Alter Bridge's Myles Kennedy - The Story Of 'Blackbird' | Louder - video Dailymotion

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Myles Kennedy on the making of Alter Bridge's Blackbird.

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00:00 Hey, I'm Miles Kennedy from Alter Bridge.

00:22 Blackbird, which has become a fan favorite, one of probably my favorite song that we have

00:29 in the Alter Bridge catalog.

00:30 At least the song with the most meaning.

00:34 It's a very powerful song that resonates with myself and a lot of others.

00:39 Look for your black wings and wait.

00:44 Across the horizon, he's coming to sweep you away.

00:56 He's coming to sweep you away.

01:02 I had a friend, his name was Mark Morris.

01:04 He owned his own music guitar shop in my town, Spokane, Washington.

01:10 Mark was a great guy.

01:11 He sold me my very first guitar when I was a kid.

01:15 We just kept in touch.

01:19 Unfortunately he got sick.

01:20 It was a few months of struggle for him and his family.

01:26 When I got the news that he passed away, the lyric came pretty quickly.

01:30 It was one of those very inspired moments, very honest moments that you just kind of

01:36 wait to channel as a songwriter.

01:40 So that's how Blackbird was born.

01:53 The anatomy of Blackbird, if I can remember back that far, it's been almost ten years.

01:58 Mark had the initial verse.

02:01 I believe he had the verse guitar part and the verse melody part.

02:06 What was challenging was coming up with the chorus.

02:10 We could not find a chorus forever.

02:12 I think we had the heavy guitar part that kicked in after his verse part.

02:19 That was something I came up with.

02:20 It has a very Pink Floyd vibe.

02:23 In fact, there's quite a bit of Pink Floyd influence on that song, at least from where

02:28 I was coming from.

02:31 The guitar solo that I play, the first one, was definitely Gilmore inspired.

02:36 I'll never forget, we recorded a real rough version of it and I had it on my laptop.

03:02 I was staying at Mark's house at the time and he came in and he was like, "Let's check

03:06 out how it sounds."

03:07 So we have a little perspective now.

03:08 We've been away from it for a few hours.

03:09 I remember we sat there and listened to it and we looked at each other and we were like,

03:17 "Wow.

03:18 Okay, as songwriters, these are the moments you dream of.

03:24 These are the moments that make all of the searching and soul searching more than worthwhile."

03:32 That was a great moment for both of us.

03:55 As far as how difficult it can be to sing a song like that because of the profound meaning,

04:00 there's some nights when it's a real challenge because if you immerse yourself in the lyric

04:07 and those memories all flood back, it can sting a little bit.

04:16 I remember one night, we were playing Wembley Arena and another friend who had recently

04:24 passed away, Ashley, a photographer friend of ours, and his wife was standing on the

04:32 side of the stage and she knew what that song meant and the meaning of that song.

04:36 So having her there and performing that, that was a real challenge to get through.

04:42 But, you know, that's the thing about music.

04:45 If it's that honest and the emotions are that, I guess, pure, that should happen.

04:54 That's what art should do.

04:56 It should resonate with you like that and it should create some real moments of introspection

05:05 and a tribute to my friends.

05:10 So yeah, that sums that up.

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05:53 ♪

05:58 ♪

06:03 ♪

06:10 ♪

06:16 ♪

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06:25 [silence]

Alter Bridge's Myles Kennedy - The Story Of 'Blackbird' | Louder

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