ALL THAT REMAINS Singer Says It's 'Definitely Weird' Touring Without Late Guitarist OLI HERBERT

ALL THAT REMAINS frontman Phil Labonte says that it’s “definitely weird” playing shows without guitarist Oliver “Oli” Herbert who passed away in October. “There’s never been an ALL THAT REMAINS show that Oli didn’t play,” the singer told Antihero Magazine.

Labonte went on to say that the first concert without Herbert was was especially “tough” to get through. “It’s definitely an adjustment,” he admitted. “But Oli lived and breathed metal. He loved everything about being in a band and touring and everything. He definitely would have wanted us to keep going and keep carrying on his legacy and stuff.”

Asked if it’s been “therapeutic” playing shows after such a heavy loss, Labonte said: “It’s a little too early to ask that or to answer that… I don’t know that there’s a right thing to do.

“My dad passed away in 2000,” he continued. “Me and my mom had a couple conversations about what it was going to be like. One of the things that we agreed on and decided on is there’s not really a right way to handle a loss like that. It’s difficult to say that there’s a right or a wrong way. Sure, you don’t want to do something that’s going to hurt anyone else or whatever. But if you’re not hurting someone else, the person that’s passed is passed. So, you really need to do what’s right for the people that have survived, the people that are still surviving. I don’t think there is a right or a wrong way.”

Oliver was found dead at the edge of a pond on his property in Stafford Springs, Connecticut. Connecticut police are are treating his death as suspicious.

In November, Oliver’s wife, Elizabeth Herbert, released a since-deleted statement via his official Facebook page in which she revealed that Oli drowned after apparently ingesting antidepressant medication and sleeping pills.

Herbert began playing guitar at 14. He co-founded ALL THAT REMAINS with Labonte in 1998.

ALL THAT REMAINS has released nine studio albums, a live CD/DVD, and has sold more than one million records worldwide.

The surviving members of ALL THAT REMAINS — Labonte, Mike Martin (guitar), Jason Costa (drums) and Aaron Patrick (bass, backing vocals) — recently completed a European tour with SEVENDUST. Guitar virtuoso and YouTube personality Jason Richardson (ALL SHALL PERISH, CHELSEA GRIN, BORN OF OSIRIS) filled in on the trek.

Fonte: Blabbermouth.net