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Myles is one of the most incredible talents I have come across! Mayfield Four was introduced to me through my Publisher, Rick Crimm. Their first record wasn't even out and we (Virgos Merlot) got and advanced copy. We fell in love with the band immediately and were lucky enough to be able to do a few shows with them. Myles is just as outstanding playing guitar as he is punishing a microphone. He is an inspiration to a lot of singer guitar players out there and I am lucky to have met him and luckier to be able to call him a friend! Brett Hestla 2008 |
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I'd been to one Alter Bridge show before and was so amazed at how much energy and power they can deliver on stage, though i was very dissapointed that i didn't get the change to meet the band. This January i managed to get myself to 4 of the 7 concerts in my country and each time i managed to meet the man himself. In Manchester i hardly met Myles because he has just woken up and was met with press too do! Though the next day at an intimate acoustic show there was a signing and meeting opportunity which was basically the reason i travelled 200 miles alone on a train! Id met the rest of the band before hand but was still nervy when it came to the part of the desk Myles was at. The man i have idolized for years the man i have wanted to meet for most of my adolescence sitting right in front of me. The indescribable emotions i felt left me dumbstruck, i started shaking and breathing real funny the first thing he said to me was 'Hey thats a very cool shirt you got on, Hey Brian {Marshall} come look at this shirt' My favorite Lynyrd Skynyrd t shirt got some love from the greatest band in the world. I won a prize to watch the band do sound check in Birmingham which was an absolutely unreal experience, there was no better way i could think of spending a few hours than watching my favorite band of all time warm up and have a chat with the guys Myles again was really kind the guys even recognized me from the previouse shows which was really special for me we got pictures and everything was great, i got a real naff picture that day because i was so tired from three days in row of Alter Bridge and it really showed! I handed Myles a letter that i had wrote for him to read because there really was no way i could even begin to tell me how i felt about the music and everything its helped me through and thought this would be the best way, i travelled down to London alone that very weekend to watch the guys rock the hell out of the Astoria me and some people I'd met went to the back of the arena hoping to meet the band and were told we would have to wait around two hours for them to come out though i didn't mind this what so ever as 'the risk was worth the gain’. I managed to get right near to the back entrance where they guys came out, Flip was out first, then Mark, then Brian and finally Myles, nothing could prepare me for what he had to say, Not only had he taken the time to read my letter but he remembered me by name and gave me some comments back from the letter, we had a nice chat and everything was swell!
Michael Caldwell 2008 |
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I first met Myles Kennedy in 2004 at Mark Tremonti's old house. It was the night he arrived in Orlando to finalize his auditioning process with Alter Bridge. Mark had played some of the Mayfield material for me which was awesome and I thought he looked like a rock star so he seemed to be the perfect guy. We listened to some of the tracks which he had added vocals and I was blown away! After hearing Mark's voice on the demo's the songs came to life even more with Myles tone and range. Then he told us that he loved shred guitar and I was curious how good he would be. Mark and I jammed all of the time in his bedroom to instrumental tracks where we would take turns soloing over them. We plugged in 3 amps and let it rip! I was in awe of how good Myles was at guitar and that he had such creative ideas. He could pick, tap, finger pick, and he had a big jazz flavor to his soloing. How unique is it to be an insane vocalists with a range that rivals Chris Cornell and then be a virtuoso guitarist! I have been lucky enough to witness many Alter Bridge rehearsals and shows and I always look forward to seeing Myles perform. I really admire Myles for his talent and humility and certainly look forward to seeing him grow as a world class musical artist. |
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Story #1 Funny story about a conversation Myles and I had in Little Rock, AR when they played here 12/5 of 2007. I'm from Arkansas and pretty much anyone that knows me knows I wear my Arkansas Razorback jersey to all the shows I got to. Well, in Little Rock, I was walking with Mark to his "Room of Doom" to hang out and passed by Myles who just stepped out of the bus. He looked and me and said "Hey James. How's it going?" My dumb response was "You know my name?"He said, "Sure I know your name. I was walking around the mall last night and everywhere I looked I saw these Arkansas jerseys and I thought to myself... this must be where James lives."
Story #2 I was privileged to witness a rock-n-roll miracle during the Columbus/Youngstown, OH shows back in late November. The wife and I drove up about 9 hours from Arkansas to make hit 5 shows during Thanksgiving break. Upon arriving in Columbus, we see Myles walking down the road with Flip and Brian, and I could just tell something wasn't right. He was sick. Not just sick, but SICK. He could barely talk, and looked pale and weak. He told us that they didn't know what they were going to do about the show that night. They wanted to cancel, but he didn't and they were going to play and see how things went and decide what would happen with the Youngstown show the next night. During sound check he didn't sing, and was motioning to us to say "Oh dear, this is going to be bad." During the show you could tell he was having major problems with his voice, BUT the crowd got involved and carried him through the night. They sang as loud as they could, every word, the entire night. I even saw Michael (Tremonti) up in the balcony singing his ass off too. :)
After the show, Myles made his way outside and didn't speak a word, but motioned to us that he was sorry for being sick and hoped he would be okay for tomorrow's shows. Earlier he had said that he was sorry we had driven all this way and he was sick and they might have to cancel shows. We all agreed his health was more important than any amount of miles that had been driven. He signed a few things, and made his way to the bus. The future of the next show looked grim. Michael told us that they were just going to have to play it by ear and see what they thought the next day. My honest gut feeling was they would cancel the Youngstown show.
The next day we made it to Youngstown and met up with Mark outside who informed us that Myles hadn't spoken a word the entire night, was sleeping at the moment, was using this Vicks inhaler thing to try to help his sickness, and still was no word if they would be playing or not. The day passed and sound check started. No vocals, nothing but the band, still no word of a cancellation. People started filing into the building as we heard from the manager of the building that the show was going to happen. Another Animal played their set, and the lights went down for Alter Bridge. Out comes the band and Myles starts singing and although not 100% it was damn near close. They played their entire set, and again during the show Myles asked for help from the crowd and they responded. To stage right you could see the Vicks inhaler sitting on Myles' guitar tech's (Fozzy) work area. During the break before the encore the crowd started chanting "Vicks, Vicks, Vicks... “over and over in response to Myles thanking the Vicks company for making the show possible.
After the show, I talked to Mark and he said that Myles did his warm-ups and didn't say or sing a note until the first note on stage that night. They were all worried that when he went to sing that nothing would come out or it would be so bad that he wouldn't make it, but Myles Kennedy, the superman of rock-n-roll, pulled it off. I'll remember those two shows the rest of my life and it says a lot about Myles. He could have said "I can't do this!" and cancelled the shows, but he kicked ass, took names, asked for a "little help from his friends" and pulled it off. I think everyone that witnessed those shows knows know the true character of Myles Kennedy now. I'm proud to say I got to be a part of those two days.
James (jwatki73) 2008
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