Alter Bridge: “We wanna write songs that we enjoy, but it‘s also good when people appreciate them.”

After more than two decades together, Alter Bridge enter their 21st year as a band with a self-titled album that serves as both a milestone and a moment of reflection. Eight records into their career, the same four friends remain at the core of the project, still driven by shared goals and a long-standing creative bond. Rather than chasing reinvention for its own sake, the new record arrives as a deliberate reset and a way of taking stock of where the band has been while reaffirming what Alter Bridge has always stood for.

For guitarist and songwriter Mark Tremonti, the self-titled album represents a natural checkpoint in a lengthy catalogue. Drawing on elements that fans have connected with across albums like AB III and Fortress, the record feels like a “best of” era-spanning statement rather than a radical shift in direction. Recorded at the legendary 5150 Studios, the album reinforces the band‘s commitment to classic hard rock values at a time when technology continues to rapidly reshape the industry.

In our latest Cover Story, V13 sat down with the guitarist to talk about Alter Bridge‘s self-titled album, why now felt like the right time for a reset, and how outside projects help keep the band creatively healthy. From recording in hallowed studios and stepping up on lead vocals to his concerns around AI and the future of music, Tremonti offers an honest look at where Alter Bridge stand today, and how they plan to keep moving forward without losing sight of who they are.

Alter Bridge are heading into your 21st year as a band, and you‘ve been lifelong friends. How does it feel to be eight albums into your career now, and it’s been the same group of friends doing this?

“It‘s been great. We‘ve all gotten along from the start, sharing the same goals in mind, and we all love what we do. It‘s been a fun experience for all of us.”

Recently, you talked about this album or this point in the band‘s career being a good time for Alter Bridge to sit down and reset. Could you just expand on that a little bit, and what you meant by that?

“It just kind of fell in our laps with the self-titled record. I think when we were talking about doing a new record, somebody asked, What do you think we should call the record? Myles thinks it was me who brought up the idea, but I can‘t remember specifically. Nobody pushed back on it, and it just seemed like the right thing to do. Eight records deep. We had never done it before. It was like a little bit of a reset. When you have a catalogue as deep as ours, you want to put tent poles in there so people don‘t forget where they‘re at in the list of records, so it‘s a good time to put that self-titled in there.”

When you started the band back in 2004, did you ever think you‘d be talking about the band and eight albums 21 years later, and it being the same group of people?

“No. When I was a kid, I used to think that if you got a record deal and you put out four records, you were one of the most successful bands out there. All of my favorite bands back in the day, like Metallica and Megadeth and Anthrax and Exodus, all those guys had about four or five records tops. I thought that was a huge career. We‘re eight records deep now.”

Do you think the fact that you‘ve each got a lot of other projects going on has been key to keeping you together?

“Absolutely. I think that keeps us coming back to the band excited and ready to go again. I think if you‘re in one band your whole career, it might get a little stale, and tensions might arise between band members. I think, when we do this, if you have an idea that you really feel strongly about and it doesn‘t work for this band, you can go use it for your other band. I think it‘s very healthy.”

Given the fact that you all have different experiences when you go away and, when you come back together, you‘ve talked about being excited about doing Alter Bridge, do those other experiences infiltrate into the album writing process for Alter Bridge?

“I think whatever outside experiences you have, just develop you as a musician and make you more well-rounded and give you more tricks of the trade to bring back to each band.”

“When you have a catalogue as deep as ours, you want to put tent poles in there so people don‘t forget where they‘re at in the list of records, so it‘s a good time to put that self-titled in there.”

Do you think Alter Bridge has a core sound that you don‘t tend to stray from? Talking about this record, I think you said somewhere else that there were a lot of historical elements that have followed you throughout your career?

“I think this record is a Best Of Alter Bridge kind of thing instead of a new direction for Alter Bridge. When people have heard the record, they‘ve said it reminds them of AB III, Fortress, that era, which seems to be the fans’ favorite. We don‘t necessarily ever write for any specific reasons. We write for ourselves. We wanna write songs that we enjoy, but it‘s also good when people appreciate them.”

What do you think fans will make of this record? As a marker point in your career, how do you think this stands up to other records? Do you think they‘ll compare it to other records, or do you think the self-titled record represents a fresh new Alter Bridge sound?

“I feel really strong about this record. I think it holds its own with all the other records. It‘s got something new. I think each record has its own personality, and this one definitely has its own.”

You chose to collaborate with Michael on the record as well, in terms of producing the record. We‘ve talked about the band being a continuous lineup, but is that continuity something that‘s important to you outside of the core band as well?

