Alter Bridge’s Myles Kennedy recently spoke to Ultimate Guitar for an interview and revealed which song from the band’s upcoming album challenged him most during the recordings.
On October 18, 2019, Alter Bridge released their sixth studio album, ‘Walk The Sky.’ They then released the album’s deluxe edition on November 6, 3030, which featured bonus live tracks and a new song titled ‘Last Rites.’ After the album’s success, Alter Bridge decided to release another album.
In May 2022, the band revealed that their seventh studio album’s title would be ‘Pawns & Kings,’ and it was set to be released on October 14, 2022. According to Mark Tremonti, Myles Kennedy played some of the heaviest riffs on the album, and they enjoyed filling each other’s roles.
On July 18, 2022, the title track lead single ‘Pawns & Kings’ was released. The band also dropped the follow-up single titled ‘Silver Tongue’ on August 1, 2022. As Alter Bridge is getting ready to unleash ‘Pawns & Kings,’ Myles Kennedy joined Ultimate Guitar to discuss the album’s recording process.
Myles Kennedy said the title track had many transitions and crafty progressive elements. According to the musician, these factors challenged him the most. Although he was worried he couldn’t handle such a difficult song, they later arranged it perfectly. Kennedy then argued they would be fine when they played ‘Pawns & Kings’ live.
Asked about the song which pushed him most, Myles Kennedy told Ultimate Guitar the following:
“Musically, I would probably say it’s the title track, ‘Pawns and Kings.’ There’s just so much going on there, and I remember when I was demoing that track before I submitted it to the band. There were just a lot of transitions and tricky little, almost progressive elements that were very challenging.
After tracking that, I thought, well, if this ends up making the record, you’re going to risk painting yourself into a corner when you play it live. So, fortunately, once it was submitted to the bank and we spent some time with the arrangement, we crystallized the initial vision.“
He then continued:
“I feel we’ll be fine once we take it into a live round. But that’s always part of the process. You know, it’s finding that balance where you can take what you hear in your head, and you’re still capable of playing it live.
You know, sometimes it’s like when you sit down, look at the menu, and you’re starving, want to order everything on the menu, and your eyes are bigger than your stomach. You know, it’s the same concept with music. We can overdo it.”
Below, you can listen to Alter Bridge’s song ‘Pawns & Kings.’
