During a recent appearance on SiriusXM’s Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk, Myles Kennedy opened up about his role in Slash Featuring Myles Kennedy & The Conspirators and discussed how the songwriting process works when collaborating with the legendary guitarist.
When asked about his contributions to the band’s music, Kennedy explained, “Yeah, most of what I’m doing is lyrics and melodies. Occasionally, if something comes in and I’m, like, ‘Hey, can we change this chord progression for the sake of the melody?’”
He continued, “But it’s interesting because more so on Apocalyptic Love [2012], when I played guitar on that record, there was a little bit more of, ‘Hey, try this part. See what this sounds like, if we utilize this to help the arrangement somehow.’”
Kennedy then reflected on the early days of working with Slash, noting how supportive and accommodating the guitarist was. “But it’s funny — I was thinking about that the other day, and I was just, like… It just highlights how cool Slash is,” he said. “I [was] coming in, it was my second record with Slash, and I’ve got my guitar, and I’m, like, ‘What do you think? What if we tried this?’”
He went on to describe how surreal it felt to collaborate with someone as iconic as Slash. “You’re sitting there with Slash. He doesn’t need any help, man. But he was so cool and so accommodating,” Kennedy continued. “But as the years have gone on and we’ve made all these records, one thing that continues to amaze me is just how much he understands, not just the riff thing, but coming up with chord progressions that really lend themselves to coming up with compelling melodies for me.”
Kennedy praised Slash’s ability to craft music that leaves room for strong melodic lines. “It’s like, he knows how to sequence the chords where it’s gonna really leave room for a melody, which I appreciate,” he said. “And like I said, occasionally I’d be, like, ‘Hey, can we try a G here instead of a D ’cause I hear the melody doing this?’ Or I’ll send the melody back, and he’ll go, ‘I’m gonna change this chord because I feel like it suits the melody better.’ I’m, like, ‘Great.’ So yeah, he totally gets it.”
The band is currently working on their fifth album, having begun recording last month, with plans for a 2025 release.
