in which their schedule allows for the type of organic writing I think many of us want to see. They are all pretty bright dudes, and they know that. But hopefully they'll carve out a good block of time. I'd happily wait until 2020 if that meant they had a complete month off to write as a band, instead of just piecing together riffs and sections over a week or so between Myles and Mark.

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Dolo
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Re: AB VI Speculation

Post by Dolo »

anguyen92 wrote:
Dolo wrote:Stop caring about what the fans want and write whatever feels right to you
I don't think they really have the fans in mind that much with how they do stuff given various fans' gripes of the sound quality of their albums......... :shifty
I wasn't talking about the production side of things (I don't think they'll ever drop Elvis).
I was talking about the songwriting. I've heard Mark say in numerous interviews 'our fans seem to enjoy those longer, more epic songs blablabla' 'as soon as we have the single, we can focus on writing something more interesting'.
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AB4Lyfe
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Re: AB VI Speculation

Post by AB4Lyfe »

AnybodyListening.net wrote:Seems like most of us are on the same page as to what we're hoping for.

The "time" issue is always tricky. In this day and age, I totally understand the need to have multiple things going, so there's no real downtime, and to be frank, a continual stream of income. As successful as Creed was, Mark, Brian, and Flip aren't rich. And Myles hasn't had any top-selling record or major public landscape-shifting type success either. So the business end of things is always there, and it should be, and it is understandable.

Buuuuuut, that does hamper to a degree the way in which their schedule allows for the type of organic writing I think many of us want to see. They are all pretty bright dudes, and they know that. But hopefully they'll carve out a good block of time. I'd happily wait until 2020 if that meant they had a complete month off to write as a band, instead of just piecing together riffs and sections over a week or so between Myles and Mark.
In fairness to the band about that last point, I’m pretty sure they start piecing together parts and writing sections together before they meet up with the other guys. But I understand the point you’re making there, how it all comes together in 10 days of pre-production.

Honestly in terms of time for writing, I’m happy with the way they did it on Fortress. That writing process was a LITTLE more organic, and they took more time in pre-production to really nail everything down.
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Re: AB VI Speculation

Post by Stevieg1993 »

For the new album I'd like to think quality over quantity. I'd rather have 10 or 11 top quality songs than 14 songs with 7 fillers. I would like a concept album but only if it flows and as a good story behind it. Don't think it should be a personal album. Save that for solo stuff.

I'd like a good ballad on the album, acoustic build into an epic climax
Couple of your standard 4 and a half minute radio friendly songs
Obviously a couple of Progg direction songs
A James Bond Style song abit like 'The Great Beyond' with the Orchestra
Then speaking of Orchestra maybe dip into abit of European Metal territory. A Nightwish esque kinda thing. Would like it heavy, melodic,epic, Orchestra on full front. Really think with Myles vocals and dipping into a little bit more than American rock radio they could pull it off.

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Re: AB VI Speculation

Post by Mr. Slash »

chtimixeur wrote:Work with a producer who will push you to do new things.
Don't bring any riff, and write full songs in a room, as a band.
Take risks.
Yeah, this breaks it down pretty precisely. I don't really know what I want to hear from this band. More Tremonti vocals would be cool, or heavier stuff as well. Or more sophisticated ballads. Im the end it's in their hands to create an album that feels like AB again. The Last Hero didn't to me.

Sadly, I'm rather sceptical about potential changes in their songwriting. Blandness will take over.

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Re: AB VI Speculation

Post by TenaciousBe »

More back-and-forth with Mark and Myles on vocals, a la Alice in Chains, or to a lesser extent, Sevendust. Mark has proven himself to be a very competent vocalist, and they should use that tool within AB more often -- on a good handful of songs, too, not just one like AB3 or Fortress.
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UninvitedZero
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Re: AB VI Speculation

Post by UninvitedZero »

I'm all for a longer wait and a more organic songwriting process. I don't really mind the cobbling together riffs way the guys write. When it works, it can work well...

