The end is near, but time is on Mark Tremonti’s side. It’s got to be – he planned it this way.
When Guitar World reaches the legendary Floridian guitar force in late November 2024, he’s just stepped into a Toronto hotel room on a day off from Creed’s extremely successful and rapturously received reunion tour, which packed arenas throughout much of the year.
To say he’s caught during a moment of downtime, however, might be a stretch.
Once this interview wraps, he’ll be warming up his voice in preparation for another round of “Tremonti Sings Sinatra” shows, black-tie events where he smoothly croons Ol’ Blue Eyes’ standards.
He’s also touching up some songs he wrote for an upcoming album with Alter Bridge, his other long-running and beloved hard rock project. He may QC a pair of wah-styled prototypes for a long-promised pedal-making project. He and his family are going to sneak in some Christmas shopping while wandering through the Canadian metropolis, too.
Even after tackling all that, the guitarist will be sitting in the hotel relearning rhythmically crushing riffs from The End Will Show Us How, the latest album from his eponymous and more metallically tinged Tremonti project.
He’d made sure to finish that record at the top of 2024 to avoid conflicts with Creed’s weighty tour schedule, but the pendulum is swinging back toward the musical multi-tasker’s heaviest outfit for 2025.
“In my now very-layered career with all these bands, I’ve got to work about a year and a half ahead of schedule to make sure everything’s on time,” he says of an ever-morphing creative flow.
Throughout The End Will Show Us How, Tremonti and the rest of his group – co-guitarist Eric Friedman, bassist Tanner Keegan and drummer Ryan Bennett – are a wrecking ball of kineticism.
They’re smashing darkly anthemic choruses into ominously quarter-bent alt-rock gloom (The Mother, the Earth and I); they’re busting out bare-knuckled baritone riffage alongside pinch-and-burn soloing (One More Time, Nails).
But while generally several shades heavier than Creed or Alter Bridge, End also unveils tender rock balladry (It’s Not Over).
First single Just Too Much may be the record’s most unique surprise. Sporting an infectiously quirky verse groove built around alternating 8- and 9-bar phrases, the song passed Friedman and Tremonti’s smell test immediately.
Perhaps more irregular to the band leader was how his wife was an instant fan, too.
“That was one of the only songs I’ve ever worked on in my studio where my wife was like, ‘What was that thing you were playing last night? That was really cool!’ ” Tremonti says through a hearty laugh.
“She thought it was Audioslave-ish, which is one of her favorite bands. So I was like, ‘All right, we’re onto something!’ ”
You’ve called The Mother, the Earth and I one of your favorite songs you’ve ever done with this band. Pardon the pun, but what makes it so elementally “Tremonti”?
“I heard the initial demos back and it just hit a spot with me. And when it kicks into the chorus chord progression, that’s musically the most satisfying part to play. I like setting up an atmosphere and finding a lyric that fits the mood.
“When I was writing this song, I just spit out those lyrics. I thought it would be a fun thing to tackle, this love for the earth. Finding beauty and peace in nature while the world is in shambles, and everybody’s killing for religion and politics.
“It’s about sitting back in that tranquility of the earth itself… that’s something we all share, no matter what you believe.”
One More Time kicks off with a gnarly, gun-turreted rhythm riff that locks in with a monstrous double kick. It’s one of the heaviest grooves on the record.
“That’s signature Tremonti. Whenever I have a riff in a rhythm that needs to stay super-tight, and it has an almost speed metal-y approach to it, that’s definitely earmarked for Tremonti. If I brought that to [Creed/Alter Bridge bassist and drummer] Scott Phillips and Brian Marshall, they’d look at me funny.
“They like rock. They like progressive rock. But I don’t know if they like speed metal as much as I do. So I do as much of that as possible with Tremonti. That’s one of the main reasons I started this band – to be able to get that side of my songwriting out. They don’t have to be heavy, but that’s definitely a flavor of this band.”
There’s this bending lick you do in the bridge breakdown of One More Time that had one YouTube commenter asking, “Did I just get Weezer-ed?” because it shares a similar feel to the end of Rivers Cuomo’s solo on Buddy Holly. Had you come across that comparison yet?