“I think it‘s a case-by-case thing. On any given day, I feel differently about how you approach stuff, and I think that‘s healthy as well, so not to repeat yourself and not fall into any patterns.”

V13 Cover Story #115 – Alter Bridge

You chose the legendary 5150 Studios to record the album…

“You always try to figure out some way to inspire something on a new record. Being able to go into that studio… It‘s hallowed ground. It‘s one of the most important places that has ever created rock music. To be able to get in there and be the first band outside of a Van Halen family members band to be able to do was really special to us.”

Are you all big Van Halen fans? Was Eddie a big influence on you personally growing up?

“Absolutely. I think everybody in the band is a Van Halen fan. I don‘t think I‘ve ever met somebody who didn‘t love Van Halen. Even when I was a little kid, my older brother would play Van Halen constantly, and he‘d always challenge me to play Van Halen songs on the guitar. I never could when I was a kid, it always seemed untouchable to me.”

What was it like going in there to record the album then?

“It was a palpable energy you felt in there. You felt the magic.”

There are tracks on the album where you provide vocals, but there are tracks like ‘Trusting Me‘ where you take over and you‘re singing. Is that something you enjoy doing, and is that something you‘d like to do more of with Alter Bridge?

“I love singing. I think Myles is funny. He likes playing lead guitar, and I like singing, so when we get the opportunity to do it, we both jump all over it. I don‘t feel a lot of pressure when I‘m singing because I‘m mostly known as a guitar player, but I‘m the guy you‘ll see at the local karaoke bar singing. I love singing.”

“I don‘t think I‘ve ever met somebody who didn‘t love Van Halen. Even when I was a little kid, my older brother would play Van Halen constantly, and he‘d always challenge me to play Van Halen songs on the guitar.”

What‘s your go-to choice for karaoke then?

“I‘d probably start it with ‘My Way‘ and then ‘Night Shift‘ by The Commodores is a good one.”

Where did that idea come from for you to step up and sing lead vocals on an Alter Bridge record?

“I‘ve done lead vocals with the Tremonti band now for over a decade. I do the Frank Sinatra band, so half the bands I‘m in, I‘m the lead vocalist, so I‘ve gotten used to it.”

Myles, to me, is one of the most iconic frontmen in modern rock. What have you learned from working alongside him as a singer?

“He sings so differently than I do, so I don‘t really learn much from him as a vocalist, just because we‘re so different. My range is way lower, and he‘s way more of a trained singer. I‘m more of an off-the-cuff singer. I just know that, when I write vocals, he‘ll be able to hit whatever I throw his way with his range.”

How does the writing process work between the two of you on a record?

“We‘ll write individually at first, and then we‘ll put, put songs into Dropbox files for the band to hear. Once we get into pre-production on the record, the band will play all those songs and figure out what‘s gonna make the record. It‘s usually right down the middle, an equal amount of Myles songs versus my songs. Then we combine our songs, and we complete each other‘s songs along the way.”

Music production and technology have changed a lot over the years. There‘s a lot of AI coming into music now and a lot of new technology. For a band whose sound is rooted in a more hard rock, classic rock, organic sound, is that something you embrace as a band, or is it something that you avoid?

“I‘m really old school. I can‘t really use technology too much. I just record with my external mic on my laptop because technology‘s changing so quickly. I have to rely on other folks to record. Even when I do my demos, I have to have my assistant engineer come over to my house and record ‘em for me.

It is nice to be able to have Dropbox files for demos that you can share. The most terrifying thing is all this AI infiltration into the songwriting process. That stuff makes me sick to my stomach.”

I guess keeping an organic sound is something that‘s really important to you as a band, which, I guess, ties in with the studio you chose to record the album. As you said, it‘s iconic in terms of classic work and hard rock…

“We‘re just gonna keep doing what we‘ve loved doing since we were kids. Whatever technology happens, it‘ll be hard to change who we are.”

“The most terrifying thing is all this AI infiltration into the songwriting process. That stuff makes me sick to my stomach.”

How would you sum up that journey for you as an individual and for Alter Bridge as a band?

“It‘s been a crazy ride. The early days of my career were all about surviving, doing what I love, and now it‘s just a matter of making the time for all the different projects that I‘m in and making sure that they all have their fair share of time because I don‘t wanna stop any of them. I love doing everything that I‘m into at the moment.”

How does Alter Bridge fit into those projects? Is that always your priority, and what about the future?

“Whenever I‘m working on one of the projects, it becomes the priority at that time. Alter Bridge, of all the bands I‘ve ever been in, is the longest I‘ve ever been in a band. I‘m gonna keep going until… I‘ll keep doing anything as long as I enjoy it, it doesn‘t become a burden on my life.”