All That Remains: Phil Labonte Calls Oli Herbert’s Widow a “Garbage Human Being”
One person who will clearly not be coming to the defense of Beth Herbert anytime soon: All That Remains vocalist Phil Labonte.
Herbert is the widow of guitarist Oli Herbert, who drowned last year at age 44. Beth Herbert subsequently released a bizarrely worded statement in which she claimed that the toxicology report showed anti-depressants and a sleep aid in Oli’s system at the time of his death, alleging he had been self-medicating — but police have since opened an investigation into his death, labeling it “suspicious.” The fact that Oli apparently made out a new will leaving Beth everything just a week before his death, and that said will was reportedly never looked at by any legal representatives, is not gonna help Beth win any wars of public perception, either.
Now, Metal Injection reports that Labonte referred to Beth as a “garbage human being” during an appearance on Rover’s Morning Glory:
“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… We [the band] made the decision [that Beth couldn’t come on tour], and she wasn’t allowed because she was a garbage human being. [laughs].”
And that was really just the tip of the iceberg. Labonte went so far as to make this admission as well:
“We tried to get [Oli] to get a divorce [from Beth] for a long time. I can’t tell you exactly why he wouldn’t do it or what the circumstances were surrounding his resistance. But I can say that I personally talked to him and said multiple times, ‘Look, if you need a place to stay, I got plenty of room.’”
Phil also dismissed the notion that Oli might have been drinking at the time of his death…
“Our drummer is the big drinker in the band. 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.”
…as well as the idea that Oli might have overdosed on drugs…
“Oli Herbert did not do the types of drugs that you would associate with an overdose, period… Never saw him do the type of drugs that you would associate with, you know, somebody overdoses and dies.”
…and concluded by ominously declining to share his theory on how Oli died, since “There is an ongoing investigation happening by Connecticut police.”
Like I said: none of this is doing Beth any favors in the court of public perception. Whether or not she actually did anything wrong… we still have to wait and see to find out.
