ALTER BRIDGE
Not content with raising the roof of London’s 02 Arena, Myles and co team up with an orchestra to conquer the prestigious Royal Albert Hall.
“Playing with an orchestra is pretty profound”
MYLES IS BLOW N AWAY BY THE NEW ARR ANGEMENTS OF HIS SO NGS
Not content with their biggest-ever show at London’s 02 Arena, Alter Bridge teamed up with an orchestra to play the Royal Albert Hall.
We crashed their rehearsals to find out if violins really are metal
Simon Dobson enjoys it when people try to guess what he does for a living. With his array of tattoos, unkempt undercut and inch-wide flesh tunnel, he could be anything from a street busker to a 90s eco-warrior. “Nobody ever, ever gets it right,” he says, grinning.
In fact, the Cornwall-born 30-something is the most unlikely looking classical composer and conductor you’ll ever come across. A rising star of the classical world, he studied at the Royal College Of Music, has been commissioned to write for the London Philharmonic Orchestra and has won a British Composer Award.
Right now, in a draughty south London rehearsal space, he’s drilling 52 classical musicians and four American rock stars ahead of one of the most prestigious gigs of either party’s career.
The wind’n’brass-wielding ensemble goes by the name of the Parallax Orchestra. Co-founded in 2015, their mission is partly to bring a rock’n’roll edge to the buttoned-up world of British classical music. Up on the rehearsal room’s stage, clutching various expensive-looking instruments, they look like a small army and sound like a brewing storm.
On the floor in front of them are the four members of Alter Bridge: frontman Myles Kennedy, guitarist Mark Tremonti, bassist Brian Marshall and, surrounded by a wall of soundmuffling Perspex, drummer Scott Phillips. This is only the second time the two parties have met to rehearse, and they’re currently trying to iron out a crucial but arcane musical wrinkle involving diminished eighths and other such terms only the most musicianly musicians can understand.
In just over 24 hours, Alter Bridge and the Parallax Orchestra will come together onstage at London’s grandest venue, the Royal Albert Hall, for the first of two orchestral shows. Both nights sold out in minutes, and with 57 moving parts up onstage, there’s an awful lot that could go wrong.
“Oh, there’s a fair amount of nerves,” says Myles Kennedy, as modest and un-rock starry a man as you will ever meet. “Now that we’re finally rehearsing with them, they’ve eased a little. But I have a feeling that tomorrow before the show, the anxiety is gonna be on 10.”
Roll over Beethoven and tell Tchaikovsky the news: this is shaping up to be epic.
Until you’ve stood a few feet in front of an orchestra in full flight, it’s hard to get a measure of their power. Compared to rock’s two-pronged assault on the ears and the gut, the sheer weight of live classical instrumentation makes the air move in a completely different way. While it’s not deafeningly loud, it is completely immersive.
Alter Bridge are the first to admit that the concept of a band playing live with an orchestra isn’t a new one. The classical/rock crossover stretches back right back to metal’s prehistory, when founding fathers Deep Purple collaborated with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra on 1969’s Concerto For Group And Orchestra, though Myles and Mark both cite Metallica’s groundbreaking 1999 album S&M for the genesis of the modern trend. “We just felt some of our songs would shine in this environment,” says Myles. “It’s kind of an experiment.”
Myles was Alter Bridge’s junior member when he joined back in 2004 – the other three had been in multimillion-selling alt-rock whipping boys Creed. Today it’s very much a relationship of equals. He and Mark sit in one of the rehearsal space’s upstairs offices while the orchestra take a union-mandated 15-minute break. The pair of them are uncannily similar – both sing, both are modern-day guitar heroes (Mark insists his bandmate is the better player, but Myles respectfully demurs), both are polite and experienced enough not to have bother with the usual rock star bullshit.
The two of them seem simultaneously proud and slightly disbelieving of what they’re letting themselves in for over the next 48 hours. The two Albert Hall gigs have been almost a year in the planning. The whole thing is the brainchild of their manager, Tim Tournier. In November 2016, the band played their biggest headlining show in front of 20,000 people at London’s O2 Arena. Before the band had even walked offstage, he thought: “What do we do to top that?”
As a student, Tim played upright bass in his college orchestra. He’d always harboured a dream of bringing together the two worlds, and this was his opportunity to bring it up. He mentioned it to the band as they were driving to the O2 the day before the show.
“We were, like, ‘We’re about to play
“my anxiety is gonna be a level 10”
MYLES KNOWS THE NERVES WI LL KIC K IN BEFOR E THEIR UNIQUE SHOW
the biggest show of our career, we’re kind of focused on that, why are you bringing this up now?!’” says Mark with a laugh.
The guitarist admits he had a few reservations about the concept. “I didn’t want it to be overblown,” he says. “I’ve seen it before – and I’m not going to name names – where the orchestra is not really necessary, and it cheapens it. If we were going to do it, is had to be right.”
This challenge turned into a personal mission for Tim. There were a number of variables, each of which impacted on the rest: sourcing an orchestra, finding a venue, deciding on the setlist, getting a score written.
The first part was surprisingly easy. A quick Google search turned up the Parallax Orchestra, who had collaborated with Bring Me The Horizon during the latter’s Teenage Cancer Trust show at the Royal Albert Hall earlier in 2016.
When Simon Dobson received an email from Tim asking if Parallax wanted to be involved, he took little persuading. “I heard of Mark Tremonti years ago,” he says. “He’s one of the last true guitar heroes. And the band are unbelievable – insane, legit musicians.”
