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M-K.com: Since our last interview over a year ago lots of things have happened in your life. Talk about that for a moment.
Myles: A lot of good things have transpired since our last interview. It’s been a great year. As long as I am staying busy and continue to work, life is good!
M-K.com: Do you feel like you’re a different person?
Myles: I wouldn’t say I am a different person. I am just trying to make the right decisions and be wise. I continue to try and not take anything for granted, because I know this business is very fickle. I feel extremely fortunate to still be in the game after all these years.
M-K.com: We get a lot of questions regarding your tour plans for the future. People are wanting to know if Canada, South America and the US are in your plans with either band.
Myles: I know at this point I am going to Europe and the UK with both bands. I am also going to Australia with Slash this August. As far as Canada is concerned, I wouldn’t be surprised if we didn’t go there with one or both bands. South American and South Africa have been talked about and I would love that.
M-K.com: As most people know you are singing for Slash’s band on his solo tour. What was your reaction when he asked you to be apart of that?
Myles: Well, first I wanted to make sure schedule wise it would work. I knew Alter Bridge was going to happen in 2010, so I just wanted to make sure I didn’t promise anything that I couldn’t deliver on. After I found out that every thing would work out, I was really ecstatic. As you know, I have been a big fan of all his bands over the years . I think for me, knowing that I would not only get to sing the songs I was apart of on his record, but songs that I have loved for years, was just a huge thrill for me. It’s kind of crazy looking back at the songs I have gotten to sing, with the guys who wrote them.
M-K.com: You bring up a good point. Jimmy Page is one of greats in the 70’s, Slash blew up in the 80’s and Mark Tremonti won Guitarist of the year in the 90’s and the 2000’s. Has it ever entered your mind that you have now jammed or recorded with three of the greatest rock guitarist of all time?
Myles: You know, I haven’t actually thought about it that way. That’s a good point. For me, seeing as I started out as a guitar player and guitar being my first love, it makes it even more special. For example the other night in Australia, I take my inner ear monitor and push it in so I could soak in what Slash was playing, because in my opinion he is on fire right now. Anytime I get a chance to play with someone of that caliber, I try to take in and learn from what they are doing.
M-K.com: Who is Best?
Myles: Oh….I was afraid someone was going to ask that… It’s impossible to say which is the best, because all three of them have things they do extremely well. I couldn’t judge them even if I wanted to, because music is such a subjective art. I am going to plead the 5th on that one. (Laughs)
M-K.com: You also have two songs on his new album titled Slash. How much creative input did you have in the recording of those two songs? Were the singing parts all planned out or did you put your own spin on them?
Myles: Basically the way it was put together was Slash would send me the music and my job was to add what I heard melodically and lyrically. Fortunately he liked both songs. I actually think he done the whole record that way.
M-K.com: Did you like writing that way?
Myles: I actually do, because I feel melodically I can do my thing, so to speak. It was really cool, because he is a really great writer and the way he arranges his musical ideas gives the singer plenty to work with melodically. He has such a groove! It’s so hard to articulate, but the way he feels music is what makes him really special.
M-K.com: Back from Cali might be the most unique song we have heard from you lyrically and from a melody stand point. What was your thought process on that one?
Myles: Back from Cali was the last song added to the record. He sent me the song as we were finishing up the writing process for the Alter Bridge record. I was actually doing double duty for about a week. When I heard it for the first time, I was like this groove is just so dirty and has this great straight up rock n roll vibe. I was pretty excited, because I had always wanted to do something like that. The melody actually came to me really quickly. After we had the song written he flew me out to LA and we recorded the song in only a couple of days. It was a very spontaneous song and I think we are both really happy with how it turned out.
M-K.com: There are some rumors floating around that Back from Cali is the next single, is that true?
Myles: I heard that rumor as well. (Laughs) How do these rumors get around, it’s crazy! (Laughs)
M-K.com: Of all the songs on the Slash tour, which is the most enjoyable to sing?
Myles: That’s a really difficult question. I guess it would have to be Paradise City. I have always loved that song. You know that’s hard, because I feel that way about a lot of those songs. It’s pretty cool because I look to my left and there is the guy who wrote those songs, so that always makes it more special. It’s crazy!
