MYLES KENNEDY: Why I Decided To Perform Stripped-Down Version Of IRON MAIDEN's 'The Trooper'

In a recent interview with Myglobalmind, Myles Kennedy — the acclaimed singer/songwriter known for his work with ALTER BRIDGE as well as SLASH FEATURING MYLES KENNEDY & THE CONSPIRATORS — was asked about his decision to perform a stripped-down version of IRON MAIDEN's "The Trooper" during his solo tour last year. He responded: "There wasn't a lot of thinking about it. I recall being in my bunk while on tour in Europe and thought it would be fun to take a song and change the arrangement to fit what I was doing on my solo venture. That song popped into my head because I felt like I could manipulate it to where it would fit in the set, was fun to do, and people would recognize it. It went over a lot better than I thought. I thought that people might think I was crazy [laughs], but they seemed to enjoy it."

Kennedy's debut solo album, "Year Of The Tiger", was released in March 2018 via Napalm Records. The effort was helmed by ALTER BRIDGE's longtime producer Michael "Elvis" Baskette.

"Year Of The Tiger" was described by Kennedy in an interview with Metal Wani as "probably the closest thing to a full-on concept record that I've ever written. I mean, the story is congruent throughout the entire... It basically tells a story from start to finish, and it documents when my father passed away when I was a kid and basically what happened after that with my mom, my brother and I — it tells that story," he said. "So it's a full-on concept from start to finish."

"Year Of The Tiger" is actually the second solo album Kennedy recorded, having previously completed a full-length record's worth of material over a several-year period beginning in 2009. Although that album was mixed in early 2016, Myles "decided not to move forward" with the project because "I'm kind of a firm believer that songs can have a shelf life with an artist," he told Metal Wani.