Myles Kennedy is one of those rockers who always seems to have something in the works, whether it’s with one of his bands or his solo material. During an interview with Classic Rock, the musician named the worst record he’s ever released, as well as his top picks in some other categories.
While Kennedy is best known as the vocalist in Alter Bridge and Slash‘s band with the Conspirators, he was part of several other groups too. Though he started his career playing in cover bands in Spokane, which often tackled songs by fellow Pacific Northwestern group Soundgarden, the first actual band he joined was called the Cosmic Dust Fusion Band. Then, he played in Citizen Swing before forming The Mayfield Four in 1996.
The Mayfield Four only put out two albums, but Kennedy named their 1998 debut, Fallout, as the worst record he’s ever made.
“I should have spent more time writing and recording for that. It taught me that you should have lots of songs,” the rocker recalled. “We turned in the demos, and even the A&R guy said, ‘What do you mean you’ve only got these 15 songs? You’ve got to have many, many, many more to pick the gems from!’”
The Mayfield Four disbanded in 2002, and Kennedy looked onward. This was actually around the first time he was contacted by Slash, who was looking for a singer for his new band Velvet Revolver, which also featured Duff McKagan, Matt Sorum and Dave Kushner.
“I respectfully declined, but I was beyond honored that they thought of me. For whatever reason, it didn’t feel like it would work at that point. That was the right move, ‘cause I think when Scott Weiland got in the mix, I was like, ‘Oh yeah. That’s the guy.’ I really love that band,” Kennedy later told 90.3 WMSC FM. “I thought those records were really cool. I thought he had just kind of a dangerous vibe that suited what they were doing.”
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Thus, he ended up forming Alter Bridge with Mark Tremonti, Brian Marshall and Scott Phillips of the newly-dissolved Creed. Alter Bridge have released seven albums of their own, but in 2009, Kennedy was once again contacted by Slash about doing some songs for the guitarist’s debut solo album. Following the 2010 release of Slash, the duo continued working together, and have put out four records since.
On top of all of that, Kennedy has two solo albums under his belt — 2018’s Year of the Tiger and 2021’s The Ides of March. Fortunately, he seems proud of all of his recent work.