M-K.com: You where in the movie Rockstar. Do you find it odd how your life almost resembles that of Izzy in the movie?
Myles: Ummm.. Yeah… (Laughs) It’s certainly life imitating art with out a doubt. Only if I hadn’t wore those pathetic clothes. (Laughs). It’s hard to believe that was ten years ago. A lot has happened in ten years.
M-K.com: Is the Slash gig just until the AB tour in October or is this something that you can see continuing in the future?
Myles: That’s a good question. I think right now it’s just to early to tell. It depends on how every ones schedules work. The other guys in Alter Bridge have Creed, so we will see. I hate down time and days off, so as long as I am staying busy, I am ok with however it works out.
M-K.com: You get lot of questions about Slash but what about the other band mates in Slash, how are they?
Myles: Oh man they are great! It’s funny because at first I didn’t know what to expect, because I had never met those guys. Within an hour of hanging out with those guys, I was like this is certainly a great chemistry, in a since that the other three guys are total muzzos just like me. (Laughs) We are the guys that read all the books about music and watch all the DVD’s about music. We sit around and talk music history about this band and this other band. It’s great! They are really fabulous players as well. Then you add Slash in the mix and it’s just amazing!
M-K.com: If your career ended today, what would be the one thing you want to be remembered for?
Myles: That I was a snappy dresser! (laughs) That’s a really hard question. I don’t know that I can answer that because there are so many cool things that have happened to me. I have been very fortunate to be apart of some really cool things. I guess Blackbird the song would be one thing I would like to be remembered for, because that is such a special song to me.
M-K.com: During our last interview you broke the news of your solo record. How is that coming along?
Myles: The solo record is pretty much done. All the music has been done since November. I just have to finish the vocals which shouldn’t take long. The reason it took so long was because the album has so many textures and guitar parts. Brian Sperber, who mixed the last Alter Bridge record and is currently mixing the new Alter Bridge record, produced the album with me. It’s not your standard bass, drum, and guitar record. We spent so much time recording all these instruments. The recording process ended up taking more time than I had originally planned. With that said, the extra time kind of knocked out the time we had to record the vocals. We hope to get the vocals recorded this year and then hopefully get the record out early next year. I am really looking forward to people checking it out!
M-K.com: Once the album is released, do you plan on touring in support?
Myles: Originally that was the plan. That was the reason I wanted to make a solo record. I wanted to keep it simple, so I could just go out with an acoustic guitar. After playing Bofest and some other events that where strictly acoustic, I realized how much I loved it and wanted to do more acoustic sets. The funny thing is by the time we were finished in the studio, a lot of the arrangements were pretty elaborate. I don’t know how I could tour with some of that stuff. I still hope I can go out do some dates, because like I said, playing acoustic is one of things I enjoy the most.
M-K.com: Were there any instruments used on your solo record that you would never use in Alter Bridge?
Myles: One thing that I used, that I had never used before, was a certain amount of sequencing. Brian my producer is actually a great piano player, much better than me. So we actually used some keys, just to add some texture. I also had a great arsenal of guitars and amps. Probably more so than on any other record I had done in my career. My uncle and a friend of mine lent me a bunch of their gear, plus the guys at Cider Mountain Recorders had a lot of old guitars and amps. I just had infinite tonal possibilities at my finger tips. For example, I was playing a 1946 Martin 00021 on a lot of tracks, which was amazing. We also used a bunch of old 1960’s Marshall Plexies, which were just loud as sin. (Laughs) I have a 1967 Gibson 335, which is all over the record. I have a new PRS David Grissom that got a lot of use and also a PRS Angelus acoustic that was just fabulous. There were a lot of different instruments I used to color with on the album.
M-K.com: You also just finished ABIII. What is the progress on that record?
Myles: As of right now it is being mixed. I actually just heard some of the mixes, that Brian Sperber is working on, and they sounded great. Our goal is to get it released in the third quarter, then we go on tour with it in October. It was the fastest arranging and recording process that I have ever be a part of in my career. We were lucky to have Elvis Baskette doing the record, because him and his crew work really fast. When we were talking about doing 17 songs in 31 days, I was like there is no way! (laughs) Well, just leave it to Elvis and crew to get something like that done!
