Fifteen years and five albums into one of modern rock’s most enduring partnerships, SLASH FEATURING MYLES KENNEDY & THE CONSPIRATORS, also known as SMKC, have returned with a brand-new single and official music video, “Flying Blind”. The anthemic track offers the first glimpse of an exciting new chapter for the band and serves as the title track of their highly anticipated fifth studio album, “Flying Blind”, which is set for worldwide release on February 26, 2027, through Gibson Records.
Recorded largely live with longtime producer Michael “Elvis” Baskette at Studio Barbarosa in Florida, the 12-track album captures the band at their most direct, instinctive, and tightly connected. The lineup features Slash on guitar and pedal steel, Myles Kennedy on vocals, Todd Kerns on bass, Brent Fitz on drums, and Frank Sidoris on rhythm guitar. Most of the album was completed in around a week, with the band frequently recording two songs per day while performing together in the same room, preserving the raw energy and chemistry of their live performances.
“It’s a really fun, kind of spontaneous rock ‘n’ roll record,” says Slash. “It’s very straightforward and down-to-earth and raw”.
“Flying Blind” is out today on all major digital platforms. Listen to the new track and watch its official music video below. Filmed on location at The Viper Room in Los Angeles, the video was directed by John Harvatine IV.
“Flying Blind” came together spontaneously during the album’s pre-production, when Slash brought a new riff into the rehearsal room. The track quickly took shape as the band worked on it together, blending SMKC’s trademark hard-rock energy with a soaring melody and an instantly memorable hook. Its natural impact made it the perfect song to kick off the new album.
Slash explains: “Created in the studio while we were standing there in pre-production, a riff came to me and started developing. I had nothing of that song prior to those guys coming in, and then we started up a night of rehearsal and played that riff. It came together really quickly. As for it being the first single, you never know what the first single is going to be until you’ve recorded it. When I started thinking about it, ‘Flying Blind’ just seemed to have the right kind of melodic sensibilities and a hook to make it single material.”
According to Myles Kennedy, the title track explores the shortcuts people sometimes take in their pursuit of fulfillment.
“I really enjoyed putting a melody to this song,” Kennedy adds. “The way the chord progression starts in the beginning had a nice flow to it. The lyric is about how sometimes people try to take shortcuts and try to find the easy way to achieve happiness or enlightenment”.
‘Flying Blind” track listing
01. Avarice And Greed
02. Good Time Girl
03. Thrill Seeker
04. One Of Your Kind
05. Flying Blind
06. Looking For A Miracle
07. Sweet Kill
08. Here In Babylon
09. Living The Dream
10. (Don’t) Thread The Needle
11. Rev My Heart
12. Stem The Flow
SMKC have also announced their “Flying Blind” World Tour 2027, an extensive international tour that will kick off in Latin America in April before heading to North America on April 23 and then continuing across the United Kingdom and Europe (Athens, Greece is included).
