MYLES KENNEDY On Playing With Members Of LED ZEPPELIN: 'It Was Definitely One Of The Highlights Of My Musical Career'

August 25, 2019

ALTER BRIDGE and Slash vocalist Myles Kennedy says that his 2008 studio jam with the instrumental members of LED ZEPPELIN was "definitely one of the highlights of [his] musical career."

Kennedy rehearsed and wrote music with guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist John Paul Jones and drummer Jason Bonham over the course of two sessions after Page and Jones were looking for a way to keep working following LED ZEPPELIN's incredible one-off performance at the O2 Arena in London in December 2007.

During a recent interview with Ultimate Guitar, Kennedy said about his short-lived collaboration with Page, Jones and Bonham: "It was originally gonna be like a project. I don't think they were going to call it LED ZEPPELIN. But just the fact that the people who were involved were, you know, former members of LED ZEPPELIN, was pretty, pretty heavy and certainly carried a lot of gravity. In a good way.

"So when I got that call and have the opportunity to fly to London and hang with those guys, it was obviously a dream come true. That happened over 10 years ago and I still have to pinch myself and ask myself: 'Did that actually happen?' [Laughs] It seems so far-fetched in a lot of ways.

"It was definitely one of the highlights of my musical career, without a shadow of a doubt."

Back in 2017, Kennedy revealed that no video was shot of the sessions but he said that he "has heard different accounts" about whether an audio recording of the rehearsals exists. He clarified, however, that the site of the jam "was not, like, a legit recording studio."

Surprisingly, Kennedy said that he would prefer it if his collaboration with the ZEPPELIN trio remained unheard by the general public. "I actually hope [it] didn't [get recorded], because I was actually pretty sick," he told radio personality Eddie Trunk. "I had come off a tour in Australia, and I remember I got there and I had bronchitis or something, and I remember it took a few days for my voice to come back. So I hope there is nothing that exists. [Laughs]"

Kennedy previously told VH1 Classic's "That Metal Show" that he would "remember to [his] dying day" the rehearsals he had with Page, Jones and Bonham. "We played 'The Rain Song', which is probably my favorite LED ZEPPELIN song, 'No Quarter', 'Kashmir'. It was a lot of fun," he said.

Kennedy told The Pulse Of Radio what it was like to play with the members of LED ZEPPELIN. "It was so surreal, it was just unbelievable," he said. "I spent the day there in a studio with those guys. playing songs, and next thing you know, I believe in September that year, we got together again and spent what I like to consider probably the greatest week of my life playing with those guys. And any time I'm having a bad day, I think about those days and suddenly everything feels a lot better 'cause I got to experience that."

Although there were rumors of staggering sums being offered to LED ZEPPELIN for a full tour after the O2 Arena concert, singer Robert Plant elected to continue with his solo career instead.

Page and Jones also tried out AEROSMITH's Steven Tyler and SOUNDGARDEN's Chris Cornell, with Page telling Rolling Stone in 2012: "Various people thought we should go on tour. I thought we needed a good, credible album, not do something that sounded like we were trying to milk the [reunion]."

Kennedy released his debut solo album, "Year Of The Tiger", in March 2018 via Napalm Records. The effort was helmed by ALTER BRIDGE's longtime producer Michael "Elvis" Baskette.

ALTER BRIDGE will release its sixth studio album, titled "Walk The Sky", on October 18 via Napalm Records.

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