00:05Hey, I'm Miles Kennedy from Alter Bridge.
00:22Blackbird, which has become a fan favorite,
00:26probably my favorite song that we have in the Alter Bridge catalog.
00:31At least the song with the most meaning.
00:33I think it's a very powerful song that resonates with myself and a lot of others.
00:38Furl your black wings and wave across the horizon.
00:46He's coming to sweep you away.
00:55He's coming to sweep you away.
01:02I had a friend, his name was Mark Morris.
01:04He owned his own music or guitar shop in my town, Spokane, Washington.
01:09And Mark was a great guy.
01:11He sold me my very first guitar when I was a kid.
01:16And we just kept in touch.
01:19And unfortunately he got sick.
01:20It was a few months of struggle for him and his family.
01:25When I got the news that he passed away, the lyric came pretty quickly.
01:31It was one of those very inspired moments, very honest moments
01:34that you just kind of wait to channel as a songwriter.
01:39And so that's how Blackbird was born.
01:53The anatomy of Blackbird, if I can remember back that far.
01:56It's been almost 10 years.
01:58Mark had the initial verse.
02:01I believe he had the verse guitar part and the verse melody part.
02:06What was challenging was coming up with a chorus.
02:10We could not find a chorus forever.
02:12I think we had the heavy guitar part that kicked in after his verse part.
02:19And that was something I came up with.
02:21It has a very Pink Floyd vibe.
02:23In fact, there's quite a bit of Pink Floyd influence on that song,
02:27at least from where I was coming from.
02:31The solo, actually the guitar solo that I played, the first one,
02:34it was definitely Gilmore inspired.
02:54I'll never forget, we recorded a real rough version of it.
03:00And I had it on my laptop.
03:02And I was staying at Mark's house at the time.
03:05And he came in and he was like, let's check out how it sounds.
03:08So we have a little perspective now.
03:09We've been away from it for a few hours.
03:11And I remember we sat there and listened to it.
03:14And we looked at each other and we're like, wow.
03:16Okay, this is, this is, this as a songwriter, as songwriters,
03:20this is what you, this is, these are the moments you dream of.
03:24These are the, these are the moments that makes all of the searching
03:27and soul searching more than worthwhile.
03:30And that was, that was a great, that was a great moment for both of us.
03:55As far as how difficult it can be to sing a song like that because of the profound meaning,
04:00there's some nights when it's, it's a real challenge, you know,
04:04because you, if you, if you immerse yourself in the lyric and those memories all flood back,
04:09it, you know, it, it, it can, it can, it can sting a little bit.
04:15So I remember one night, actually we were playing Wembley Arena.
04:20And another friend who had, had recently passed, passed away,
04:27Ashley, a photographer friend of ours.
04:29And his wife was, was standing on the side of the stage and she knew what that song meant
04:34and the meaning of that song.
04:36And so having, having her there and performing that, it was, that was really,
04:40that was a real challenge to get through.
04:42But, but you know, that's, that's the thing about music.
04:45If it's, if it's, if it's that honest and the emotions are that, I guess, pure, that should happen.
04:53And I mean, that's, that's what, what art should do.
04:56It should resonate with you like that.
04:58And it should, it should create some real, real moments of, of introspection and trip,
05:07you know, a tribute as a tribute to my friends.
05:09And so, yeah, that's, that's, that sums that up.
05:14And so, yeah.
05:36guitar solo
06:26guitar solo
06:27guitar solo
