'The New Move Was Less is More': Myles Kennedy on Alter Bridge's 'Pawns & Kings'

Photo: Chuck Brueckmann

Many of the greatest rock ‘n’ roll groups were founded on a scintillating partnership between an iconic vocalist and the guitar god blazing away by their side. In recent times, that unwaveringly cool axis has been reimagined by Alter Bridge’s Myles Kennedy and Mark Tremonti, a refreshingly grounded duo whose combined magic is as spellbinding as ever on the band’s epic new record ‘Pawns & Kings’.

Aside from their ego-free demeanour and lack of superstar posturing, one key difference between Alter Bridge’s main men and all those legendary singer and guitarist combos from the past is how adept they are at stepping into each other’s roles. Myles is an outstanding guitarist in his own right and Mark’s vocal growth has been so impressive that he recently belted out an album’s worth of exceptional Frank Sinatra covers for charity. 

Although their intertwined singing and playing is a key part of the Alter Bridge sound, it’s no exaggeration to claim that the twosome could permanently switch places without compromising the quality of their material or jeopardising the band’s ability to sell out arenas around the world.

Re-teaming with long time producer Michael ‘Elvis’ Baskette, and flanked by the immense rhythm section of drummer Scott “Flip” Phillips and bassist Brian Marshall, ‘Pawns & Kings’ finds the duo operating at the peak of their powers on a record that, after two polarising efforts in ‘The Last Hero’ and ‘Walk The Sky’, looks set to challenge ‘Fortress’ and ‘Blackbird’ as their best work.

We caught up with the always affable Kennedy to discuss the making of the band’s seventh record, how he remains creatively inspired and what he thought about his songwriting partner diving into the hallowed world of ol’ blue eyes. 

‘The Last Hero’ was quite a rushed recording process and, following that, you and Mark had to write separately for ‘Walk The Sky’ before hitting the studio because you only had a short window to get that record done. Did you allow yourselves more breathing room this time out?

I don’t know how Mark felt with the batch of tunes he brought in but, for me, given the state of the world and how things had slowed down, I was able to wake up pretty much every day, go into my studio and demo ideas, work on and refine things. I was touring with Slash and the Conspirators earlier this year, so some stuff was being finished in hotel rooms along the way, but the bulk of the ideas I brought in had the luxury of me staying at it every day. And that’s really important for me, staying focused. I feel like we’ve found a good working dynamic and hopefully, moving forward, will continue to do it more.  

You always try to broaden your horizons on each record to keep progressing as artists. So what new moves were employed on this album?

I feel like, with this record, the new move was less is more. It was the idea of stripping things down and having it be about the riff, about the skeleton of the song, standing on its own without adding all this extra stuff, all the fairy dust, on top of it. Part of that is why people are like, ‘This is more aggressive, it’s a heavier record.’ I think that’s because we were focussed on making sure all the riffs were really compelling on their own without needing any fancy studio trickery. 

Which numbers best embody that stripped down approach?

A song like the opening track, even though it starts out with the choir vocals in the background, kind of very early Ozzy, when it kicks in it’s very much about that rhythmic phrase without a bunch of stuff going over the top of it. Silver Tongue, same sort of thing, where it’s about making sure that riff has room to breathe without adding a bunch of fancy mumbo jumbo over the top of it. There really is something to be said about making sure you get a good stereo field, make sure it’s executed a certain way and the tones are strong on their own. I feel like that will trump the wall of sound. 

The opening song This Is War and the title track sound like almighty David v Goliath struggles between a downtrodden little man and huge oppositional force. But they also seem to signify our internal mental landscapes, in the way the small timid voice inside is often the positive encouraging one that’s being dominated by the fearful, negative louder one. Is that a fair assessment?

It’s absolutely a fair assessment because you look at a song like Pawns & Kings and it’s been interesting to hear people apply what is happening in certain parts of the world, seeing how that narrative plays there, but also utilising it in the way you just did. David versus Goliath, those negative voices in your head and how they, oftentimes, are louder than the positive ‘I think I can do this.’ So to me Pawns & Kings is a song about empowerment. It’s a battle cry for the underdog and with This Is War it’s doing battle with those loud negative entities in your psyche that can bring you down.  

You always put a lot of work into developing a well rounded thematic focus for your records. What factors shaped that for this album?

One idea that’s repeated at least two times, which is kind of an exception as a lot of this record has different themes, on Season Of Promise and Fable Of The Silent Son is the idea of, as an elder statesman, someone who’s been on the planet for a while, you learn to look at life in the rear view mirror, see the mistakes you’ve made and what you’ve learned. Trying to take those little nuggets of wisdom and convey them to a younger person so they don’t make the same mistakes you did. That’s definitely a theme on those two songs.  

How much did the events of the last few years seep into the record?

There are songs that were definitely formed by a certain state of the world, patterns you’re seeing play out. And they’ve played out through history, so I was kind of going back, looking at that and expressing it through lyrical content. Silver Tongue is written from the perspective of somebody who has that ability to seduce people with their words. That’s something that has played out time and time again for as long as we’ve been human beings. It was probably going on around the campfire back when we were cavemen, right? And it’s still going on.     

