Ex-Spokane singer joins former Creed
The spiritually inclined band Creed, whose anthemic hits “Higher” and “With Arms Wide Open” helped them become one of the top-selling rock acts of the past decade, has called it quits.
Three former Creed members announced they were forming a new band — along with former Spokane musician Myles Kennedy — but were quick to say it was not “just Creed with a different singer.”
Meanwhile, Creed singer Scott Stapp is working on a solo debut with Canadian rockers The Tea Party.
The new band, Alter Bridge, features Creed guitarist Mark Tremonti and drummer Scott Phillips, as well as former Creed bassist Brian Marshall. For a lead singer, they recruited Kennedy, formerly of the Spokane band Mayfield Four, which had toured with Creed. Their first album is due Aug. 10.
Phillips described the music as edgier than Creed, with the musicians given more space to show off their chops.
“We don’t want to make it seem like it’s just Creed with a different singer,” he said.
On the Alter Bridge Web site, Tremonti said the group “couldn’t have been any happier to find someone that didn’t sound just like Stapp… . Myles is a tenor and has an old-school rock sound. He is an amazing live performer and also adds the element of having a second guitar player live.
“It’s great to have someone like Myles (who) can sing these songs with so much emotion, and he’ll be a perfect frontman,” Tremonti added.
As for the pressure of replacing Stapp, Kennedy said on the Web site: “Of course there will be comparisons, criticism, and people taking sides. All I can do is be honest and do my best. They created a great legacy with Creed, but I’m in Alter Bridge, and I hope the fans appreciate what we do as well.”
Creed’s three albums sold a combined 24 million copies in the United States. While many critics dismissed its players as pale Pearl Jam imitators, Creed members used that as creative fuel and laughed all the way to the bank.
Stapp grew up with a strict religious upbringing and often explored those topics in song. At one point, five of the first eight queries on the “frequently asked questions” section of the Florida-based band’s Web site dealt with Christianity, including “Is Creed a Christian band?”
The band always said no.
Stapp and Tremonti were longtime friends and songwriting partners whose relationship soured in the past couple of years, as Tremonti explained in a recent interview with MTV.com.
“Scott and I hadn’t been close for a while,” he said, “and things just weren’t working out… . None of us really argued amongst each other. It was always Scott who had the problem.”
Drummer Phillips was more diplomatic. “There was a lot more drama,” he said last week. “It wasn’t necessarily created by anyone in particular. It just stopped being fun.”
Tensions surfaced after the band postponed several shows after Stapp’s car accident in April 2002, and because of his bout with laryngitis later that year. (A scheduled Spokane concert was delayed twice because of the problems.)
After the band finally returned to the road, some Chicago fans were so upset over Stapp’s poor performance during a December 2002 concert that they sued the band.
Creed took most of last year off and reconvened in the winter to come up with new material.
“The vibe just wasn’t the same,” Phillips said.