“After our first record, people were calling us ‘Creed Part II’” explains Tremonti, currently touring in support of Alter Bridge’s sophomore release, Blackbird [Universal Republic]. “The sound was different from Creed, but not different enough, so we wanted this record to be something that nobody could say sounded like Creed.”

Crucial to that growth and development has been the influence of Kennedy, whom Tremonti is quick to praise for both his songwriting and recording contributions.

“On the first record I wrote most of the lyrics, and I really felt like I had the weight of the world on my shoulders,” confides Tremonti. “Now with Myles I have another guy working hard and coming up with great lyrics and musical ideas. Myles is a fantastic guitar player, and that’s a big difference between this record and the last—that second guitar adds a whole other layer to our sound. He has all these fills and licks, and anytime you hear a slide guitar or any kind of effects that sound like The Edge, that’s Myles.”

In contrast to Kennedy, Tremonti mainly eschews effects pedals, instead using a Bradshaw switching system to route the signal from his signature Paul Reed Smith Tremonti Model guitars through a variety of amp configurations. For the heavy riffs and rhythm parts that he describes as his “core sound,” he combines a Mesa/Boogie Triple Rectifier head with a Bogner Uberschall head (for added low-end punch), which power four Mesa 4x12 cabinets. For a cleaner sound, Tremonti uses two Fender Vintage Reissue ’65 Twin Reverb combos, adding reverb and delay courtesy of a TC Electronic G-Force processor.

For leads, Tremonti used a Bogner Ecstasy 101B in the studio, but prefers a Bogner Shiva for playing live. “For some reason the Ecstasy got a little thin sounding when I took it out live. So I went looking for a thicker, warmer lead tone and found the Shiva. It has my favorite live lead tone, though the gain is a little low if you don’t have an overdrive pedal in front of it.” To compensate, Tremonti uses an Ibanez TS808 Tube Screamer and his Morley Mark Tremonti Power Wah, which provides up to 20dB of boost. He then sends the signal from the Shiva’s effects loop into a Mesa/Boogie 2:90 power amp to further augment his lead tone. And while he sometimes uses an MXR EVH90 phaser for an extra layer of ear candy on a song’s final chorus, there is one modulation effect he abhors. “Chorus has always irritated me, because it makes things sound out of tune.”

Tremonti credits producer Michael “Elvis” Baskett with helping him achieve the stellar guitar sounds on Blackbird. “His take was to cut the gain way down and put the guitars right in your face, so that’s what we did, and they came out great, with nice definition.”

In addition to miking his live setup with Shure SM57s, Baskett had Tremonti experiment with different amps and cabinets, including a Hiwatt cab that was employed throughout most of the album. “He would solo each one and ask how it compared to the others,” explains Tremonti. “And the Hiwatt had that huge, but still tight, low end.”

Although known for his use of D5 tuning [D, A, D, A, D, D, low to high] with Creed, Tremonti steered clear of it for the current record. “That was my favorite tuning for about two years,” he says, but I had done it to death. I would come up with something I really dug and then realize it was the same chord or progression I had used in something else, so I decided to step away from that tuning for a while. There’s a song called “Watch Over You” that’s in open-G [D, G, D, G, B, D], and a whole bunch of dropped-D stuff. Usually we do dropped-D down a half-step [Db, Ab, Db, Gb, Bb, Eb], which I find easier and more enjoyable.”

In addition to his input on guitar tones, Baskett also pushed the band to consider new ideas. “Elvis has a better song sense than anybody we’ve worked with in the past,” says Tremonti. “It’s the first time we really let someone tear our stuff apart and put it back together with us.” Baskett’s direction led Tremonti to further explore delicate fingerpicked parts to complement the album’s heavy electrics. “I’m always fingerpicking while coming up with a clean part,” he says. “I only use my index finger and thumb when I pick, with my pick curled up in my middle finger, so it’s not a traditional style. I’d see chicken pickers and classical guys and flamenco guys, and I’ve always meant to master using the rest of my fingers, but I could never see a way to incorporate it into what we do. But recently I’ve been inspired to do it by Scotty Anderson, who just destroys. His right hand is one of the best I’ve ever seen.”

Tremonti cites the album’s title track as perhaps the best example of Baskett’s song savvy. Clocking in at nearly eight minutes, “Blackbird” is Alter Bridge’s longest and most ambitious song, and the one that Tremonti hopes will distinguish the new album. “We were so proud of the way that song turned out that we decided to name the album Blackbird to draw attention to it. Our biggest challenge in making this record was to prove that we’ve all grown since the Creed days.”