Robert Cavuoto of Guitar International recently interviewed ALTER BRIDGE guitarist Mark Tremonti, an excerpt follows:

When can we expect the fourth CD?

Mark Tremonti: "I see it coming out in the spring of ’13, spring or early summer."

With Myles (Kennedy, vocalist) working with SLASH, I imagine it could be a double-edged sword. There’s the positives of the attention it brings to Alter Bridge, and the other side people constantly asking “Is Myles gonna be leaving?” What’s your take on it?

Mark Tremonti: "We haven’t seen any cons yet; it’s all been positive. Myles is not the guy to say one thing and do another. He says he’s completely committed to Alter Bridge just like we told him with this CREED reunion stuff. We’re all very open with one another, there are no secrets.

We’re having a great time and Alter Bridge is doing better than we ever have, and nobody’s going anywhere. I think Slash just brings more credibility to who Myles is as a singer and a frontman and gets some of the respect that he deserves."

You have been in the music news a lot regarding you being one of the few people who heard the new VAN HALEN CD and now you will be going to do a few dates with them. How did you form a relationship with them?

Mark Tremonti: "Yeah, well we first did shows with them back in the Creed days. Eddie actually gave me one of his guitars, and then years went by. It’s funny, at one of those old shows; I think at Madison Square Garden, he ran through a crowd of fans and press just to tell me how to set up the guitar with the springs on the guitar when he had Valerie and Wolfgang with him. And it meant a lot to me that he’d leave his family to come tell the young guitar player what to do.

I remember Wolfgang was six or seven years old then, and now, eleven years later, he has become a fan of Alter Bridge. He came out to some shows, and we’ve become friends. We invited him to Alter Bridge sound checks, and we hang out with him every time we go to LA.

He’s also played with Alter Bridge at the House of Blues the last time I was out there. He brought his dad to our show that was a crazy night. You had Slash and Eddie and Wolfgang Van Halen at the show!

The last time we went to LA, Wolfgang came and hung out with me and my buddy and asked if we wanted to go see practice the next day and I said 'Of course!' so he picked me up and got me into the studios at his dad’s house, where they played every song on the new record for me. It was just amazing."

To read the rest of the interview, click here.