THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “A decade and four albums into their career, Slash ft. Myles Kennedy & The Conspirators haven’t been deterred by any obstacles in their path — including a global pandemic. 4 is Slash’s fifth solo album overall and fourth with his band featuring Myles Kennedy (vocals), Brent Fitz (drums), Todd Kerns (bass & vocals) and Frank Sidoris (guitar & vocals).
For 4, Slash and the band traveled across the country together to Nashville and recorded the new album at the historic RCA Studio A with producer Dave Cobb (Chris Stapleton, John Prine, Jason Isbell, Brandi Carlile), revealing a stunning new sound and style all captured live in the studio. Cobb shared the band’s desire to lay down the tracks live in the studio, including guitar solos and vocals — a first for the group. The band’s previous albums over the last decade — Apocalyptic Love, World on Fire and Living The Dream — have continued on an upward trajectory, all achieving Top 5 debuts in the U.S. and reaching the Top 10 on major charts across the globe. To date, the three SMKC albums have now garnered 10 consecutive Top 5 Radio singles, spawned sold-out world tours, and have earned Slash and the band critical acclaim.
A vibrant rock album fueled by memorable guitar hooks and compelling melodies, big choruses, and even bigger riffs, 4 builds on the legacy of Slash ft. Myles Kennedy & The Conspirators’ prior work. That sensibility comes through immediately on the opening track and first single, The River Is Rising.
Slash describes the creation of The River Is Rising: “There’s two or three songs on the record that were written during the pandemic; everything else was written before. The River is Rising was one of the last songs I wrote before we started pre-production, and because it was so fresh and has a certain groove and energy to it, it was the first thing we really attacked. It’s the newest song on the record, and as for the double-time part, that was something that I came up with and tagged onto the end of the arrangement. Then when we were over at RCA, Dave Cobb suggested we do it right after the breakdown. So, we went straight into the fast part, and I just started doing the guitar solo over it. It was one of those things where we were jamming around, trying to fish out the arrangement, and it just happened.”
Kennedy adds: “The lyric ultimately explores how humans can be brainwashed or indoctrinated by some sort of dangerous idea. Once we shot the demo back and forth a few times, I personally felt confident that we had the album opener. To me, it’s an important track.”
