SLASH Isn't Concerned MYLES KENNEDY Will Be Forced To Choose Between Bands

ALTER BRIDGE singer Myles Kennedy is currently pulling double duty, playing and touring with that group while also fronting the backing band for VELVET REVOLVER/ex-GUNS N' ROSES guitarist Slash.

Asked byVH1 Classic "That Metal Show" co-host Eddie Trunk if he is concerned that Kennedy will at some point be forced to pick between the two bands once the schedule becomes too hectic for Myles to handle, Slash responded: "We've built up such a good system for making it work… I mean, the amount of time either one of… say, Mark [Tremonti, ALTER BRIDGE guitarist] or myself work with our respective crews, and then how Myles… I mean, we're never gonna work harder than we already do; it would be sort of impossible. So I figure it'll just keep going the way that it's going. I don't have any intention of disrupting what ALTER BRIDGE is doing and I don't think Mark has any intention of disrupting what we're doing. But I can't see working any longer per cycle than we do, 'cause we spend a year out."

He continued: "[Myles] was in ALTER BRIDGE when I first started working with him, and the only reason he took the offer was because he was on a break from ALTER BRIDGE. So we went out there and started touring, and we kept adding dates and adding dates. And so he started writing stuff for the ALTER BRIDGE record. So when that tour was over, he went straight into the studio with ALTER BRIDGE and recorded the album, then went on the road. I started working on the stuff for 'Apocalyptic Love' and sending it to Myles, so he was working on that while he was on the road with ALTER BRIDGE. And we just went into this system. Like, we plan a lot of it ahead at this point, just to make sure…

"We definitely planned more ahead on this [new album, 'World On Fire']. Like, he's going out in October and doing ALTER BRIDGE before he goes out with us and we start the tour in November. And then, from that point on, we do November, December, he does ALTER BRIDGE in January and then we pretty much carry out through the rest of the year. He'll work on the ALTER BRIDGE record, I'll be working on the next CONSPIRATORS record. We'll finish the tour the end of next summer or somewhere around there, and then he'll go in and do the ALTER BRIDGE record and tour and I'll be working on this next record."

Kennedy recently told NewHampshire.com that he doesn't shuffling the two projects very difficult. "I think that both bands are so different," he said. "That's part of what keeps it exciting for me, is that they are very different mindsets for me, musically. That keeps it from getting redundant. By the time I feel like I'm firing on all cylinders and trying to raise to the challenge on the specific tour, then that tour ends up winding down, and I'm with the other band and I have to turn the dial a different direction. There's a certain amount of work and a certain thought process that has to happen for me to get on the stage, to get up there. And it's a challenge, which is good."

Kennedy also outlined the differences in the writing approaches between the two bands. He said: "It's a different process. The songwriting with Mark and ALTER BRIDGE is… It's more like making a puzzle, where we stockpile a lot of different riffs and melodies and chord progressions, and we kind of set those aside and we go, 'Okay, I've got this riff. Do you have a chorus that goes with this or a riff that goes with this chorus? Whereas with Slash, he'll come in with a music bed and say, 'Okay, now put your melody and your lyric to this.' It's like you're handed a canvas to paint on. They are just totally different approaches, which I love."

Slash told The Pulse Of Radio that Myles Kennedy is one of the most dedicated musicians he's ever worked with: "You know, Myles is pretty interesting. I mean, he sings great, he's a great lyricist, all he does is work, he loves to tour. He works constantly, but when he's not working onstage, he's working in his room, writing stuff and, you know, in the studio he's always there. So he's sort of odd. [laughs]"