TREMONTI's GARRETT WHITLOCK Talks Upcoming Album: 'We're All Really Happy With The Final Product'

TREMONTI, the band led by CREED and ALTER BRIDGE guitarist Mark Tremonti, recently finished recording its second album for an early 2015 release. The follow-up to 2012's "All I Was" was helmed by producer Michael "Elvis" Baskette, who previously worked with ALTER BRIDGE and SLASH.

Speaking to the American Forces Network last week, TREMONTI drummer Garrett Whitlock stated about the band's new CD (hear audio below): "The new album is, at this point in time, complete, as far as tracking goes. It's mixed, 'Elvis' Baskette, the producer, he's mixed the record, and Ted Jensen is actually gonna master it, I think, starting next week. So by the end of this month, it'll be completely mixed, mastered, recorded… all of that. So, aside from artwork and all of that, it's getting pretty much to the point of completion."

Asked about an album title and songtitles for the forthcoming TREMONTI CD, Whitlock said: "We've been getting a lot of questions about it. I know we want it to come out this year — hopefully within the first part of this year."

He continued: "I was actually talking to Mark the other day about album titles, and stuff like that, and we've been kicking some ideas around, but, unfortunately, there's nothing set in stone as far as album titles go. But we hope to have the release date, album title, all of that stuff together here relatively quickly, so we can get it out to you guys."

Whitlock also talked about the musical direction of the new TREMONTI material and how it compares to that on "All I Was".

"We recorded 20 songs for this record, so we're still trying to figure out what we're gonna with all of 'em," he said. "But I think it stacks up well against the first one.

"I really do think that we kind of figured out what our strengths were, recording the first album, and with this album, we kind of took that and capitalized on all of it.

"I think, as far as playing goes, everybody was on their 'A' game, and we're really happy with it.

"There's some really good, heavy songs on there; there's some good atmospheric stuff. So we really tried to just take what we enjoyed about the first record and capitalize on that with the second one. I feel like we hit our mark, and we're all really happy with the final product."

A listening party and live performance for the second TREMONTI album will be held on January 31 in Orlando, Florida.

VAN HALEN bassist Wolfgang Van Halen joined Tremonti's solo band for touring purposes after ALTER BRIDGE bassist Brian Marshall dropped off the project.

With ALTER BRIDGE and CREED both still active, The Pulse Of Radio asked Tremonti a while back how he knows which songs are right for each project. "I've just gotten this filter, this intuition that tells me what songs go to which band, and with my solo stuff, the rhythm section is so different from the other bands, I think it really stands apart," he said. "I think it's a little more aggressive than both the other bands."

Tremonti recorded "All I Was" using ideas rejected by his ALTER BRIDGE bandmates, who felt some of the material was too "speed metal" for their sound. Tremonti revealed, "I tried it with them about 10 times and it would never stick. I didn't want those ideas to go to waste . . . Now it's a living, breathing band so we gotta keep it going."

Tremonti's other act, ALTER BRIDGE, released its fourth album, called "Fortress", in 2013.