What's That Song: Alter Bridge

http://news.radio.com/2013/12/03/whats-that-song-alter-bridge/

What’s That Song: Alter Bridge
December 3, 2013 10:00 AM
Reporting Brian Ives

Alter Bridge are like the fly-over state of rock bands. Without the help of the mainstream music media, they have amassed a large fan base that is unaware, or unimpressed, by what youth are listening to in the big cities. But that doesn’t mean that the guys in the band aren’t in tune with at least one critically adored indie-folk act, as we learned when we sat guitarist Mark Tremonti and singer/guitarist Myles Kennedy down for What’s That Song. They were promoting their latest album, Fortress, an album that they’ll be touring for well into next year.

Of course, we didn’t spend the entire time listening to indie bands: We started out with a few bands that they had one degree of separation from.

Van Halen – “Stay Frosty”

Like nearly every other guitarist who grew up in the ’80s and ’90s, Mark Tremonti worships at the alter of Eddie Van Halen. Coincidentally, there’s a “Van Halen” in Mark’s solo band, Tremonti, Wolfgang Van Halen, who holds it down on bass. Wolfie, of course, also plays bass in his dad’s band these days, so Tremonti was treated to a V.I.P. preview of Van Halen’s reunion with David Lee Roth: 2012′s A Different Kind Of Truth. “It was amazing sitting in a room and watching Van Halen, minus Roth, play their whole new record.” He adds, “It’s kind of surreal to know him [Eddie] now.” Myles Kennedy says simply, “I heard ‘Eruption’ and I wanted to learn to play guitar.”

Gov’t Mule — “Blind Man In The Dark”
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Them Crooked Vultures — “New Fang”
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Bon Iver — “Holocene”
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