I'd like to hear a little less production and more of a band I love. I want to hear Mark, Myles, Brian and Flip in a room together throwing ideas at the wall. Two guitars, two voices and a rhythm section. The big, layered sound can be fun and heavy (TLH title track), but I fell in love with Buried Alive back in the day. That song, the entire first two albums sound SO raw. Like real rock music. Four dudes in a room, amplifiers cranking. Blackbird was created in that room by those dudes. Let's get back to creating magical music instead of building cluttered riff jigsaw puzzles in just ten days.
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The Dissident
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Re: AB VI Speculation

Post by The Dissident »

Here would be my "wishlist"
1 song where Mark gets Sole lead vocals
1-2 songs where Mark plays a large role in the vocals, ie trade off verses or duet style
1-2 Songs over 6 minutes long (Non-ballads)
1-2 Strong ballads.
1-2 songs where they try something brand new.
2-3 Radio friendly but rocking songs.

Puts the album between 8 and 12 songs and would likely kick ass. I find on albums of 10 or more songs quality drops on a few songs noticeably. Id be completely fine with a 8 Song album as long as it has strong material.

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Re: AB VI Speculation

Post by rikjohannsen90 »

I read a lot about TLH being too much of a sound wall to many users here. But I learned that the more you listen to each song, the more details and the more "musical finesse" you get out of the songs. Same with the RAH Addicted video. The more I listen to it, the better I can hear the orchestra.

So my wishes for the next AB record are:
-Keep evolving and try different arrangements
-Stay with Elvis and the whole production crew because they do a really great job (in my opinion)
-Let Mark sing more often
-Get back to the classic Alter Bridge logo
-12, 13 tracks with 2 or 3 bonus tracks maybe

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Re: AB VI Speculation

Post by riemslag1 »

Just make the album you want and feel good about and hope your fanbase will like it better than TLH. You guys are so talented ; I have confidence you will succeed. Every band has a least favorite album in their catalogue ; so glad you probably already have that one now with TLH, and even that is not a bad album. That shows the greatness of this band. Maybe a nice acoustic bonusdisc a la MTV unplugged of the entire album and some old goodies ?

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AnybodyListening.net
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Re: AB VI Speculation

Post by AnybodyListening.net »

rikjohannsen90 wrote:I read a lot about TLH being too much of a sound wall to many users here. But I learned that the more you listen to each song, the more details and the more "musical finesse" you get out of the songs. Same with the RAH Addicted video. The more I listen to it, the better I can hear the orchestra.
That's a good point, and that's how TLH was for me. At first, I thought it was a wall of sound, but the more I listened, the more complex it showed itself to be.

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Re: AB VI Speculation

Post by MuffinMcFluffin »

More does not necessarily mean better, though. It could, but it doesn't always.

One song where I think the instrumentation helps a song a lot is in the Lifehouse song called Between the Raindrops. It ultimately uses almost twenty different instruments throughout the song.



The "wall of sound" in TLH comes from competing frequencies, losing its fidelity. Maybe many complex layers play a role in the problem at hand, but it's the mixing that's the real issue.

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Re: AB VI Speculation

Post by Jaded Rescue »

AnybodyListening.net wrote:
rikjohannsen90 wrote:I read a lot about TLH being too much of a sound wall to many users here. But I learned that the more you listen to each song, the more details and the more "musical finesse" you get out of the songs. Same with the RAH Addicted video. The more I listen to it, the better I can hear the orchestra.
That's a good point, and that's how TLH was for me. At first, I thought it was a wall of sound, but the more I listened, the more complex it showed itself to be.
I can get this, but just cause you can pick it out with more listening doesn't mean it's a good mix. When Deep Purple released their album Now What?!, my favorite thing about it was that there were vocals, guitar, bass, drums, and at least one keyboard layer (sometimes two) but I could pick out all of it easily. Because they didn't feel the need to layer 3 guitars, 5 keyboards, and 10 vocal tracks. Add on top of that the fact that it was mastered pretty well, and you have a great sounding album on your hands. TLH is not that.

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Re: AB VI Speculation

Post by Jaded Rescue »

MuffinMcFluffin wrote:More does not necessarily mean better, though. It could, but it doesn't always.

One song where I think the instrumentation helps a song a lot is in the Lifehouse song called Between the Raindrops. It ultimately uses almost twenty different instruments throughout the song.



