Myles Kennedy

The guitar saved me from a life of crime as a teenager.

It's a little nerve-wracking to stand up on stage all by yourself.

I love playing with Slash, and the chemistry I have with the rest of the guys in his band is fantastic.

That's what I love more than anything, just creating.

I realized, year of the tiger was 1974, which was the year my father passed away when I was a kid... My family, at that point, were Christian Scientists. So basically, this woman Mary Baker Eddy started this in the 1800s, and the premise is that you don't go to doctors. You believe that God is gonna heal you.

My grandmothers on both sides chose not to go to doctors and passed away. We were entrenched in the Christian Science faith.

I'm kind of a firm believer that songs can have a shelf life with an artist.

'Year Of The Tiger' definitely has much more of a blues-based vibe.

What I did with Slash and the Conspirators was a very different kind of music. Genre-wise, it is a step in a different direction.

Because Slash is such a well-known performer all over the world, it definitely helped with the awareness of Alter Bridge. People come up to me and say that they saw me playing with Slash, and it turned them on to the other things I do.

I really enjoy the moments with Alter Bridge where I can step out and play lead and have fun.

The journey to the completion of 'Year Of The Tiger' was very interesting and full of a lot of trial and error.

I don't feel like I really hit puberty until I was almost 17. I'd go to dinner with my family, and I'm 15 or 16 years old, and the waiter was still giving me the children's menu.

People have been saying rock is dead for years, but the reality is that it just falls out of favor with pop culture from time to time.

Not playing guitar on 'World On Fire' gave me additional time to fine-tune lyrics and melodies, which improved the songs in the end. I'm very happy with how it turned out.

'World On Fire' isn't necessarily a profound statement about where we are as a planet. It's about living life to the fullest... carpe diem.

I think what I've learned to do is not look inward as much.

Vocally, I don't think analogue makes that much difference, but with guitars, it definitely makes some difference. With drums and bass, absolutely.

Grunge was, to me, the last big movement. It had such an impact on pop culture. We haven't really seen anything like that since, and we may never again. Things have changed; the digital age has changed things.

A lot of times when I'm performing a song, it tends to take me back to where I was psychologically as the lyric was being written.

I'm not a mixer. That's not what I do. I'm a songwriter, a singer, and a guitar player. You might have some ideas here and there, but you let the mixer mix the song because, overall, you've gotta trust their instincts.

I'm in a lower register because I'm not trying to shout out over a wall of amps. Singing lower sounded very pleasing to my ear, and it made it easier for me to emote.

Every step, every bit of success, it's gotta be earned.

One of the key emotions a lot of people seem to be feeling is disillusionment, and what I try to do as a lyricist is touch on these emotions.

Though rock is not the force that it once was in America, it still has a loyal fan base that always seems to continue regardless of what popular culture deems as the 'cool thing.'