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Hitman talks to Myles Kennedy · Classic Hitz with Hitman

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  Hey, what's going on? It is hit Man with you and I've got
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  on the phone with me somebody I haven't talked to in a very long time,
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  but he is I consider a rock legend. Miles Kennedy, Sir,
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  how are you today? I'm doing great? Thanks for thanks for having me
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  here. So you have a new album that's coming out on October eleventh,
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  The Art of Letting Go. Tell us about your solo album, dude.
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  Yeah, so, I uh decided to make another one. You know,
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  it's been This is number three for me as far as solo records go.
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  And the first first solo record, you know, I put out Near the
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  Tiger that was more of an acoustic record, and then the second one is
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  kind of he still had acoustic elements, but it was a little more rock.
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  You know. There's some some loud guitars and guitar solos, but with
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  this one, I just wanted it to be a you know, straight up
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  rock and roll record, and UH kind of put the acoustic guitars in the
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  in the closet for this. There's a there's some there's some moments here and
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  there where I'm pull up, you know, lean on the acoustic tab.
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  It but for the most part this is Riprock and just wanted to have fun
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  and play a lot of guitar. So how did you come up with the
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  title The Art of Letting Go? You know, I'm just in the kind
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  of this place in life where I'm just I'm learning how to you know,
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  just viewing life through a different prism, you know, and just learning the
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  art of not not I give it a damn, and not being reactive and
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  and just kind of finding my uh my happy place. And uh, you
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  know, it's a it's a it's a daily thing, and I'm learning as
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  I go. But I love it, and I feel like I wish I
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  had just started this process a lot at a lot younger age, because it's
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  it's been it's been good for me. Wow. Wow, we're talking with
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  Miles Kennedy. Uh. You know last year you actually came with alter Bridge,
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  Seven Dust and a couple of other bands to Corpus Christy and put on
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  a hell of a show. Uh actually had people asking me how was that
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  to or what do you think of that tour? Well, it's great.
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  I mean, first of all, both both those bands are not only ferociously
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  good, but they're also really good friends. So anytime you can tour friends,
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  it's it's basically a traveling summer camp, you know, and so there's
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  you know, it's just it's it's one of those things where you enjoy the
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  process a lot. But but it was also, you know, to be
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  totally honest, it's both those bands are so good. It's it's not always
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  easy to follow bands at back caliber, you know, right, which is
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  great because then everybody raises you have to raise your game. You know.
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  It's like you you can't phone it in, You've got to go out there
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  and and you know, just just bleed for it. And so so that
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  was that was great. But first and foremost, I think just the camaraderie
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  because there's such a mutual respect with all the bands. You know, everybody's
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  friends with each other and that in that world. So that was a lot
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  of fun. So tell about the first single that's now top five most added
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  right now on rock radio, caled say what you will? Tell us a
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  little bit about the single. Yeah, So it's you know, it's kind
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  of a like a proclamation to you know, if you have internal voices or
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  external voices, you know that you know you live that you deal with and
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  it's just learning how to to you know, put that aside, and I
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  think that it's for me, it's been it's it's been a lot of fun
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  having a song like that because it's lyrics always end up kind of be in
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  these mantras, you know, so so it's been empowering in that sense.
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  And then yeah, the riff, the main where where the the whole thing
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  kind of blossomed from was that that intro riff which I was just in an
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  hotel, was touring with alter Bridge and I was in a hotel room and
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  and stumbled on stumbled on it and was like, oh, that's that's that's
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  going to be an important one. So pleased with how it turned out,
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  and the fact that to hear you say that that it's you know, it's
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  been added and it's people seem to be liking it. So that's a songwriter
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  as a songwriter that it's always the music to my ears. Yeah, yeah,
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  it's it's every time you come out with some great stuff, it's it's
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  always, I swear to God is magic. It's good you. You always
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  put out great albums all the time. Next year you're going to be going
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  out on a big the Art of Letting Go us candidate tour with Tim Montana.
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  How are you looking? Are you looking forward to that big tour?
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  I am. I'm you know, I'm we later on this year, we're
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  going to Europe and starting there and then well we'll pick up and we'll do
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  the holidays and then we'll we'll start here in mid January in the United States.
