With an anxious trepidation I thought about this day January 30th as if it were the only day or moment that mattered in my life. In just a few short hours I would be speaking to a man, a musician, and artist that I have respected and followed since the first time I ever had any exposure to him going back to 2001’s Rock Star movie…. Myles Kennedy. Musically for me Myles Kennedy has become one of the premier front man in the Rock and Heavy Metal arenas. Lyrically he is an artist and a story-teller whom captivates listeners and audiences worldwide. As a man he is an inspiration and just an individual you want to be around and know. I’m truly humbled and honored to have the chance and opportunity to speak with Myles about Alter Bridge the new album “The Last Hero” and life on the road…..
Myles Kennedy: Hello Eric…
Side Stage Magazine: Myles…
Hello sir…Let me start by thanking you for taking the time to call me and for granting myself and Side Stage Magazine the time for this interview. You just finished up Ship-Rocked on January 20th, how much of a blast was that to do?
It was cool I think the fans are definitely very active fans. A lot of times you have your passive music listener then you active music listener and they’re very passionate and that was definitely a boat full of passionate music fans. The cool part was meeting them hearing them express how happy they were that we were there they were very sincere and welcomed us with open arms…we definitely enjoyed it.
Now on the heels of Shiprocked, January 21st to be exact you kicked off the start of your headlining tour in support of “The Last Hero” with Nonpoint how has the overall response been?
It’s gone well so far. Shiprocked got us warmed up. We got off the boat and started touring here in the states right away. So it’s been good we’ve been very happy with the turnout and happy with the response of the domestic shows thus far, we really feel that after all the years of touring the United States and trying to grow the market for what we do it feels likes it’s finally happening
How would you describe an Alter Bridge show, visual and musically?
With Alter Bridge it’s about the songs were not into theatrical things, the big mass production it’s really about the songs and how the songs connect with our fan base, and there’s a certain emotional quality that comes along with that. A lot of times we’ll be playing a song look out and people will be tearing up hopefully because the song is having an emotional impact versus them being miserable. It’s a very wonderful thing to see that how the music is affecting people and that’s one of the reasons touring can be so gratifying.
It’s an earlier song on Celebrity Rehab I believe…(Myles) Yeah “Watch Over You” Eric: Going back to what you said about the emotional gratification. That song probably sunk in deeply having watched people I know go through that, and then to tie that song to raw emotion. I can see what you’re saying about seeing that kind of emotion, and for you and the band it has to be one of the greatest feelings.
It’s very powerful it makes you realize that what you do has an effect on people and you can’t take that lightly you have a certain responsibility in a sense. When you’re in the studio making a record you’re kind of locked away from seeing what the songs can do in a live context it’s definitely a different dynamic.
I see that there are no signs of slowing down for Alter Bridge. Looks like you’ll be rather busy this year supporting “The Last Hero” with appearances at Fort Rock in April and Carolina Rebellion in May as well as Rock On The Range also in May, (3) Of the larger open air festivals in the states…
We are excited the US definitely evolved since we first started playing as a band in terms in the amount of festivals and Europe’s been doing that for a long time and we’re excited that many of these festivals are popping up and that we get to play a bunch of them.
When preparing for the festival show’s is there a different preparation for yourself and maybe the band as opposed to the smaller more intimate shows?
There’s definitely a difference in the songs we chose. Generally with the festivals the sets are shorter, and generally you’re playing with heavier bands so we tend to cater to that fan base. As opposed to playing a very dynamic set with a headlining show we have the heavy songs we have ‘Watch Over You” which I play acoustically. We tend to just go at it for more of let’s keep it up tempo, let’s keep it aggressive and heavy that generally tends to work the best in the festival context.
With shows like Fort Rock, Carolina Rebellion, and Rock On The Range, I know you all are rather busy, but in your down time are there any certain bands on any of those shows that you’re looking forward to seeing?
I know Gojira is on a few of these, which we just did a run with them over in Europe and we all are massive fans of those guys. There a band that is always fun to see play and never disappoints, so hopefully we’re sharing a few shows with them and that would be great.
The Last Hero is the 5th CD for Alter Bridge spanning over a decade. How are you feeling right now with the way the CD has been received?
It feels good from what we’re seeing from the fans. I generally don’t really read any certain reviews as far as social media goes I tend to kind of live in a vacuum so to speak so I’m not really sure how it’s being received. People tell me it’s favorable and seems to be good, but the only way I can really gauge to see how the songs go over live from the new album and people seem to be enjoying it and getting off on the vision we set out to achieve on this batch of tunes so that’s been a lot of fun to see.
You mention the route you took to achieve the songs that you have. It could be said that your songs are open to interpretation by the listeners or fans, but with “The Last Hero” was there a concept or possibly an overall message or feel that you were trying to get, and the reason why I bring that up is with songs like “My Champion”, or “Show Me A Leader” or “The Writing On The Wall”, “Cradle To The Grave” or the powerhouse track “Island Of Fools”
Those are definitely different songs. I mean you can take a song like “My Champion” from a lyrical stand point it’s definitely different from a song like “The Last Hero” or “Show Me A Leader” which were definitely inspired by the current political climate. Whereas “My Champion” that’s a departure that’s definitely one which was inspired from more personal situation the things that I experience growing up and things that I heard from people who were essentially parents, teachers and people who inspired me to push through and persevere when things got a little rough. So yeah there definitely different sides of the coin in that respect.
With the writing process can you explain a little bit of how that evolves in Alter Bridge?
Generally Mark and I write separately we will stock pile a series of ideas, lots and lots of ideas and then we’ll get together and put our best ideas together and create the skeleton of the song, and then once we have a few in the can we get together with Scott and Brian our rhythm section. There is definitely a few different levels, filter levels that we put these songs through before they go into their final incarnation.
It seems there are 2 tendencies figuratively in music today: To release tracks or albums straight to the internet, and then there’s a stronger and more complete tendency or idea of the music, artwork, packaging and physical presentation. Where do you feel Alter Bridge’s fits in?
That’s a good question it’s a new frontier we’d be foolish to think that the only way people want to listen to music is vinyl or CD or have the actual physical product. Everybody has a different way they like to do things now. I do know the real die-hard fans the passionate ones they tend to like to have the physical copy in their hands. It just really depends on the fan and what they like. I mean who are we to tell them what the right way to digest their music it’s really up to them.
How has Alter Bridge or your music evolved since you first began playing music together?
More than anything we’ve just gotten more comfortable with each other. There’s a level of trust as writers that has evolved in the last 13 years, and we have a process that works well for us and we know we’ll ultimately get the best out of us and that will help us make this the best record we can.
What is the funniest thing that has happened to you recently, or What’s the most ‘rock star’ thing that you’ve ever done?
The funniest thing was literally less than 12 hours ago sitting on our tour bus and was watching our drummer dancing around the front lounge and that’s why we love him. Its little things like that you have to kind of be there to get Scott Phillips comedy scene it’s pretty funny he’s a very funny individual.
Well Sir I thank you once again for sitting down and taking the time for myself and Side Stage Magazine as well as the fans.
You got it Eric my pleasure.
