Myles Kennedy on the making of Alter Bridge's Blackbird.
Category
🎵
MusicTranscript
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.
03:50As 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.