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  And yeah, I'm really excited. I mean, you know, it's
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  funny with the solo endeavor, it's really become an excuse to do two things.
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  To play a lot of guitar because it's I do lean heavily on guitar,
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  playing a lot of guitar solos, which I love to do, and
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  and it also is an excuse hanging out with my friend friends, you know,
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  with Tim and z my rhythm section with There's once again. It's just
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  a great, a great relationship. You know, Zee and I have been
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  playing together now off and on since like the mid eighties when we were kids
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  playing bars and then going to high school the next day. So it's you
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  know, I getting to reconnect with Za is always great. And then Tim
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  is a man who wears many hats, you know, not only does he
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  play bass on these records, but he also manages my solo stuff and he
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  manages alter Bridge, and he's a true renaissance man. So so it's just
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  a good you know, it's it's it's it'll be good to get back in
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  the saddle and take this this circus out on the road. We're talking with
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  Miles Kennedy. He's got a new album coming out on October eleventh, the
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  Art of Letting Go. And I went on Facebook and I said, look,
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  I'm going to be talking with Miles Kennedy. Does anybody have any questions?
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  And of course a lot of people came back with some interesting questions that
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  I thought I would ask you. One of them actually actually goes with this
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  album. That says, how does this album differ from your last solo album?
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  Well, I think one of the things is thematically, you know,
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  this is the last solo record was really informed by kind of the state of
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  the world and everything that was happening. It was like a snapshot in time.
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  And with this record, it's really just a collection of various, you
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  know, various songs, but there's no real common theme that runs throughout it,
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  which I thought was important for this record because not only on the last
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  record, but also on the first record, on the Ear of the Tiger,
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  and that was a concept record and it told a story, and so
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  I really wanted this one just to beat kind of pieces put together. But
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  more important, it's just the sound of it. I think that's the thing
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  that really defines is more so than anything. It is a it's a rock
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  and roll record, right you start to finish. That's cool. You know
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  a couple of other ones here there There are some funny ones and then there
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  are some ones that I didn't even know about. One of one of your
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  fans asked, would you ever get back together with the Mayfield Four. Well,
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  you know, it's funny because that's one of I love about playing in
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  the solo realms, playing with Zia, who was also in the Mayfield for
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  so it's kind of like he got half me as far as it is,
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  and we actually pull We actually do some of the Sometimes we'll we'll play a
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  few of the Mayfield four songs in the set just it will be like acoustic
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  versions. So you know, it kind of scratches that itch for me,
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  which is which is nice interer zy as well. Okay, Jax asks,
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  uh, what's his secret to keeping such pristine vocals? His stuff with Slash
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  featuring Mals Kennedy and the Conspirators was otherworldly. Wow, that's really nice.
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  I you know, for me, it's just, uh, I try to
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  be really careful. You know, I don't I don't drink much at all
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  at this point, I don't. I don't. I don't party, and
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  so I'm always very aware of trying to maintain my vocal chords. Do warm
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  ups, some will do warm downs. You know. I kind of studied
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  vocal technique a little bit with a really great vocal coach way back in the
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  day, and that's that has really been helpful. You know, he kind
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  of gave me the keys to the to the castle with the stuff he showed
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  me. And that's you know, twenty five years in, I'm still grateful
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  that I ran into him. Wow, that's that's cool. Here's a funny
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  one for you. A female listener asked, how many people have told you
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  you look like Kevin Bacon. I hear it every day, So at this
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  point thousands, ever since ever since Footloothz came out, you know, the
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  next day came out, or that weekend or whatever, and then it was
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  like, you look like the guys in Footlooths. You know. So it's
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  been going on for a long time. Yeah, well they brought it up
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  on Facebook. They wanted me to ask you that question, So I thought
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  that was actually kind of cool. You know, you've worked with You've worked
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  with a lot of great guitarists, band members. Like you said, it's
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  a camarderie. It's where you guys are all together. There is there someone
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  that you have yet to work with that you would love to work with?
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  Oh man, that's a good question. There's so many people out there that
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  I would love to just create something with at some point. I mean,
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  you know, I would have to say since my very first musical ministers.
