Paul Allender

Cradle of Filth
"I started playing guitar when I was 14 yrs old after listening to and being influenced by bands
like Iron Maiden, Judas Priest and Motorhead."

"I started my first band when i was 19 playing death metal covers. At 20 I joined Cradle of Filth
and we then proceeded to record our 3rd demo, Total F**king Darkness. From that demo we
sealed a deal and everything just went from strength to strength."

"PRS Guitars are the best guitars I’ve ever played. I brought my first PRS second hand and when
I got my first album advance I chose to buy a PRS instead of food for the month. Going hungry
for that month was the best month of my life :)"

"My stage guitar is a PRS Private Stock with bat inlays and a purple and black sunburst body. I
also play the SE version of my guitar because it sounds amazing cranked up over a loud PA and
the playability is incredible."
Fact!
Cradle of Filth Member Injured At
Bloodstock
Daniel Clarke

August 17, 2009

British extreme metallers Cradle Of Filth were forced to cut short a recent set at the Bloodstock
Open Air festival in Derbyshire, England after guitarist Paul Allender was hit by an object
thrown by a member of the audience. Allender was unable to finish the performance and required
medical attention.

This, from blabbermouth.net:

“A BLABBERMOUTH.NET user by the name of “metalfanBKP” has submitted the following

eyewitness account from the event:

“I am writing in to say what happened during the Cradle Of Filth set last night at Bloodstock. I
am still absolutely appalled at the incident and feel that the official statement from Bloodstock
organisers issued last night does not full portray the seriousness of the incident.

“I was standing in the second row, just in front of the centre of the stage, so I had a clear view of
everything.
“Even before Paul Allender got hit by the missile, the band already had to dodge bottles and cups
thrown at them. Dani Filth [CRADLE vocalist] at one point remarked, that ‘if you are going to
throw things at us, make sure they are full!’ Up to that point, this was nothing out of the
ordinary, however unpleasant this must have been for the band.

“However, during the sixth or seventh song of the set, when the both guitarists were not playing
and were standing at the back of the stage with their backs turned to the audience (as members of
COF seem to always do when they are not playing), someone threw a large object that hit Paul
Allender in the lower back. He grimaced and put his hand to his back, immediately leaving the
stage. The rest of the band continued playing the song without him and, eventually, they all left
the stage.

“After about 10 minutes of silence, the organisers had announced that a missile thrown at the
band had injured one of the band members and that the band would not continue. This happened
approximately 35 minutes into an 80-minute set that COF was expected to play.

“Having spoken to the security at the front after the crowd began to disperse, I found out that
Paul was actually taken to hospital (which accounted for the sound of ambulance sirens that was
heard) and that the object thrown was, in fact, a ‘gobstopper,’ which is like a giant golf ball. It is
incredibly dense and very heavy; if it had hit someone on the head, one of these objects could
actually be lethal. What is more, three or more of these ‘gobstoppers’ had been found on the
stage, which would indicate that someone actually targeted the band and that the missile hitting
Paul Allender was not just a one-off.

“I do not know if Paul Allender was targeted purposefully for whatever reason, but the missile
hit him as he was standing far away from the edge of the stage, with his back turned, which
would suggest that the object was at least thrown in his direction.

“In these circumstances, as the Bloodstock announcer had said, ‘the band could not continue for
security reasons.’ As far as I know, as of yesterday evening, the culprit was not yet found. The
festival security did seem pretty relaxed with no obvious checks or searches taking place of those
entering the arena and it looks like COF might have paid the price for this.”

Hmm… A festival called ‘Bloodstock’ and the punters got a bit violent… go figure.
Gobstoppers, known as jawbreakers in Canada and the United States, are a type of hard
sweet or candy. They are usually round, usually range from about 1 cm across to 3 cm across
(though much bigger gobstoppers can sometimes be found in Canadian/US candy stores, up to 8
cm in diameter) and are traditionally very hard.

The term gobstopper derives from 'gob', which is United Kingdom slang for mouth.

