Myles Kennedy's new solo album The Ides of March is being released in May, but it does reflect perhaps the most impactful March in recent history: March 2020, the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
As the Alter Bridge frontman tells ABC Audio, he wrote The Ides of March between March and July of last year, and he sees the record as a "snapshot" of those early months of the pandemic.
"Now, when I listen to some of these songs, you can really sense how much we didn't understand or we didn't know what was coming," Kennedy muses.
"You can tell I was just immersed," he adds. "It really is writing from that standpoint of, 'Gosh, where is this all going?'...So it's very honest, and it's very real."
Indeed, songs like lead single "In Stride" and opening track "Get Along" find Kennedy trying to stay positive and forward-thinking while stuck amid a not-so-positive reality. To help him express those feelings, Kennedy opted for a heavier, more electric sound than that of his solo debut, 2018's acoustic-driven Year of the Tiger.
In between the sliding solos and chugging riffs, though, you'll still hear the strumming of an acoustic guitar throughout The Ides of March.
"I didn't want to make a record that was just balls-to-the-wall electric the whole way," Kennedy says. "I felt like that would be so far removed from what was established on Year of the Tiger."
"Year of the Tiger...helped define what the solo project was gonna be moving forward," he continues. "If I came out with a record which was a complete turnaround, I just didn't feel comfortable with that. I wanted to maintain a certain element of the acoustic vibe."
The Ides of March arrives Friday.