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  A lot of people I bring this up and they're like really, they sound
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  they seem surprised. But for me, it's logical because my first musical memory
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  as a child was seeing Stevie Wonder on Sesame Street and I was so captivated
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  and in a lot of ways, I started singing to some degree because of
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  how much I love Stevie Wonder. So Stevie Wonder would be on the top
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  of the list. Wow, something special that guy. Yeah, I think
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  he's just a genius. You know. I remember that when Stevie Wonder was
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  on Sesame Street. I do remember that that that was actually, Yeah,
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  that's right. That's a great memory. Wow, that was my first.
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  That was like such an important like I remember just being just mesmerized. Yeah,
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  that was a great that was That was my favorite to Sesame Street for
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  sure. Wow, that's a pretty that's actually a great memory. Is there
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  a new band? Is there a band that's out there right now that's your
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  favorite that that you're listening to on the radio or you listen to on your
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  off time. Oh man, there's a lot of good stuff out there.
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  I would have to say, Well, there's this band we tour and actually
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  opened the tour when we went out last year with with Mammoth and Seven Dust.
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  It's a band called m j T. And there these three guys I
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  met, uh they were they were a guy named Tash is out with Slash
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  right now. He's doing Slashes in his blues Coash is great, and but
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  he had this backing band with these three guys, and we got to be
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  friends. And so they sent me some stuff they did on SoundCloud, you
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  know, and I was just like, I didn't know what this is going
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  to be. He was very he was wasn't with Tash, and I was
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  just blown away. And so we've developed the friendship and they're with The music
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  they make is some of my I just constantly go back to it. Yeah,
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  they're just they're an incredible young band. Yeah. Well, the two
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  of my favorites that are right now, of course is Mammoth Mammoth WVH.
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  Yes, they just he blows me out of the water. Every time I
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  see him live. I've seen him now twice, and he blows me out
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  of the water. Another band was Bear Tooth. Bear Tooth just yeah,
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  I like Tooth. They're so good. It's it's an and they're the nicest
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  guys I've ever met. So it's like, yeah, those are the two
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  bands that just blow me away. I think they're so cool. Wow,
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  we're talking with Miles Kennedy. I agree. Yeah, we're talking with Miles
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  Kennedy right now. And you know, of course, the new album comes
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  out October eleventh. His new singles Say What You Will is out now.
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  I'm going to ask you one last question, uh concern And I tell this
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  to everybody, every single person I interview people in this business. I know.
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  You know, if you've been to Corpus Christy, it's a rock town.
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  There's a lot of great up and coming rock bands that are coming out
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  of South Texas right now. What advice can you give to, you know,
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  local rock bands to try to take it to the next level. I
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  think the you know, it's funny. I was just I was just talking
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  about this with another interview, and there's a there was a movie that I
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  saw when I was like a teenager, and it's called Field of Dreams,
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  and the whole premise of this movie is, you know, the main character
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  starts building this baseball field in the middle of the cornfield, like everyone thought
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  he was crazy, but it turns out it was all for a reason and
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  it's it's a wonderful film. But basically, the kind of manstra of the
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  film is if you build it, they will come. And I'm kind of,
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  you know, for me and the way life has turned out, I
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  feel like, if you if you work on something and you believe in it
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  and it's authentic and it's honest and it's good, you know, and you
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  put in the time, you put in your ten thousand hours, if you
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  build it, they will come and I've seen that happen where other humans see
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  that, they recognize that and they want to experience it. So I would
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  just say, you know, stick to your guns and put your head down,
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  work hard, and if you believe in yourself and you believe in what
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  you're creating, you might be surprised at how many people will jump on board
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  with that. Wow. Well, dude, I'm going to go ahead and
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  let you go. I think my fifteen minutes are up. But I am
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  so proud of you. You've done so do you you you? I am
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  one of your big fans now since the very beginning, and a lot of
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  hope you have. It just takes you to another level and you and you,
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  it's like I'm waiting to see you be inducted into the Rock and Roll
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  Hall of Fame one of these days. Wow. And uh my mom would
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  love that. Yeah. You You're You're a rock legend status to me,
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  dude, and I am so proud of you and I look forward to to
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  the new album and looking forward to seeing you out in the road again.
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  Dude. Wow. Man, Well that was that was really really kind to
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  you. I appreciate that. I appreciate you. Thank you so much for
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  your time,