Simon’s background straddles various musical worlds: classical, pop, rock. Originally a trumpet player, he has worked with an assortment of bands across the musical spectrum over the years, from jazz to punk.
“I played in any band that would have me,” he says. “I basically had these two things going on at the same time. So this is my dream job.”
The Parallax Orchestra were the perfect fit from both perspectives. Simon, along with co-founders Will Harvey and Maddie Cutter, put it together in 2015 with a view to bringing together young, hungry players.
“These aren’t just gigging classical musicians, they’re the kind of people who are into doing cool crossover shit,” says Simon. “Our clarinet/ saxophone player and bassoonist are both
massive Alter Bridge fans. That’s why this specific group of players have been booked.”
Finding a venue was less straightforward. Myles’ suggestion that they play the Royal
Albert Hall seemed like a no-brainer on paper. Opened in 1871 by Queen Victoria, it’s the most prestigious concert hall in the country, home to the annual two-month classical extravaganza The Proms. But while numerous rock bands have played there over the years, they don’t let any two-bit act in there.
“It’s a very difficult room to get into, let alone for two days,” says Tim. “I think it’s partly because they’re so heavily booked and partly because maybe they’re a little bit reticent when it comes to rock bands. I believe they weren’t sure about us.”
The initial plan was for Alter Bridge to play four nights at the Albert Hall, but a compromise was reached and two nights were booked instead. When tickets went on sale earlier this year, both shows sold out in seven minutes. “I think that’s when we realised it wasn’t such a crazy idea,” says Myles.
A flurry of emails between Simon and Alter Bridge followed as they worked on a setlist and the attendant score. Simon estimates it took four months to properly complete. “But I’ve been doing this job for a long time so I’m quite quick.”
Musical notation was sent to the band, then put into a computer programme, which overlaid it on top of their songs. Alter Bridge had final approval on the score. “I think at first we were going to pick it apart, like, ‘No, this note doesn’t work, what about this cellist?’” says Mark. “But I don’t think we made any changes.”
Even during rehearsal, it certainly sounds impressive. “Classy”, as Myles puts it. But class doesn’t come cheap. Tim admits that the cost of staging these two gigs is well over six figures. “It’s the most expensive thing they’ve ever done,” says the manager, who notes that proceeds from the shows and subsequent DVD sales will go to the Future Song Foundation, a nonprofit organisation Myles established to fund music education projects for young people. “We did upwards of that without even blinking an eye. It’s not seven figures expensive, but we’re well over six figures.” He grins nervously. “So let’s hope nothing goes wrong.”
Even when the Albert Hall is empty, it’s hard to argue with the grandeur of the place. Vast, circular and luxuriantly appointed, it’s like the world’s most beautiful upturned pudding bowl.
Myles is certainly making the most of it.
As his bandmates run through one last soundcheck with the orchestra in front of a group of a hundred or so fans who have shelled out for VIP tickets, the singer disappears from the stage into the seats that encircle the main
“Alter Bridge are insane legit musicians”
CONDUCTOR SIMON DOBSO N JUMPED AT THE CHANCE TO WOR K WIT H THEM
“we like being the underdogs!”
MYLES IS MOD EST ABOUT THE ID EA OF HEADLINING DOW NLOAD
floor. He vanishes again, only to reappear at the next level, and again at the gallery a few hundred feet above ground.
“I want to find the sweet spot for the sound,” he explains later. “It’s partly the sonic nerd in me. But also if you’re playing a place like this, you need to get these things right.”
He need not worry. With a capacity of around 5,000 people, the Albert Hall might be a quarter of the size of the O2, but it feels – and sounds – completely different to anything they’ve done before. Rather than Mark’s initial concern of the orchestra “cheapening” Alter Bridge’s sound, it lends everything even greater magnitude (see review, right). Afterwards, the band certainly seem happy.
“We felt like everybody landed on their feet, especially considering the amount of time we had to rehearse with the orchestra,” says Myles. “It was kind of thrilling.”
During the show, the singer played an emotive solo version of Watch Over You. In soundcheck, he made a gag about struggling to hold back the tears when it came to the actual performance. “I managed it, but only just,” he says, laughing. “It was heavy. The strings made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up so much. I remember writing some of these songs, just sitting in a little room somewhere, then you fast-forward to this moment where you’ve got an orchestra playing them behind you. It’s pretty profound.”
Having checked both the O2 and the Albert Hall off their to-do list, Myles and Mark are considering the next staging post in the band’s career – and it’s Donington-shaped.
“I think the next thing, if we could ever accomplish it, would be headlining Download,” says Myles.
Mark laughs. “He said it, not me!”
The idea of Alter Bridge topping the Download bill in the next few years isn’t unthinkable. Their career has been on a steady upwards trajectory for over the last decade, and they were main support for Aerosmith at this year’s festival. “They’ve been talking,” says Mark cautiously, referring to the organisers. “They said, ‘Why don’t we set you guys up as direct support and get you ready for that spot.’ We’ve heard that for a few years now, so maybe one day, who knows.”
Myles: “But it’s a tall order. The thing is, when you headline you’re no longer the underdog.
And we like being underdogs.”
Are you scared?
“We’re not scared, just realistic,” says Mark. “We try not to have too lofty expectations.
It’s about baby steps with Alter Bridge.”
Whether those baby steps see them revisiting these orchestral shows is another matter for discussion. Myles and Mark are both open to the idea. And so is Parallax’s Simon Dobson.
“I never imagined myself being the guy standing up there with a huge rock band, but this is awesome fun,” he says. “It’s the closest I’m ever going to get to being a rock star.”