All That Remains Won’t Stage Benefits Using Oli Herbert’s Name

Update: Phil Labonte has offered a clarification concerning the staging of benefits using Oli Herbert's name. He reveals that the band is not legally prohibited from doing so, but rather felt it was "not a good idea."

All That Remains intend on further honoring their longtime guitarist Oli Herbert at some point, but as singer Phil Labonte revealed to American Songwriter, they currently will not be doing anything to salute the late musician that has his name attached.

Herbert was found dead at the edge of a pond on his property on Oct. 16, 2018. Connecticut Police have continued to investigate the death, which has been treated as suspicious. Herbert changed his will a week prior to his passing, naming his wife as the sole benefactor and excluding his sister from becoming executor or receiving anything after his death.

The group has remained in a financial dispute with Herbert's wife and Labonte revealed that the conflict has kept them from being able to stage benefits for the late guitarist. “We talked about ideas to do a benefit to raise money for kids in schools, but we can’t do anything that has his name on it,” Labonte said.

While the dispute continues, Labonte says the group has paid everything owed to Herbert's estate and will continue to do so. “We’ve made sure that that our accountants and all the people that work with us know any money that is owed to Oli Herbert’s estate must be paid to Oli Herbert’s estate,” the singer stated. “And we have absolutely no interest in not paying. It’s not worth any kind of hassle for the amount of money.”

As for what he'd like to do for Herbert once he's able, Labonte suggested the idea of starting a school music program, which is something the guitarist had previously shared his interest in doing.

“Oli absolutely loved music,” Labonte said. “And I would love to see kids that don’t feel comfortable, the kids that are kind of awkward, or a little weird—I would love to see them look at Oli and be like, ‘I could be a rock star too.’ Because Oli, he was kind of a weird dude too.”

At present, All That Remains have used the pandemic downtime from touring to work on a new record. But Labonte added, “There are parts that are written, but as it became more and more apparent that no one was going to be sure when we could tour, we didn’t see a reason to rush it.”