Alter Bridge - Come to Life

If you don’t recognise the name of this week’s band but do recognise the voice behind the lead vocals, that’s no great surprise – Myles Kennedy gets about. From working with Slash (almost with his first spin-off band Velvet Revolver, then very much with Slash’s solo project) to recording demos with Led Zeppelin and a whole host of bands and artists in between, he’s a band member, session musician and guitar teacher all in one. Oh, he’s also got solo work out. “Why don’t you marry Myles Kennedy if you love him so much?” I hear you say; maybe I will, but that’s beside the point.

To get to the point, this week we’re focusing on the band that he’s fronted for the longest – Alter Bridge, a four-piece from Orlando, Florida whose instrumentalist trio of Mark Tremonti, Scott Phillips and Brian Marshall rose from the ashes of another band you may have heard of, Creed (the of Higher and being so shit-faced you can’t remember the words to your own songs on stage fame). After their first album, One Day Remains, took criticism from people who thought it sounded a lot like Creed – and I can’t blame them, it does – they seemed to take those words to heart and the follow-up, Blackbird, became a much more distinct sound that they wound up making their own – a move away from the post-grunge sound of Creed into their own spin on chunky, chugging rhythms, distorted guitar and the vocals of Kennedy weaving it all together.

Blackbird might not be the band at their most complete and best, but there’s gold here – the title track has almost ethereal guitar work running through it, and the solo is, to put it scientifically, sex on legs. Ties That Bind is a killer opener that well worth a listen too, but for this week’s Song of the Week I’m picking the second track on the album, Come to Life. This one doesn’t get a lot of mention, but it’s got a beast of a hook to it and a chorus I just can’t help myself from yelling along to. I’m pretty sure my neighbour knows the lyrics by proxy. Enjoy this one loud!