The Last Hero

Album: The Last Hero (2016)
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Songfacts®:

  • This is the title track of Alter Bridge's fifth album. Vocalist Myles Kennedy told FaceCulture that even though the band's new album is called "The Last Hero", it's not necessarily a politically oriented record. He explained:

    "The trick was not to get too directly political, because all that does is piss people off. One of the key emotions a lot of people seem to be feeling is disillusionment, and what I try to do as a lyricist is touch on these emotions."
  • Guitarist Mark Tremonti concurred with Kennedy's comments, telling The Pulse of Radio that the album title and concept is more general in nature.

    "Myles kind of ran with that as a theme for the record," he said. "It's a calling out for leaders in this world that you can trust and put faith in and, you know, it's just such a circus right now, especially here in the States, with everything that's going on. So it's just, you know, a call out to find new leaders in this world."
  • Asked by HMV.com why the band named the album after this track, Tremonti replied: "That song just stood out from the start - it sums up the messages behind a lot of the songs so it just felt right. This is also my favorite art work we have ever done - it's very bold and makes a statement."
  • Most of the riffage for this track was created by Myles Kennedy. Tremonti recalled to Music Radar: "I remember being there that day, and there were two or three riffs from him and I was just trying to keep up. In pre-production, this time it wasn't like me and Myles put that song together the night before. We did 90 per cent of the songs, but that was one of the songs that happened that day in the studio where the parts started changing so much. I'm trying to learn one Myles riff while he's introducing another part to Elvis (Baskette, producer) at the same time. I'm like, 'Wait I'm trying to learn this riff and trying to harmonize with it and come up with my own thing.'"

    "I tried to put as much as I can into the song, but it's a very complicated, long, complex song," he added. "It was one of toughest for me to perform on the rhythm side of things because Myles's rhythm style is very different from mine, and sometimes it can be awkward for me to play, just as some of my stuff can be awkward for him to play. There's some riffs in there that were very tough for me to get, so that's one I'm going to have to practice a lot."

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