Myles Kennedy

Always be yourself. Heaven is “right now, this moment”. Hard work takes you to another realm. We all crave the truth. Later-life success is good… These are just some of the things that shape his world view.

Always be yourself. Heaven is “right now, this moment”. Hard work takes you to another realm. We all crave the truth. Later-life success is good… The are just some of the things that shape his world view.

The sound of Mozart bursts into the background as we catch up with Myles Kennedy over Zoom in the run-up to the release of his second solo record.

“He’s a little spitfire!” Kennedy says from behind stylish glasses, glancing back at the closed door through which Mozart, the family shih-tzu, can be heard barking.

Born in Boston and raised in Spokane, Washington (where he resides today), Myles Kennedy has quietly become rock’s voice to beat. He began as a guitar teacher, then moved on to globe-trotting success with Alter Bridge, singing for Slash and auditioning for Led Zeppelin, among other things, all the while retaining a reputation as one of the most down-to-earth guys in the business.

His debut solo album of 2018, Year Of The Tiger, was a largely acoustic-based ode to his late father (who died when Kennedy was four, having refused to see a doctor due to his Christian Scientist beliefs). Conversely, his new album The Ides Of March reaches across his artistic spectrum, taking in boot-stomping rock, bluesy slide guitar, countrified sunset textures and king-sized tunes, much of it peppered with lyrical nods to the frictions of 2020.

LOCKDOWN WAS A TEST FOR MARRIAGES

My wife and I got married back in 2003. We were married for about six months, and then I started playing with Alter Bridge. So from that point it was just go, go, go for however many years.

Serena and I have a great marriage. I can count on one hand how many fights we’ve had in twenty years [laughs]. I lucked out with her. They would say: “Well, when you get off the road it’ll be interesting, because you guys just aren’t around each other that much.” So this was the test. And we’ve spent the last year, every day, just doing the same thing, hanging out together. If anything, it’s better.

I WORRY ABOUT A LOT OF THINGS

In the sixth grade, when all my friends were getting these awards from the teacher at the end of the school year, like ‘Best Athlete’ and ‘Best Student’, she gave me the ‘Worrywart’ award. It’s the only award I’ve ever won! I think, like everybody, you worry about what could be, the future, not reaching your potential, am I being the best person I can be, am I being the best husband I can be… I mean, there’s so many different worries, depending on which day you ask me. It’s an ongoing struggle.

SPOKANE, WASHINGTON IS A GREAT PLACE

It’s far removed from that fast-paced urban life. There’s not a lot of traffic and there’s space. Now, with that said, it’s kind of becoming discovered, and more people are moving here for that reason. But I feel like the kind of people who live here are just good people, hard-working people. There’s not a lot of ‘peacocking’. In some cities, people will try and show their social status and they’re: “Oh, look what I have, look at my car, look at my lifestyle…” It doesn’t really fit the DNA of this town. Our real claim to fame from a musical standpoint is we are the home of Bing Crosby, and White Christmas, which is pretty awesome. I mean, that’s a heavy cat.

GRUNGE WAS THE LAST MUSICAL MOVEMENT TO HAVE A PROFOUND EFFECT ON THE WORLD

Growing up here [in Spokane] we were four or five hours away from Seattle, and seeing all that starting to happen in the late eighties was exciting. We had no idea how big it was gonna get. In eighty-eight/eighty-nine, Zia [Uddin, drummer], who plays in the solo band with me, and I were playing a handful of Soundgarden songs in cover bands. And then Alice In Chains would come over and open for national acts. I don’t even know if they’d been signed yet. So it was really cool to watch all that take off.

ON MY NEW RECORD I TRIED TO CREATE A CONGRUENT SONIC STEW

I probably listen to way more blues-based music, jazz, a lot of American music, and a lot of music that was taken by what was going on in the sixties and seventies over in the UK. Obviously Zeppelin was a big thing for so many of us, and Bad Company, bands like that, so that is a massive part of my DNA. But so is Ella Fitzgerald, so is Freddie Hubbard, so are contemporary artists like Sturgill Simpson. I do have an appreciation for a lot of different genres, so I really wanted to make a record that reflected that.

TIMELESS LYRICS ARE THE BEST ONES.

I’m always hesitant [in lyrics] when it comes to more contemporary issues. If you’re gonna have [those issues] affect the narrative, try and do it in a way where it doesn’t date it, you know? I want to be able to listen to these songs in ten years and go: “Oh, I was experiencing this then”, but in ten years the listener can go: “Oh, this is applying to me now as well” or “I can extract this meaning from it.” So that’s always the challenge, to keep it ambiguous enough where it can be timeless and won’t have a shelf life. That was really difficult with this record. Really difficult.

WE ALL CRAVE THE TRUTH

My big concern is how everybody’s getting their information from very polarised sources. It doesn’t seem like there’s any middle ground any more, so we’re all living in our own echo-chamber, and the narrative that we want to

“I’d run home after school and turn up Screaming For Vengeance by Judas Priest.”