Alter Bridge's Myles Kennedy - The Story Of 'Blackbird' | Louder - video Dailymotion

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Myles Kennedy on the making of Alter Bridge's Blackbird.

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00:00Hey, I'm Miles Kennedy from Alter Bridge.

00:22Blackbird, which has become a fan favorite,

00:27is probably my favorite song that we have in the Alter Bridge catalog.

00:32At least the song with the most meaning.

00:34I think it's a very powerful song that resonates with myself and a lot of others.

00:39Furl your black wings and wave across the horizon.

00:46He's coming to sweep you away.

00:56He's coming to sweep you away.

01:00I had a friend, his name was Mark Morris.

01:05He owned his own music or guitar shop in my town, Spokane, Washington.

01:10And Mark was a great guy.

01:12He sold me my very first guitar when I was a kid.

01:15And we just kept in touch.

01:19And unfortunately he got sick.

01:21It was a few months of struggle for him and his family.

01:25When I got the news that he passed away, the lyric came pretty quickly.

01:30It was one of those very inspired moments, very honest moments

01:34that you just kind of wait to channel as a songwriter.

01:38And so that's how Blackbird was born.

01:43The anatomy of Blackbird, if I can remember back that far.

01:56It's been almost 10 years.

01:58Mark had the initial verse.

02:01I believe he had the verse guitar part and the verse melody part.

02:06What was challenging was coming up with a chorus.

02:10We could not find a chorus forever.

02:13I think we had the heavy guitar part that kicked in after his verse part.

02:19And that was something I came up with.

02:21It has a very Pink Floyd vibe.

02:23In fact, there's quite a bit of Pink Floyd influence on that song,

02:27at least from where I was coming from.

02:31The solo, actually the guitar solo that I played, the first one,

02:35it was definitely Gilmore inspired.

02:37Because the words carry on,

02:42and then die away,

02:46and may you never be broken again.

02:53I'll never forget, we recorded a real rough version of it,

03:00and I had it on my laptop.

03:02And I was staying at Mark's house at the time,

03:04and he came in and he was like,

03:06let's check out how it sounds.

03:08So we have a little perspective now.

03:10We've been away from it for a few hours.

03:12And I remember we sat there and listened to it,

03:14and we looked at each other and we're like,

03:16wow, okay, this is, this is,

03:19as a songwriter, as songwriters, this is what you,

03:22this is, these are the moments you dream of.

03:24These are the moments that makes all of the searching

03:27and soul searching more than worthwhile.

03:30And that was, that was a great, that was a great moment for both of us.

03:55As far as how difficult it can be to sing a song like that,

03:58because of the profound meaning,

04:00there's some nights when it's, it's a real challenge, you know,

04:04because you, if you, if you immerse yourself in the lyric,

04:07and those memories all flood back, it, you know,

04:11it, it, it can, it can, it can sting a little bit.

04:15So, I remember one night, actually we were playing Wembley Arena,

04:19and another friend who had, had recently passed, passed away,

04:26Ashley, a photographer friend of ours,

04:29and his wife was, was standing on the side of the stage,

04:32and she knew what that song meant and the meaning of that song.

04:35And so having, having her there and performing that,

04:38it was, that was really, that was a real challenge to get through.

04:41But, but you know, that's, that's the thing about music.

04:45If it's, if it's, if it's that honest,

04:48and the emotions are that, I guess, pure, that should happen.

04:54I mean, that's, that's what, what art should do.

04:56It should resonate with you like that,

04:57and it should, should create some real, real moments of, of introspection,

05:05and, and trip, you know, a tribute, as a tribute to my friends.

05:10And, so yeah, that's, that's, that sums that up.

05:35I'm going to talk to you like that.

05:38I'm from P.D.

05:40I'm from P.D.

05:44I'm from P.D.

05:45I'm from P.D.

05:50I'm from P.D.

05:52guitar solo

06:22guitar solo

Alter Bridge's Myles Kennedy - The Story Of 'Blackbird' | Louder

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