Alter Bridge's Myles Kennedy Talks New Album ‘Walk The Sky'

The American metal band’s frontman on the themes that informed the new record, fun memories of ace guitarist Slash and more

- Anurag Tagat

AS MUCH AS Alter Bridge love to rip through the riffs and bring incendiary energy on their just-released album Walk the Sky, there’s also trademark moments of sprawling, arena-rock vibrancy. Across both heavy and lighter tracks on their sixth record, vocalist and guitarist Myles Kennedy tells us that mindfulness played a big role in shaping the lyrics and sound of Walk the Sky, which released via Napalm Records. He says over the phone from his home in Spokane, Washington, “It was really the liberation I felt once I started to incorporate mindfulness into my life. A lot of these songs explore that. I would say songs like ‘In The Deep’ and ‘Wouldn’t You Rather’… a number of tracks touch on that philosophy.”

The release of Walk the Sky continues a nonstop couple of years for Kennedy. In 2017 and 2018, he was readying and promoting two albums – his debut solo effort Year of the Tiger and Guns N’ Roses guitar legend Slash’s own record Living the Dream. “I would say in the last… 10 years, the album and tour cycles have run up to… there have literally been no breaks,” Kennedy says.

In an interview with Rolling Stone India, Kennedy talks to us about the making of Walk the Sky, the changing band dynamics in Alter Bridge and his favorite memory of Slash. Excerpts:

You’ve been going pretty nonstop since the release of Year of the Tiger, right?

It’s been busy. It’s been good as a musician and a recording artist, to be in that position where you have the opportunity to express yourself in these various things – you can’t take that for granted. With that said, it’s a lot of work, it’s a lot of things being on and being prepared. I think you just get into a certain workflow and you get accustomed to it. It’s been a good run.