Guitar duo Myles Kennedy and Mark Tremonti discuss their new album, custom guitars, the art of crafting long songs, and why you really, really don’t want tinnitus…
Alter Bridge’s singer/guitarist Myles Kennedy and co-shredder/backing vocalist Mark Tremonti are deep in contemplation. Sitting in Kensington’s Royal Garden Hotel, they’re discussing the name of their highly anticipated seventh album, Pawns & Kings. “It was a phrase that jumped out to us on many levels,” says Myles. “With the title track’s lyrics, ‘The last shall be first,’ and also that idea of rising above impossible circumstances? That’s empowering. That was a theme that we could stand behind.”
It’s little wonder that this underdog narrative appealed. Forged as they were from two imploded bands – Mark Tremonti, bassist Brian Marshall and drummer Scott Phillips from Creed, and Myles Kennedy from The Mayfield Four – few favoured Alter Bridge’s chances of success when they emerged back in 2004. Even Myles had been perilously close to packing it all in to become a guitar teacher not long before. Thankfully for everyone involved, what actually transpired was, of course, the emergence of a modern‐rock behemoth, and one that was determined not to retread past glories on album number seven. In fact, they straight-up weren’t allowed…
“Scott Phillips is the master of that, the man drives me nuts,” grins Mark, saluting his drummer’s critical ears. “I’ll come into the studio saying, ‘This is the best idea I’ve got.’ And he’s like, ‘You did that chord progression 10 years ago!’”
What Pawns & Kings offers is a band pushing itself hard – one example of which is the epic track Fable Of The Silent Son. Since 2007, Alter Bridge’s elegiac classic Blackbird has stood proudly as their longest song at just shy of eight minutes. But not any more, with Fable Of The Silent Son coming in at eight minutes and 22 seconds. “It’s almost as long as Iron Maiden’s [The Rime Of The] Ancient Mariner,” says Myles. “It was by far the hardest song, at least for me, to put together. There’s at least, jeez, three time-changes in there – it always keeps you guessing.”
With a whole new Alter Bridge album to dissect, it’s the perfect time to dig deep into the dynamics of one of rock’s most exciting guitar partnerships.
You both play complex guitar parts and sing in Alter Bridge – when you’re in the studio, do you ever think about how you will deliver that live? Or do you record what you want and figure it out on stage later?
Myles Kennedy: “When I was writing the verse of Silver Tongue, I wasn’t thinking about trying to sing over the top of it. The beauty is I can just lay it out and let Mark do it – he plays it tighter than I would anyway because his right hand is so great. The problem is on the bridge where th