“No… I’m not too familiar with Weezer. I’d have to go back and listen to it, but it’s definitely not a tribute to Weezer. [Laughs]”
Parallel thoughts, perhaps. A good lick is a good lick!
“It’s just rock ’n’ roll! There are 12 notes; it’s all been done. When that lick came together for One More Time, I thought it was great for the song. It wasn’t because I was listening to a Weezer record, I’ll tell you that much. [Laughs]”
In your last interview with GW, you talked up your love for the clean channel of your PRS MT 100 head. Did that end up being the primary clean tone on The End Will Show Us How?
I honestly think there’s no better tone in the world than a slightly overdriven Dumble. When you mix that with the MT 100, it’s just bliss
“The MT 100 is the primary amp in general. Our producer Elvis [ed. Michael ‘Elvis’ Baskette], absolutely loves that amp. That being said, I’ve always been a firm believer in having multiple amps doing any given job. It’s been a career-long quest for me, pairing amps to find these perfect marriages between tones.
“We had the MT 100, and I brought in a couple of new Dumbles that I love. I honestly think there’s no better tone in the world than a slightly overdriven Dumble. When you mix that with the MT 100, it’s just bliss to me. And then Elvis loves my Cornford RK100, so I brought that in for layering the high-gain rhythms and leads. I think we had it all covered between those three or four amps.”
A while back, you’d started teasing the idea of producing your own pedals. Where are you at with that project?
“Just yesterday I tried out two pedals, but I’m trying to be as picky as I can and not pull the trigger until I’m perfectly happy with it. I’m trying to come up with something cool that’s also very affordable and road-worthy. When you put your name on something, you’ve got to make sure it’s right. We’ve been at it for a few years… but we’ll get there.”
What were you testing out, specifically?
Any time there’s a big, single-string heavy riff, there’s got to be some kind of layered octave on there
“They were two wah pedals, but we’ve worked on a tremolo, a Uni-Vibe-type of pedal, and a dual overdrive; I love the idea of a stackable overdrive. I also want to do an octave pedal at some point, but the parts are a little tougher to come by than you would think.
“So, it’s been [about] hunting some of that down. I want to come out with three pedals when it launches and then come out with a pedal a year after that.”
How much octave pedal work is on this record?
“Any time there’s a big, single-string heavy riff, there’s got to be some kind of layered octave on there. What we usually do in that case is we’ll put a layer of Micro Synth in there, too.
“Micro Synths have some of the nastiest fuzz tones. If you listen to All the Wicked Things, there’s a section in the bridge where it drops to a real heavy single-string riff. I’d be surprised if we didn’t layer some sort of octave on there.”
How excited are you to start promoting this record with Tremonti? That’s going to be a different vibe than these Creed arena shows…
“Oh, absolutely. All my bands feel so different. It’s crazy going from the Sinatra shows, where I’m wearing a tux and playing with all of these incredibly gifted performers, to going over to Europe and playing in clubs with my heaviest band. It’s definitely a different vibe.
“You’ve got to take a different approach. I can’t get on stage with Tremonti and be like, ‘Hey, you all look beautiful tonight, thank you for coming to the event,’ like I would with a Sinatra performance.”
Maybe you’re underselling the power of that. Everyone loves a compliment!
I’m going into the studio with Alter Bridge in March. I put together nine demos last month that I’ve shared with everybody
“I feel like when I do Tremonti, I become a different character. When it’s heavier music, I become a WWE wrestler: ‘Get up, everybody!’ Whatever the music pulls out of you, you know…”
On the idea of pulling out music through these different personas, is there any other music you’re working on at the moment? Whether with Alter Bridge, Creed or Tremonti?
“I’m going into the studio with Alter Bridge in March. I put together nine demos last month that I’ve shared with everybody. I’m always thinking about volume two of Tremonti Sings Sinatra.
“Every record that we put out [donates proceeds] to the National Down Syndrome Society, so I want to keep raising funds for that. And it’s also just a lot of fun to do. We’re still looking at what happens [in 2025] with the Tremonti tours, stateside. And then we’re looking at Creed as well. We’ll see how it all pans out!”
- The End Will Show Us How is out now via Napalm.
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