Alter Bridge's Mark Tremonti on Soundwave: 'It's Like Summer Camp'

Alter Bridge’s Mark Tremonti on Soundwave: ‘It’s Like Summer Camp’

2012-02-29

Story by Cat Badra

Mark Tremonti says playing Australia’s Soundwave Festival is familiar turf

Alter Bridge are calling 2012 something of an off year for the band, giving frontman Myles Kennedy time to record and tour with Slash and the rest of the gents — guitarist Mark Tremonti, bass player Brian Marshall and drummer Scott Phillips — some leeway to tour and record a new album with Creed. One big exception, though, is the 2012 Soundwave Festival in Australia, which featured a performance by Alter Bridge, at one point even joined onstage by Slash, last weekend.

Tremonti says Soundwave is a dream gig for any rock band, including Alter Bridge. “It doesn’t get any better than Soundwave. There are more bands than you see anywhere… “ Tremonti — who also plans to release his debut solo album, “All I Was,” this spring — told Music Feeds. “But, you know, the kids in the states don’t know too much about Soundwave. It’s too far away, but bands all know about it. Every band wants to play Soundwave – it’s a fun time, it’s like summer camp. We’ve been doing the festival circuit for years now so for us it’s great to see all our friends.”

Tremonti added that each of the band members’ respective projects only serve to make the core of Alter Bridge stronger. “We’ve all been in a lot of bands, I think you just get older and you get wiser,” he said. “Everyone’s an artist and wants to do their own thing, just as long as you put equal effort into all your bands. For Alter Bridge, we try to put out a record every two to three years. That’s always been a good system for us.” (Photo credit: Ashley Maile.)