ALTER BRIDGE
SOUNDTRACK OF OUR LIVES
A
fter a decade of playing in Creed, guitarist Mark Tremonti, bassist Brian Marshall and drummer Scott Phillips formed Alter Bridge in 2004 with ex-The Mayfield Four singer Myles Kennedy. The band has gone on to create five albums, the latest being The Last Hero. Having just wrapped up a six week run in Europe, Alter Bridge is set for its first North American headline tour starting in January. The band is stoked for the new tour and is especially excited about playing some of its brand new tunes.
“ We were integrating a lot of the new material into the set( in Europe), which was a lot of fun,” Kennedy said.“ Prior to that, we’ d been in the States for a good part of the year but we didn’ t play alot of new material because the record wasn’ t out. So now that we’ re coming back and doing this January / February run, we finally get to put those songs in for the American audience.” Speaking of the new tracks, Kennedy said they’ ve been getting a great response live, especially to the new single“ Show Me A Leader.”“ We try to put in between four to six a night because we’ ve got five records to pull from,” he said.“ As far as the response goes, definitely with the singles they get equal response( as the older tunes) because people will be familiar with them.”
One thing fans might not know about Kennedy is that he’ s a huge architecture buff. Getting to play in Chicago gives him plenty of unique buildings to study.“ I think it’ s a beautiful city, one of the most beautiful cities in America,” Kennedy enthused.“ Chicago certainly appeals to the architect geek in me because there’ s a lot of really cool architectural history in that area, especially pertaining to modernism. If we have a day off, I’ ll go out and look at some Frank Lloyd Wright houses or some
other buildings.”
In 2002, after playing for years in bands such as Cosmic Dust, Citizen Swing and The Mayfield Four, Kennedy was offered an audition for the vocalist spot in Velvet Revolver. Ultimately declining, he joined Alter Bridge the following year.“ The first time they reached out were there were just other things going on in my life at that point and I didn’ t really think I was up for the job,” Kennedy said.“ It wasn’ t that I didn’ t want to join, as I was beyond honored that they called, but I just didn’ t want to waste their time.”
After that initial offer from Slash to audtion for Velvet Revolver, Kennedy’ s next Slash encounter was during the making of his 2010 eponymous solo album.“ The first time I officially met him face to face was right after we put“ Starlight” together, essentially through the mail,” Kennedy said.“ He reached out to me in the fall of 2009 and asked if I’ d be interested in throwing something over the top of this riff he had. Then I sent it back and it became“ Starlight.”
In 2001, Kennedy received another unique surprise – getting a call to appear in the film, Rock Star, starring Mark Wahlberg and Jennifer Aniston.“ I was just hanging out in my house in Spokane and my manager calls and said I might have this opportunity,” Kennedy reflects.“ They were looking for somebody to come in and act and do the role of this“ Thor” guy, and to also be able to sing. I never acted before, so that was kind of an intimidating adventure. And on top of that, wearing a wig with a leather outfit, because it was a period piece essentially. It was real fun, but it was something that I’ d never experienced before.”
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By Kelley Simms
38 illinoisentertainer. com january 2017