Myles Kennedy on the making of Alter Bridge's Blackbird.
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00:00 Hey, I'm Miles Kennedy from Alter Bridge.
00:22 Blackbird, which has become a fan favorite, one of probably my favorite song that we have
00:29 in the Alter Bridge catalog.
00:30 At least the song with the most meaning.
00:34 It's a very powerful song that resonates with myself and a lot of others.
00:39 Look for your black wings and wait.
00:44 Across the horizon, he's coming to sweep you away.
00:56 He's coming to sweep you away.
01:02 I had a friend, his name was Mark Morris.
01:04 He owned his own music guitar shop in my town, Spokane, Washington.
01:10 Mark was a great guy.
01:11 He sold me my very first guitar when I was a kid.
01:15 We just kept in touch.
01:19 Unfortunately he got sick.
01:20 It was a few months of struggle for him and his family.
01:26 When I got the news that he passed away, the lyric came pretty quickly.
01:30 It was one of those very inspired moments, very honest moments that you just kind of
01:36 wait to channel as a songwriter.
01:40 So that's how Blackbird was born.
01:53 The anatomy of Blackbird, if I can remember back that far, it's been almost ten years.
01:58 Mark had the initial verse.
02:01 I believe he had the verse guitar part and the verse melody part.
02:06 What was challenging was coming up with the chorus.
02:10 We could not find a chorus forever.
02:12 I think we had the heavy guitar part that kicked in after his verse part.
02:19 That was something I came up with.
02:20 It has a very Pink Floyd vibe.
02:23 In fact, there's quite a bit of Pink Floyd influence on that song, at least from where
02:28 I was coming from.
02:31 The guitar solo that I play, the first one, was definitely Gilmore inspired.
02:36 I'll never forget, we recorded a real rough version of it and I had it on my laptop.
03:02 I was staying at Mark's house at the time and he came in and he was like, "Let's check
03:06 out how it sounds."
03:07 So we have a little perspective now.
03:08 We've been away from it for a few hours.
03:09 I remember we sat there and listened to it and we looked at each other and we were like,
03:17 "Wow.
03:18 Okay, as songwriters, these are the moments you dream of.
03:24 These are the moments that make all of the searching and soul searching more than worthwhile."
03:32 That was a great moment for both of us.
03:55 As far as how difficult it can be to sing a song like that because of the profound meaning,
04:00 there's some nights when it's a real challenge because if you immerse yourself in the lyric
04:07 and those memories all flood back, it can sting a little bit.
04:16 I remember one night, we were playing Wembley Arena and another friend who had recently
04:24 passed away, Ashley, a photographer friend of ours, and his wife was standing on the
04:32 side of the stage and she knew what that song meant and the meaning of that song.
04:36 So having her there and performing that, that was a real challenge to get through.
04:42 But, you know, that's the thing about music.
04:45 If it's that honest and the emotions are that, I guess, pure, that should happen.
04:54 That's what art should do.
04:56 It should resonate with you like that and it should create some real moments of introspection
05:05 and a tribute to my friends.
05:10 So yeah, that sums that up.
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