Building Bridges

Alter Bridge’s winning duo Mark Tremonti and Myles Kennedy share the secrets to their arena conquering sound…

- Simon Bradley

It’s hard to picture many modern guitar partnerships that operate with the same fluidity as Alter Bridge pair Mark Tremonti and Myles Kennedy. Seated next to each other in the cafeteria of a London hotel on a late summer morning, they both point out how – despite penning a lot of their latest tracks separately – it’s never been more difficult to pin down exactly who wrote what. The question even baffled producer Michael ‘Elvis’ Baskette, the man who’s been behind the desk on no less than five of their six studio albums, including the latest, Walk The Sky. “He thought Tear Us Apart was definitely a Myles track while In The Deep had to be mine,” grins Mark. “I guess the more you write and work with somebody, the more you adapt and assimilate what they do into what you do. Together you become more comfortable with what works for the band...”

“We’ll start dressing like each other next,” jokes singer/guitarist Myles. “I’ll have earrings on for the next tour. I’m not sure if I could pull off the haircut though, I have an odd-shaped head! Honestly, our ideas have kinda morphed into the same beast – it’s never been harder to tell the difference.” Quizzed further on the songwriting and lead playing that’s seen them become one of most passionately admired bands of their ilk, here’s what the Alter Bridge six-stringers had to say...

ON REPEAT

How YouTube drum loops inspired a lot of the songwriting on Walk The Sky…