Gobstoppers usually consist of several layers, each layer dissolving to reveal a different colored
(and sometimes different flavored) layer, before dissolving completely. Gobstoppers are sucked
or licked, being too hard to bite without risking dental damage (hence the US title).

Gobstoppers have been sold in traditional sweet shops for at least a century, often sold by weight
from jars. As gobstoppers dissolve very slowly, they last a very long time in the mouth, which is
a major factor in their enduring popularity with children. Larger ones can take days or even
weeks to fully dissolve, risking a different kind of dental damage.

Gobstoppers are made by slowly

depositing layers onto a core (such as a single sugar grain or
anise seed). Gobstoppers are made in large, rotating, heated
pans. The candies take several weeks to manufacture, as the
process of adding liquid sugar is repeated multiple times (more
than 100 times over two weeks to make a one inch ball)[citation needed].
Color and flavor are also added during the panning process.
Mark Tremonti
Alter Bridge
Mark Tremonti’s greatest passion in life, aside from his family, is his guitar. It has been that way
for the twenty-three years since he picked his first one up and continues to this day.

Introduced at an early age to music by his brothers while growing up just outside of Detroit,
Mark spent his youthful days listening to many of the classic rock bands of the 70’s and 80’s.
Music was a major part of his life in every aspect and he was drawn to the guitar like a moth to
flame. At age eleven he got his first guitar, a cheap imitation Les Paul, and proceeded to begin
playing with his thumb. He had no clue how to play the instrument, yet he did not care. He had a
guitar and it was making noise. He was in heaven.

After the initial excitement wore off, Mark decided to get serious and take lessons from a
professional. It turned out to be only one lesson. The teacher wanted to teach Mark the basics
while Mark wanted to jump straight into a Metallica song. When the teacher told Mark that he
“wasn’t ready to play Metallica,” Mark left and vowed to teach himself.

Now bear in mind that Mark was not a virtuoso at a young age or anything. He did not think he
was better than the teacher nor did he think that the teacher did not have anything to show him.
He was just determined to do things his own way, and that single-mindedness and dedication he
showed at age eleven was the genesis of the unique style and sound Mark Tremonti has created
over his career.

Mark continued to teach himself guitar throughout middle school and early high school while at
the same time joining bands to learn how to write songs and perform in front of people. Mark
never felt truly comfortable on stage performing during this period as he always thought he was
not good enough but he did enjoy writing songs immensely and focused his energies on melody
and song structure. It was also during this time that Mark began attending live concerts. At his
first concert, where Iron Maiden and Frehley’s Comet performed, Mark could not take his eyes
off the guitar players and pushed his way up to the front. That night, on his way home, he vowed
to his older brother that one day he would play on that same stage.
After Mark’s first year in high school, an event that would change his life forever occurred. His
parents moved him to Orlando, Florida and his older brothers went to college. He was alone for
the first time in his life with no brothers and he was the new kid in school. Even worse, the kids
at his high school were more into pop music than rock. Imagine being the one kid wearing a
Metallica shirt in a sea of Milli Vanilli fans. It was traumatic to say the least.

With so much time on his hands and no friends initially to speak of, Mark locked himself in his
bedroom with his guitar and really focused on songwriting. He picked up a four-track and used it
to record the first full songs he ever wrote. He learned during this time that adversity and turmoil
(or any strong emotions for that matter, good or bad) lent themselves well to mining the creative
depths deep within his heart and soul.

After high school, Mark attended Clemson University in South Carolina. Again, he was the new
kid in school so he turned to his tried and true companion, the guitar. He discovered a local
guitar shop and started hanging out there looking for musicians to play with. He found the
musicians he was looking for but not in the way he originally thought. He discovered that the
music store rented guitar instructional videos so he took home as many as he could as often as
the store would let him. So now, his focus returned to guitar technique after years of working on
songwriting. Mark found that these instructional videos had an exponential effect on his
technique and that, in one year of watching hundreds of hours of video, his playing abilities
increased dramatically.

