Aside from Kennedy, Alter Bridge is made up of Mark Tremonti, Brian Marshall, and Scott Phillips.
Their latest single “Native Son” continues to impact the radio airwaves, and rightfully so. It racked up over five million streams all over the world to date, and it has broken into the Top 40 on Active Rock radio. The song’s official video is an animated short that created entirely using stop-animation techniques and incorporating origami to create a distinct visual effect. “Stefano Bertelli knocked it out of the park. When we saw the final interpretation of the video, it was just next level. For me, personally, it is one of my favorite Alter Bridge videos without a doubt,” he said.
The band just released a lyric video for their original tune “Last Rites” from their forthcoming EP Walk The Sky 2.0. “The lyric video was spooky and it fit with the Halloween time of year, so we decided to do it to scare the kids,” he said with a sweet laugh.
This lyric video utilizes a dark and mystical aesthetic using a fortune teller that makes a prediction based on the lyrics. The song originated from an idea that Kennedy, Tremonti, Marshall, and Phillips all shared following the cancellation of their whole 2020 tour. “Last Rites” was written, recorded, and completed during the COVID-19 pandemic. “The genesis happened when we started working on Walk The Sky but it didn’t fit the vibe, so we put it on the back burner, and we thought it was cool to revisit it for this EP. We re-wrote it melodically and lyrically, and we breathed new life into the track,” he said.
Speaking of their Walk The Sky 2.0 EP, it will be released on November 6 via Napalm Records. It consists of “Last Rites,” along with live renditions of “Wouldn’t You Rather,” “Pay No Mind,” “Native Son,” “Godspeed,” “In the Deep” and “Dying Light.” All of these live versions were recorded during their American tour at the beginning of 2020. “We wanted to put out some live tracks from the record since we are unable to tour so that people that couldn’t come to the shows could get a taste what that was like,” he said. “We have a good representation of songs from where we were at the time.”
Alter Bridge’s highly-anticipated new EP is available for pre-order in various formats such as a Jewelcase CD (available internally), Jewelcase CD and T-shirt, and CREAM-colored Vinyl Gatefold LP (available worldwide). Rock listeners and fans can pre-order it on streaming services by clicking here.
Kennedy opened up about his new solo music. “My sophomore solo album is recorded and I am waiting to get the mixes and then I will send it off to be mastered, and then we will be off to the races. We got to get it released at some point next year,” he said.
On life during the quarantine, he said, “For the most part, I have been enjoying it. I don’t leave the house much unless I am touring. It’s the perfect environment for introverted people like myself. It allows me to get a lot done, and play the guitar. I am not complaining.”
“The silver lining of the quarantine is that it’s forcing everyone to reassess where they are in life, and to not take things for granted once things start to get back to normal,” he said.
During the quarantine, he revealed that he explored photography. “I am a tech geek, so I ended up getting this camera, and I am enjoying taking pictures and learning how to get better in that world,” he said.
He offered the following inspiring words for people during this quarantine: “Take this time to reassess where you are in life and try to utilize it, and see what you can make from it. Also, don’t forget to talk to your neighbor, although in a lockdown that’s difficult,” he said.
On the title of the current chapter of his life, Kennedy responded, “Reevaluating where you are and take lemons and make lemonade out of them.”
He shared that he enjoyed doing the acoustic Livestream performance back in April. “That was fun,” he admitted. “My publicist, Kevin, and my manager, Tim, took a few attempts to get me to do that Livestream since I was immersed in the process of writing my second solo album. I was grateful that I did it in the end since people were so wonderful with the response. It was great to help provide some solace in these crazy times.”
Kennedy defined the word success simply as “happiness.” “I’ve achieved way more than I ever thought life would give me,” he said.
To learn more about the rock group Alter Bridge and their new music, check out their official website and their Facebook page.
