Alter Bridge

I love me some good guitar-driven rock. I'm not much into the indie scene, rap and country are parodies of their former selves, and most of the rest of the radio just bores me. Gimmie' some Godsmack, Megadeth, Wolfmother, Shinedown, or Pearl Jam and I'm a happy camper. I'll even admit to liking Linkin Park until they aborted any uniqueness they had with the new album.

When Creed first came out, I didn't pay much attention to them. Before we all found out what a pious prick Scott Stapp was, I disliked him on his voice, alone. It was just too Vedder-istic. At best, it was too manufactured. At worst, preachy.

Fast forward to 2004 when a co-worker came by my desk (we'll call him Chris, since that's his name) and laid One Day Remains on my desk. He asked if I had heard Alter Bridge yet and left me with the disk. I listened to it 3 consecutive times. When Chris came back to my desk and asked what I thought, I told him I dug it... a lot. He told me it was Creed, minus Scott, replaced by the guy who sang at his first wedding. You see, Myles Kennedy is from Spokane and did a lot of gigs in and around town as the lead of the Mayfield Four, a band I remember seeing in high school. Local boy makes it big. Myles even had a bit part at the end of the movie "Rock Star" stepping in for Mark Wahlberg's character and becoming that band's new lead singer. Irony? Coincidence? Cool as hell?

My fandom was complete when I saw them at the Big Easy on Halloween night, 2004. They put on a great show that still lasts in my memory. Damn, damn good stuff.

Alter Bridge continued to spin in my ipod through my divorce, unemployment, and re-employment. The band's music was even a part of the equation in my new love life. Almost every time I reffed at ComedySportz, my intro music was Mark Tremonti kicking out a lil' Metallingus.

The wait has been long, while they toured the world and changed record labels, but they're finally back. On October 9th, Blackbird will be released. Hopefully it'll be a lot more The System Has Failed, and a lot less Minutes to Midnight. I'm not getting paid anything to endorse them, obviously. I'm just spreading the word. Check out a couple of their new tracks at http://www.myspace.com/alterbridge