Next Myles Kennedy Solo Record ‘Pretty Much Done,’ Rocks Harder

Alter Bridge frontman Myles Kennedy has been prepping a second solo record during the pandemic, and he reveals in a new chat with Download presenter Kylie Olsson (seen below) that it's "pretty much done."

"I'm excited about it. I've been able to get something done during this time, and also hang out with my family, which has been wonderful," said the singer, before going into more detail on the record.

As you might remember, Kennedy utilized a wider array of instrumentation than he typically does in Alter Bridge and with Slash on his solo debut, Year of the Tiger. The album was also more conceptual in nature, speaking of the journey of his family after losing his father at a young age. During the chat, Kennedy revealed that he's mostly demoed the album and he expects to start recording in the coming months with an eye toward a 2021 release.

Speaking about the new album, Kennedy revealed, "It's definitely a little more plugged in, as far as the overall approach. Year of the Tiger leans heavily on the acoustic side of things, and it definitely has a blues vibe. This continues that in the sense that this is my opportunity to venture more into the more bluesy realm, especially as a guitar player. But, with that said, it's a little louder. [Laughs] It's much more plugged in — it rocks a little harder, and there's gonna be a lot of guitar silliness on it. So I'm excited about that."

As for the direction, Kennedy says he did not want to do another concept record, though he definitely has been influenced by the current state of the world. "Obviously, these are crazy times, so it's virtually impossible not to be informed by that as a writer — it's gonna make its way into the context of the lyrics. So there are elements of looking at what's happening, asking questions — just your way of dealing with it," says Kennedy.

He adds, "That's what I love about being a songwriter — it really helps you work through things and deal with things and make sense of things. But there are also songs where I wanted to make sure that it wasn't strictly about that. To me, what that does is that can date something. If the record were to come out in a year's time, and maybe people have moved on past all of this, then it's, like, I don't know how relevant it would be. So you have to careful there and make sure that you don't make it so literal — have a bit of ambiguity to it so that it can touch on different circumstances but still conveying emotion that you're feeling as you're going through it. And that's the big challenge for me." Watch more of the chat below.