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

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

Transcript

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

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

00:29the Alter Bridge catalog. At least the song with the most meaning. I think it's a very

00:34powerful song that resonates with myself and a lot of others.

01:00I had a friend, his name was Mark Morris, and he owned his own music guitar shop in

01:08my town of Spokane, Washington. And Mark was a great guy. He sold me my very first guitar

01:13when I was a kid. And we just kept in touch. And unfortunately he got sick. It was a few

01:21months of struggle for him and his family. When I got the news that he passed away, the

01:29lyric came pretty quickly. It was one of those very inspired moments, very honest moments

01:34that you just kind of wait to channel as a songwriter. So that's how Blackbird was born.

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

01:58years. Mark had the initial verse. I believe he had the verse guitar part and the verse

02:05melody part. What was challenging was coming up with a chorus. We could not find a chorus

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

02:19was something I came up with. It has a very Pink Floyd vibe. In fact, there's quite a

02:24bit of Pink Floyd influence on that song, at least from where I was coming from. The

02:31solo, actually the guitar solo that I played, the first one, it was definitely Gilmore inspired.

02:55I'll never forget, we recorded a real rough version of it, and I had it on my laptop.

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

03:07out how it sounds. So we have a little perspective now, we've been away from it for a few hours.

03:12I remember we sat there and listened to it, and we looked at each other like, wow, okay,

03:19as a songwriter, as songwriters, these are the moments you dream of. These are the moments

03:25that makes all of the searching and soul searching more than worthwhile. That was a great moment

03:34for both of us.

03:49As far as how difficult it can be to sing a song like that, because of the profound

03:58meaning, there's some nights when it's a real challenge, because if you immerse yourself

04:06in the lyric, and those memories all flood back, it can sting a little bit. I remember

04:14one night, we were playing Wembley Arena, and another friend who had recently passed

04:25away, Ashley, a photographer friend of ours, and his wife was standing on the side of the

04:32stage, and she knew what that song meant, and the meaning of that song. So having her

04:37there and performing that, that was a real challenge to get through. But you know, that's

04:44the thing about music. If it's that honest, and the emotions are that, I guess, pure,

04:53that should happen. I mean, that's what art should do. It should resonate with you like

04:57that, and it should create some real moments of introspection, and a tribute to my friends.

05:04So yeah, that sums that up.