Some of the heaviest riffs on the record apparently came from you. So for fans who love to know these things, which did you bring to the table and which were Mark’s?

Riff wise, This Is War, Silver Tongue, Fable Of The Silent Son, a lot of the bulk of that, and Pawns & Kings were mine. But one of my favourites is Sin After Sin and that’s Mark. I love that riff. It’s killer. Just awesome. Steeped in awesomeness. It’s almost got an Alice In Chains and Mastodon thing here and there, who are one of my all time favourite bands. It’s a cool track and when he presented the demo for it I was like, ‘Yeah, that’s got to go on the record.’  

Fable Of The Silent Son becomes your longest song, eclipsing Blackbird, and am I right in thinking there’s a nice guitar face off between you and Mark during the solo on that one? 

Yes, there is. Switching back and forth. And another we did that on was Last Man Standing. We’re bouncing back and forth and that was a lot of fun. I love those guitar, I don’t want to say duels, but you’re trading parts. I would like to tell you we’re in the studio, staring at each other, sweat is beating on our brows, but we do [record those parts] separately.   

Apparently Elvis said he can’t tell the difference between yours and Mark’s guitar work these days. What are the benefits of that musical symbiosis and, on the flip side, is there any danger that your sound might lose the dynamism two distinct styles brings if you become too identical? 

Our sounds and our attacks are different enough, I feel we’re always gonna have our place. But what’s been beautiful about playing together for nearly two decades, and kind of rubbing off on each other, is that if someone shows up on a record and might not have as many ideas as they would usually bring in, and the other person is like, ‘I’ve got a bunch of ideas that will work there’, it makes sure all the bases are covered. You know your partner’s got your back no matter what and that’s awesome for both of us. It takes a lot of the pressure off. 

I’m confident in my songwriting partner showing up with the goods and hopefully he feels the same way. So we never feel like we’re walking into something where we’re not prepared. Have we done that in the past, where we’ve not been as prepared as we normally would? Yeah, you could say that about ‘The Last Hero’. We still feel like there are moments on that record that turned out really cool, but with this record we made sure all the bases were covered the best we could before starting to record.  

Mark recently released a wonderful album of Frank Sinatra covers. What did you think when you knew he was undertaking that project because, even for a seasoned vocalist, it takes guts to go in on Sinatra doesn’t it?

I thought it sounded great. The timbre of his voice suited that really well. Once I was clued in on the fact he was going to integrate this charitable aspect I was like ‘It’s just an absolute no brainer.’ You add all that up and he’s singing songs that are arguably some of the greatest ever written from the great American songbook. As a songwriter, having the opportunity to sing those night after night is gonna rub off on you. 

The thing I learned way back in the day, when I was playing in jazz groups and performing standards, is a lot of the songwriting prowess of those guys was so brilliant, they were such geniuses, that years later there’d be little…like Watch Over You is a good example of a song that I wonder, ‘Would it have existed had I not been exposed to some of that songwriting approach?’ I feel with Mark it’s gonna be the same thing. Years down the road he’s gonna come up with something and go, ‘Where did that come from?’ It could be from any number of those Sinatra tunes. I can’t say enough about that era of songwriting. It’s so special.    

Did you notice any difference in his singing on this record after getting his voice in shape for that effort? 

I don’t know if I’ve noticed much of a difference. I feel like I noticed a difference with Mark’s vocals once he started doing the Tremonti project, when he was singing night after night and refining his instrument. I always felt he had a great voice. When I first started playing with him and we were sitting around the kitchen table sharing ideas, I remember hearing his vocals and going, ‘Why aren’t you singing lead more? Why weren’t you singing lead more back in the Creed days? I think you’ve got a great voice.’ And he kind of poo pooed it. I was like, ‘Trust me man, you’ve got a great sounding instrument.’ So it’s been awesome to see him embrace that as the years have gone on.  

You’ve spoken about how fully booked yours and Mark’s diaries are in advance because of all your respective projects. How do you remain immune to creative burnout, when having to constantly meet deadlines could easily compromise your artistry?

Maybe it’s because we both still love it? We both love creating and work really hard at it. That was something we realised about each other when we started playing together. That we both share a common work ethic. Hopefully that will continue. Every songwriter, every creative person, fears the well running dry. You see it happen to other artists. I’ve gone through dry spells, and I’m sure Mark would probably say the same thing, but eventually you snap out of it.

So it’s the idea of continuing to show up. That’s something I’ve learned. Even on the days when I wake up and I’m like, ‘I don’t feel creative today’, I still force myself to go sit in my studio and try to come up with something. Interestingly enough, some of the most important tracks evolved after nudging myself. Instead of sitting in front of the TV drinking coffee and eating bon bons, I forced myself and it worked out.   

'Pawns & Kings' is out on October 14 via Napalm Records.

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Mon December 05 2022 - NOTTINGHAM Motorpoint Arena
Tue December 06 2022 - GLASGOW OVO Hydro
Thu December 08 2022 - DUBLIN 3Arena
Fri December 09 2022 - MANCHESTER AO Arena
Sun December 11 2022 - BIRMINGHAM Resorts World Arena
Mon December 12 2022 - LONDON O2 Arena

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