The "wall of sound" in TLH comes from competing frequencies, losing its fidelity. Maybe many complex layers play a role in the problem at hand, but it's the mixing that's the real issue.
You get it. :cheers

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Crumbso
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Re: AB VI Speculation

Post by Crumbso »

AnybodyListening.net wrote:
rikjohannsen90 wrote:I read a lot about TLH being too much of a sound wall to many users here. But I learned that the more you listen to each song, the more details and the more "musical finesse" you get out of the songs. Same with the RAH Addicted video. The more I listen to it, the better I can hear the orchestra.
That's a good point, and that's how TLH was for me. At first, I thought it was a wall of sound, but the more I listened, the more complex it showed itself to be.
I find a lot of detail to be obscured by the mix.

My wants for AB VI:

- More atmosphere and space in the music
- Give ideas more time to establish themselves and breathe
- A more natural dynamic mix
- A couple of slower songs that aren't just ballads or 'poppy songs'
- A Mark song
- A max of 12 songs and a runtime not much longer than 50 minutes
- Spend longer on pre-production and writing
- Keep on proggin'
- More Myles lower register
- At least one song that is CRUSHINGLY HEAVY
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Re: AB VI Speculation

Post by fix »

^ you get it!

Might change the last one to ‘at least two’ ;-)

AngusWolfe
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Re: AB VI Speculation

Post by AngusWolfe »

My wishlist is a little different to some of you guys, so after years of on-again off-again browsing I finally bit the bullet and joined to discuss.

Firstly, Quality over quantity. I'd much rather a 50 minute album that is consistently great than something longer that's hit and miss. One of my biggest complaints with modern music is that albums are too long. I'm hoping that the Vinyl comeback is combating that somewhat. ABIII and The Last Hero both suffer from being way too long to enjoy in one sitting.

Secondly, lose Elvis. He's done great things with this band but I think after the Last Hero was less well received a change would be good. Bring in a fresh mind who can push the band to their full potential.

As for the actual music, Year of the Tiger has me wanting more of Myles' lower register. He's not getting any younger and this is where he still has the sexy tone. I'd rather he had the tone and fewer high notes. This also makes the high notes special, look at Words, Myles starts low and it makes the climax even more impressive. I also don't really want another song with Mark on lead vocals. I'm happy for him to have vocal parts, but I don't want it to become formulaic where every album has to a "Mark on vocals" song. Waters Rising is his Alter Bridge song, keep it special. He gets his singing kicks on the Tremonti stuff, Myles is the vocalist for Alter Bridge. That said, if it's the price we have to pay for more Myles guitar parts, then it's a sacrifice I'm willing to make.

More than anything I'd just like them to keep it fresh. I'd love to hear them experiment more with extended range guitars, ambient sections, maybe even start messing with polyrhythms? Or go the other way, add in some Piano, orchestration, blues/Jazz influences. Keep us on our toes boys :)

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Re: AB VI Speculation

Post by chtimixeur »

AngusWolfe wrote:Secondly, lose Elvis. He's done great things with this band but I think after the Last Hero was less well received a change would be good. Bring in a fresh mind who can push the band to their full potential.
It's not gonna happen.
I'm ready to bet he'll keep on producing every Alter Bridge/Tremonti/Myles album over the next 15 years, as well as a few Conspirators ones.
AngusWolfe wrote:Waters Rising is his Alter Bridge song, keep it special.
+1

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Re: AB VI Speculation

Post by Micky »

I just want the guys to make music they want to make.

I wasn’t a big fan of TLH, but there’s songs on there that I can Really say are some of my favorite AB songs(Island of Fools, Cradle to the Grave, Poison in Your Veins).

As long as the guys are making music that they enjoy making, ill enjoy listening to it.
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Re: AB VI Speculation

Post by Jamiep »

Micky wrote:I just want the guys to make music they want to make.

I wasn’t a big fan of TLH, but there’s songs on there that I can Really say are some of my favorite AB songs(Island of Fools, Cradle to the Grave, Poison in Your Veins).

As long as the guys are making music that they enjoy making, ill enjoy listening to it.
I agree - let them do what they do in the way they want. I’ve loved every bit of the journey so far!

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