SPILL FEATURE: THE ART OF LETTING GO – A CONVERSATION WITH MYLES KENNEDY

THE ART OF LETTING GO

A CONVERSATION WITH MYLES KENNEDY

The artistry of Myles Kennedy continues to remain in a state of constant motion. As one of the most prolific voices in rock, best known for fronting Alter Bridge and Slash Featuring Myles Kennedy & The Conspirators, the singer, guitarist, and songwriter has released his third solo album, The Art Of Letting Go. Standing apart from both of his previous solo albums, The Art Of Letting Go sees Kennedy finding the bridge between the blues and modern, heavy rock. Speaking on the album, Kennedy goes into the creative process and the intentions behind his thrilling new record.

“It just kind of sums up where I’m at in life,” Kennedy tells me in reference to the title of his new album. He continues, “As you get older you try to figure things out and apply some things to help you navigate the treacherous water of life. What I’ve learned is letting go, being less reactive and not being as attached to things is ideal for me. It felt like an appropriate title that sums up where I’m at.” The Art Of Letting Go stands as a unique album that stands out from Kennedy’s previous solo endeavours. Where 2018’s Year Of The Tiger was primarily an acoustic album and 2021’s The Ides Of March embraced slightly more contemporary territory, The Art Of Letting Go is a bonafide rock record.

In some senses, this is Kennedy returning home by departing from his previous solo records. He states, “I started in January 2023 with a little different parameters than I allowed myself with the first two solo records. Year Of The Tiger, which I did like 6 or 7 years ago, it’s an acoustic fare… I was intentionally trying to create something that was a departure from what I was known for with Slash & The Conspirators and Alter Bridge.” It wasn’t actually until a conversation he had with his drum tech, Mik [Gaffney], while on the road in support of The Ides Of March that the thought had actually occurred to him, “he goes ‘you guys reapproach the arrangement and you rock them out because it’s a trio. Have you ever thought of recording the songs this way?’ and I thought ‘what if we made a record of new tunes as they would be re-envisioned.’” For Kennedy, it was about creating a new artistic context for the album, as he says, “as time went on, I found myself asking the question ‘Why can’t you do that? You’re a rock guy, you started as a rock guitar player as a kid, why aren’t you writing rock songs and making a full-on rock ‘n’ roll record’. The thing I structured early on was allowing for myself to do that.

SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: MYLES KENNEDY – THE ART OF LETTING GO

The Art Of Letting Go feels equally inspired by his work with Slash as it is Alter Bridge as Kennedy finds a meaningful way to bring blues riffs and licks into the context of modern hard rock. In this sense, it stands unlike any of Kennedy’s previous work, with highlights including “The Art Of Letting Go”, “Eternal Lullaby”, “Saving Face”, “Say What You Will”, and “Behind The Veil” – a song that Kennedy names as his favourite when asked to pick one from the album, adding “That’s the song I see on the setlist and go ‘I can’t wait for that one… The bookends, the intro and outro were something I had sitting around for a while, I didn’t have a home for it. When I stumbled on the main riff, where the band kicks in, that was something I came up with on the bus… I wanted to introduce that riff with a sonic preface. That’s how that came to be with that clean guitar part.”

The album was written over a span of about six months and was recorded over another three. Discussing the writing of the album, Kennedy states, “On the Ides Of March, I used the studio environment to write the song. I would create knowing what the end arrangement would be – you know, ‘there’s gonna be a lap steel here, there’s gonna be a banjo here’. It was essentially demoing with pre-production at that point. But with this, I didn’t do that. I didn’t start demoing until I was knee deep in the songs… I just took my little amp, my guitar, and my phone and, the mantra was essentially, if the riff is great, if the riff is something you find compelling, that you can build upon… if it’s still standing when you revisit it, then you can make it into a song. I was adamant that the foundation, the skeleton, the riff in particular, had to have a certain gravity.” For Kennedy, the biggest challenge in making a rock record, was finding his own path that didn’t step on what he has previously created with Alter Bridge and Slash, “The delicate dance was figuring out how to do it in a way – and the lines are going to be blurred at times – that establishes your own lane. That was fun, it was certainly challenging at times. He elaborates, With Alter Bridge, because we tend to go more, I don’t want to say metal, but it gets a lot more aggressive… recently, I’m reading the Keith Richards autobiography, Life, and he talks about the heavier rock side of things, and you have the roll side of things. With this, I’m trying to think more roll, then the rock, but I feel it rolls a lot more than Alter Bridge. Now with Slash, there’s a lot of roll. It’s that groove, that thing he does playing from the hip – I was actually more cognisant trying not to tread in that territory because its blues based, and its riff based, and it’s my voice. But if you don’t have Slash in the equation, you know, there it is.” He laughs, adding, “he’s the secret sauce there.”

Following the release of The Art Of Letting Go, Kennedy will spend much of what is remaining of 2024 on the road in Europe. In January, his North American tour will commence – along with a performance scheduled for January 22^nd, at Toronto’s The Concert Hall. “It’s going to be a rock ‘n’ roll tour, that’s for sure… Not on every song, not on every solo, I want to incorporate the improvisational side of things. I don’t really get to do that a lot with Alter Bridge and with Slash, he’s obviously got that covered. With this, it’s going to be about stretching things out. For some of these songs, I’ll never play the solo the same way again.” Much like The Art Of Letting Go, the tour looks to be a new extension to the brilliance of Kennedy’s creativity, something which seems to be a larger theme that runs throughout each of his solo albums. In this sense, The Art Of Letting Go continues to demonstrate Kennedy as both a songwriter and performer in a new and thrilling light; ultimately making for one of the strongest rock records of this year.

Listen to the full, unabridged conversation, including Kennedy’s musings on jazz, almost joining Velvet Revolver, and his desert island records, on episode 34 of Beats By Ger on Spotify or YouTube.

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