Creed and Alter Bridge guitarist Mark Tremonti has just revealed that Myles Kennedy will not seek to ‘fill the shoes’ of late Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell, because despite his respect for Cornell, he knows he isn’t him.
Tremonti told The Jasta Show, “Both of those guys, Brent [Smith, Shinedown singer] and Myles – if you’re playing with Iron Maiden, say, if you hear Myles hit some of those high notes, you hear Brent hit some of those high notes, you’d be like, ‘Those guys are legit.’ You hear it on the radio, and you know what – it can be studio magic, if but you see it live, Myles crushes it every night. He’s never hit a sour note, he’s the same kind of guy that is as worried as me about singing every day.
‘I don’t know if I’m gonna make it, you’re gonna have to sing this song and that song; help me get through the set,’ and then he kills it. Like, ‘What are you talking about? You’re perfect on the pitch…’ And when it comes to tenors… I remember growing up – I won’t name names – but I saw some tenors sing live, and it didn’t sound anything like the record. The pitch was really off all the time, and I always thought that tenor vocalists have a tougher time live than baritones.
But Myles, he’s dead-on all the time. He’s probably the best tenor vocalist – as far as consistency goes – that I’ve ever heard. It’s funny, since day one, I was always pushing him. Like, back in the day, ‘Why don’t you hit that big, nasty vibrato kind of thing?’ And he shies away from that. He doesn’t want to be known for that, he wants to be known as an emotional-motive-rich singer.
But then he goes into Slash stuff [in Slash ft. Myles Kennedy & The Conspirators], and he does all that, like, ‘What the hell, why don’t you bring some of that home?’ Myles is a classic classy guy, so he’s not gonna do anything to – like, if somebody said, ‘Sing like Chris Cornell,’ he’ll be like, ‘No, I’m not Chris Cornell.’
I think they were friendly, I think they spoke many times, but the last thing Myles is ever gonna do is compete or try to fill somebody’s shoes – he’s his own guy. Cornell was my favorite singer for about a decade. When I was watching ‘Headbanger’s Ball,’ I saw [1989’s] ‘Loud Love’ video come on – from that moment, I was a Soundgarden fanatic. Chris Cornell was my favorite vocalist for years and years.”
Ultimate-Guitar transcribed Tremonti’s remarks. Chris Cornell’s daughter Lily Cornell Silver is also in the news, uploading a new episode of her Instagram podcast. She wrote, “Episode 14 – Nadya Tolokonnikova. So excited to sit down with Nadya of Pussy Riot @nadyariot – @wearepussyriot is a Russian feminist, punk, and protest performance art group that has inspired me for years.
Nadya and I discuss the balance between activism and self care, her own mental health while she was in jail, and the importance of social justice and standing up for what is right. For more information on guests, future episodes, and resources go to the website link in my bio 💙.” Vicky Cornell called Chris Cornell’s parents ‘alcoholics’ yesterday.
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