All That Remains frontman Phil Labonte has finally opened up about band co-founder and guitarist Oli Herbert’s sudden passing. In a recent interview with the Rover’s Morning Glory radio show, the singer cleared up some misconceptions about one of the circumstances of his death, as well as made some none-too flattering comments about Herbert’s widow Elizabeth.
Herbert passed away in October from an “accidental” drowning caused by a mixture of anti-depressants and sleep aids in his system. The death is currently being investigated as suspicious. A week before his death Herbert changed his will, leaving everything to his widow and making sure nothing went to his sister and the rest of his family.
For the most part, the band has been silent about Herbert’s death and continue to remain so. When asked about his thoughts on what happened, Labonte wouldn’t answer, saying,
“I do have an opinion on it, but I’m not gonna say. There is an ongoing investigation by the Connecticut state police.”
One thing he did say was that Herbert was not a big drinker or drug user, debunking one of the main points of contention in the guitarist’s death. Said Labonte,
“Our drummer used to be like ‘Oli, do shots’ and Oli would be like ‘shots are for adolescents.’ [laughs] He liked mixed drinks, he liked good beers, but he wasn’t into the drinking and stuff. He would have some drinks, but I would never recall Oli… in twenty years, I’ve seen him hung over two times. It wasn’t his deal. He loved playing guitar.” Asked about drugs, Labonte didn’t even let host Rover finish his thought, saying “Oli Herbert did not do the types of drugs that you would associate with an overdose, period.”
Further into the interview, Labonte then makes it clear that the band did not like Elizabeth. According to the interview, she was not allowed to join the band on tour.
“Beth was never to be around… to be on tour. She would come to the local shows because, you know, we couldn’t stop her. Everyone else in the band, you know, wives, girlfriends, whatever – they would come out on tour, stay for a few days, stay for a week, everybody got along.” He followed that up by saying that the band made the decision to ban her “because she was a garbage human being.”
He also confides that he and the rest of the band tried to get Herbert to divorce her.
“I can’t tell you exactly why he wouldn’t do it or what the circumstances [were] surrounding his resistance. I don’t know. But I can say that I personally talked to him multiple times and said, ‘Look, if you need a place to stay, I’ve got plenty of room. Come to my house.”
All That Remains released their latest album, Victim Of The New Disease, in November 2018. The band is currently on tour behind the album with Jason Richardson (All Shall Perish, Chelsea Grin, Born of Osiris) on guitar in place of Herbert.