M-K.com: Are there any special plans with the release of ABIII, like a DVD or acoustic tracks?
Myles: There should be something! We should do something where if you buy the record you get a special pair of Alter Bridge socks. (laughs) One side says Alter and the other says Bridge. (laughs)
M-K.com: You could do condoms…
Myles: OF COURSE!!! (laughs) Yeah, safe sex!! Your Brilliant! (still laughing)
M-K.com: We all know the issues with the DVD, do you expect anything like that with ABIII?
Myles: You know, to me the DVD delay has been the most embarrassing thing that I have experienced in my career. Really what it boiled down to was just the good old music business. I don’t want to start throwing mud, so we will just say it’s political. It’s really unfortunate how that whole thing played out. I was actually very surprised. Let me just reiterate, I am very sorry to those who thought it was coming out on certain day, then didn’t. It really just made us look like we didn’t have our act together. Not to be all cryptic and weird, but hopefully some day we can go into detail as to what really happened. It was really just a bunch of “hoopla” (laughs). Frankly, even when I talked about it now I get pretty upset. It’s really unbelievable! With that said, if that sort of thing happens with ABIII…(Very long pause) WOW! (another very long pause) It better not happen.
M-K.com: There is that chance though right?
Myles: (Laughs) I am not even going to say that because I don’t want to jinx it. If that happens, I will just throw it out online and let people have it for free. (laughs) Better to do that than to leave people hanging. I don’t know. We will see what happens.
M-K.com: What is your gut feeling about the album on how it compares with the other two records?
Myles: I am to close to it right now to make a good judgment. I have the rough cut of the album, which is basically a rough mix and master. I am actually not listening to it on purpose because I want a really fresh ear for the final mixes. Sometimes what happens is if you listen to the rough mix constantly, you tend to get attached to the way the levels are on the rough cut. It was a very spontaneous record, which I think will bode well. Even though it came together really quickly, Mark and I have been writing this album for awhile now. It’s really hard because Blackbird raised the bar to a certain level and especially the song Blackbird. I am not going to sit here and tell you this record is going to blow away the last record, because I think that is really dangerous. If you do that, you may be setting yourself up for failure. I am not going to be that guy, because I want the people who like our music to decide that. I hope people will enjoy it and it won’t leave them disappointed, because we work really hard not to disappoint our fans. Music is a subjective medium, therefore, it’s evitable that people are going to be disappointed every once in a while. My gut is telling me that we did our best and busted our ass on this record. I think there is some really great moments and it’s really dark lyrically. It’s going to be interesting to see how that’s received. Hopefully we won’t have to say it’s going to be delayed into the next year..(Laughs). I really don’t think that’s going to happen. I know a lot of people have written to the other guys and myself about how much your excited about this record, so we will do our best to get it out as soon as possible.
M-K.com: When compared to Blackbird is ABIII more or less radio friendly?
Myles: I think overall it’s not as radio friendly, but we do have songs that will work on radio. We actually talked about getting away from the radio formula on this record, but you have to be really careful in doing something like that. Whether you use the term radio or accessible, if you try to avoid that, you may end up alienating fans who want to hear a certain type of song. In a band like Alter Bridge, we have the ability to tap into those more technical, dark or moody pieces, at the same time we can go into those more accessible or hooky pieces. On this record we really felt like we needed to balance that and I think we did that to a point. There is a good mixture of the accessible stuff with the muzzo stuff. (laughs) Muzzo, that’s my new word for the day. (laughs)
M-K.com: Can you give us some insight as to what the title of the album might be?
Myles: Well right now the working title is ABIII. We really need to get on that. (laughs) I am suppose to fly to New York in a few days to check out the mixes, so hopefully we will get that figured out then.
M-K.com: Do you feel that rock will make a comeback to the mainstream in the near future?
Myles: I don’t know if Rock will ever come back into the mainstream like it once was.. It would be great if it did. In the USA it’s certainly not in the mainstream and overseas, I don’t know if it’s in the mainstream as far as radio is concerned, but they certainly show up to the live shows! I mean something is happing over there. (Laughs) People there show up at shows in droves. They love rock music over there and we applaud that! Thank you!
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