Due to financial reasons, Mark only stayed at Clemson one year. However, he decided to
continue his college education in Tallahassee at Florida State University. Mark was growing as a
songwriter and a guitar player and even though he was shy and nervous, he managed to get on-
stage at several of the local bar’s open mike nights. He also ran into Scott Stapp whom he knew
in high school. They started writing together and soon Scott Phillips and Brian Marshall joined
the fold and Creed was born.

Between 1997 and 2003 Creed had a run of success that was absolutely stunning. In seven years
they sold more than 30 million albums worldwide, had numerous singles that went to the top of
the charts and played to sold-out audiences wherever they went. Mark really focused on his
song-writing during those years and was recognized by the recording industry in 2000, winning a
Grammy Award for co-writing the song “With Arms Wide Open.”

During those years, Creed won many awards from the American Music Awards to the Billboard
Awards but one thing in particular was the crowning achievement for Mark Tremonti…. his
endorsement deal with Paul Reed Smith Guitars. PRS made Mark a signature model guitar, and
at the time the only other artist with a signature model was Carlos Santana. Mark was humbled
and deeply honored to help design a guitar that would bear his name. Around this time Mark was
also honored by Guitar World magazine’s readers as the Guitarist of the Year and he won that
award three consecutive years in a row.

Even with the success he was having, Mark did not feel that he was a good enough player yet to
deserve the signature guitar or the awards. So from that point forward Mark made it his mission
to validate all the accolades he was receiving by spending every ounce of free time he had to be
the best that he could be on guitar. He placed a renewed focus on guitar technique and sought out
advice and assistance from many of the finest guitarists in the world and also continued to
purchase any guitar instructional DVDs that he thought could help him. He started practicing up
to eight hours a day and that regimen still continues to this day. Mark never felt that he had the
latent talent that some are born with so he offset that perceived liability with hard work and
determination.

Morley was the next company that offered an endorsement deal to Mark and he was very
flattered that they chose him. Mark helped them design a pedal to his specifications and the Mark
Tremonti Power Wah Pedal was conceived.

In 2004 Creed broke up but that did nothing to stop Mark’s love for music and playing live for
the fans. Mark was very proud of the songs he wrote in Creed so this was very hard on him but
instead of looking at the break-up as the end, he looked at it like a new beginning. He bought
himself a Pro Tools workstation, took classes to learn how to operate it, and built a home studio
so he could record songs. He even took singing lessons so that he could lay down vocal tracks in
the demos he was working on. He wrote and recorded these songs for over a year, not knowing
where they would end up.

Mark’s hard work paid off in 2004 when he founded the band Alter Bridge. He tapped his Creed
band mates Scott Phillips and Brian Marshall for this project and together they found the missing
piece of the puzzle in singer/guitarist/song-writer Myles Kennedy. Together they have written
two albums: One Day Remains in 2004 and Blackbird in 2007.

Creed was an amazing yet sometimes frustrating journey and Mark will be forever grateful for
that experience, but Alter Bridge has turned into the band he had originally envisioned when he
was young. Alter Bridge has allowed Mark a freedom in his guitar playing and song-writing that
he never had in Creed. Alter Bridge has also allowed Mark to play with many of the bands he
idolized as a youth such as Metallica, Van Halen, Moterhead, Slayer, and Black Sabbath to name
a few.

Alter Bridge continues to have success in 2008 and they are currently gearing up for a tour of
Europe at the end of the year. Mark was also recently offered an endorsement deal from T-REX
that he is very proud of and in 2009 the Mark Tremonti Phaser Pedal will be unveiled.
Throughout 2008 Mark also worked hard on an instructional DVD entitled: Mark Tremonti “The
Sound and The Story.” He created this DVD in the hopes that it will help other guitar players as
he has been helped by so many DVDs and videos over the years.

Mark Tremonti has shown time and time again that if you want something bad enough, hard
work and determination will get you there. At age eleven, Mark swore that one day he would
play on the same stage that he first saw Iron Maiden. In 1998 he accomplished that dream in
Detroit, playing with Van Halen. That was only one of many dreams that have come true for
Mark. Yet those who know Mark know that he is not a person to rest contently. He always
strives to better himself, be it on guitar or just in life. That is his mantra and he continues to live
by it every day.