AB VIII Speculations/Writing/Recording

[TenaciousBe]

If Mark is talking about this "ridiculously cool" thing in regards to the album as a whole, my ideas would be...

- A nice big concept album, a la A Dying Machine. Bonus points if they write a novel to it again (and actually distribute it for more than one pressing so more people can read it!).

- I like the retreat idea. Maybe hole themselves up in a cabin out in the woods near Spokane for a week or two.

- Make it a full-on covers album. They used to KILL it with their covers on the ODR tour, and it makes me sad that they never held onto doing at least one or two as they progressed on. I know fans want to hear AB music when they go to an AB show, but there's no reason they couldn't throw in a Kashmir or Highway Star once in a while as a treat. For a covers album idea, each of the guys could pick out their 3 most influential songs that shaped them as musicians, and they come together to cover those songs.

- All-acoustic album. Alter Bridge meets Phillip Phillips.

- Collabs on every song. Guest vocals with, say, Lzzy, Lajon, Corey Taylor would be cool. Guest guitars with all their guitar friends (Slash, Wolf, Erock, John and Clint from 7D, etc).

Whatever they do, I hope it really refreshes their sound and moves into a cool direction. I thought Walk The Sky and A Dying Machine were such incredible albums, that it was almost inevitable that P&K and Marching In Time (respectively) would be a little bit of a letdown - and it's not to say that I didn't like them, but I did feel like they both sort of regressed into a more "standard" AB/Tremonti sound. I think all bands have that struggle, though, to retain their distinctive sound without feeling repetitive or stagnant. It's great when a band can grow and do new exciting things, and whatever this is, I hope it's just that!

[Mr.Vlado]

Whatever they do, I hope it really refreshes their sound and moves into a cool direction. I thought Walk The Sky and A Dying Machine were such incredible albums, that it was almost inevitable that P&K and Marching In Time (respectively) would be a little bit of a letdown -

It's just funny to see how different music taste can be: For me P&K and Marching in Time are much more enjoyable than WTS and A Dying Machine (but I also like all 4). It just shows how hard/impossible it us to please everyone and that it is inevitable that some will say they moved in the wrong direction, no matter what they do.

[scarecrow]

it's gotta be an orchestra

[Addicted To Pain]

After the new Loudwire interview, I don't think that it's a concept album. If Mark thinks that people will think that they didn't know that the band could do that, it can't be that because we already got a concept album with A Dying Machine.

[Ubik]

it's gotta be an orchestra

Yeah that would also be my guess, can't think of much else that would bring that much excitement out of him, and those Albert Hall shows were a big touchstone for the band.

[anguyen92]

I guess I'll throw this blind guess out there. An album where they have everyone sing? I understand that with 30 years worth of albums involving Mark, Flip, and Brian where Flip and Brian doesn't sing at all, the idea they want to sing in this particular album seems very out there. Could be something they can possibly explore that's new.

[Dolo]

I guess I'll throw this blind guess out there. An album where they have everyone sing? I understand that with 30 years worth of albums involving Mark, Flip, and Brian where Flip and Brian doesn't sing at all, the idea they want to sing in this particular album seems very out there. Could be something they can possibly explore that's new.

I don't think this lands in the 'ridiculously cool' category

[Schulzy]

I guess I'll throw this blind guess out there. An album where they have everyone sing? I understand that with 30 years worth of albums involving Mark, Flip, and Brian where Flip and Brian doesn't sing at all, the idea they want to sing in this particular album seems very out there. Could be something they can possibly explore that's new.

I don't think this lands in the 'ridiculously cool' category

I was half joking when I suggested it earlier but the more I think about it I wonder how that would sound. Or even have them do some group vocals. How about a few songs with lyrics written by those two?

[Dolo]

I think orchestra is a good guess. Or maybe they'll be adding a keyboardist to write with them? A double album? A concept album where they actually do go progressive instead of saying they're getting progressive without actually doing it?

[joshuabeau]

I think orchestra is a good guess. Or maybe they'll be adding a keyboardist to write with them? A double album? A concept album where they actually do go progressive instead of saying they're getting progressive without actually doing it?

Maybe a full on progressive record with an orchestra…

[Addicted To Pain]

I think orchestra is a good guess. Or maybe they'll be adding a keyboardist to write with them? A double album? A concept album where they actually do go progressive instead of saying they're getting progressive without actually doing it?

Maybe a full on progressive record with an orchestra…

How will they play that live?

[Crumbso]

I think orchestra is a good guess. Or maybe they'll be adding a keyboardist to write with them? A double album? A concept album where they actually do go progressive instead of saying they're getting progressive without actually doing it?

Maybe a full on progressive record with an orchestra…

How will they play that live?

Playback? They play to a click now anyway.

[Dolo]

I think orchestra is a good guess. Or maybe they'll be adding a keyboardist to write with them? A double album? A concept album where they actually do go progressive instead of saying they're getting progressive without actually doing it?

Maybe a full on progressive record with an orchestra…

How will they play that live?

Playback? They play to a click now anyway.

Maybe they could do a whole tour with an orchestra? The last thing I want them to do it is use a ton of backing tracks to cover the orchestra parts.

[Addicted To Pain]

I think orchestra is a good guess. Or maybe they'll be adding a keyboardist to write with them? A double album? A concept album where they actually do go progressive instead of saying they're getting progressive without actually doing it?

Maybe a full on progressive record with an orchestra…

How will they play that live?

Playback? They play to a click now anyway.

They do play about half of their songs to a click, but they would definitely shy away from using backing tracks. Remember how they skipped the choir "Ahhs" in This Is War?

[Crumbso]

I think orchestra is a good guess. Or maybe they'll be adding a keyboardist to write with them? A double album? A concept album where they actually do go progressive instead of saying they're getting progressive without actually doing it?

Maybe a full on progressive record with an orchestra…

How will they play that live?

Playback? They play to a click now anyway.

Maybe they could do a whole tour with an orchestra? The last thing I want them to do it is use a ton of backing tracks to cover the orchestra parts.

I can't imagine that any modern band could afford to tour with an orchestra. It nearly bankrupted ELP back in the 70s. I'm not a fan of playback but for something as large as an orchestra I could see them making exceptions.

[Dolo]

I think orchestra is a good guess. Or maybe they'll be adding a keyboardist to write with them? A double album? A concept album where they actually do go progressive instead of saying they're getting progressive without actually doing it?

Maybe a full on progressive record with an orchestra…

How will they play that live?

Playback? They play to a click now anyway.

Maybe they could do a whole tour with an orchestra? The last thing I want them to do it is use a ton of backing tracks to cover the orchestra parts.

I can't imagine that any modern band could afford to tour with an orchestra. It nearly bankrupted ELP back in the 70s. I'm not a fan of playback but for something as large as an orchestra I could see them making exceptions.

There are whole orchestras out there that go on big tours playing their own 'stuff', but yeah, after thinking it through I don't see an entire orchestra doing a whole tour with a band of AB's caliber unless the ticket prices were sky-high.

Even when Metallica did S&M shows, they only had a few shows and used local ensemble in US and Germany.

[Whitebird]

I don't think it'll be something 'Orchesta' oriented, I hope no one can predict what is that so special about the new album so it become a real surprise for we all

[Addicted To Pain]

I wonder if Alter Bridge is in pre-production for this album now that everyone has a break in their touring schedules.

[Dolo]

I would suppose so. March is when they said they will be at the studio.

[JGremore]

I was thinking the cool thing with the new album would be a handful of cover songs with the new album? Maybe do some studio recordings of their covers back in the early days ie: Zepplin Rock and Roll. Or a double album one side their hard stuff the other all acoustic