Creed (band)

Creed

Creed with current touring guitarist Eric Friedman (far right) in 2009.
Background information
Origin ,
United States
Genres Hard rock, post-grunge
Years active 1994–2004
2009–present
Labels Blue Collar
Sony BMG
Wind-up
Associated acts Alter Bridge, Submersed
Website www.creed.com
Members
Scott Stapp
Mark Tremonti
Scott Phillips
Brian Marshall

Creed is a rock band from Tallahassee, Florida that became popular in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The band disbanded in 2004 after three multi-platinum albums, selling 26 million records in the United States [1] and an estimated 35 million records worldwide.[2][3][4]

The band consists of lead vocalist Scott Stapp, guitarist and backing vocalist Mark Tremonti, drummer Scott Phillips and bassist Brian Marshall. They released two studio albums: My Own Prison (1997), Human Clay (1999) before Marshall left in 2000 to be replaced by touring bassist Brett Hestla. Afterwards came Weathered (2001) with Mark Tremonti handling bass before the band disbanded in 2004. Tremonti, Phillips and Marshall went on to found Alter Bridge while Stapp followed a solo career. After months of speculation, the original members of Creed reunited in 2009 for a tour and a new album called Full Circle.

Contents

History

Formation and first album: 1994–1997

Creed formed after Scott Stapp and Mark Tremonti, friends at Florida State University and high school classmates at Orlando's Lake Highland Preparatory School, decided to form a band, recruiting Brian Marshall and Scott Phillips to complete the quartet in late 1994. Marshall later suggested the name Creed after the band he played in named Maddox Creed. The four members had already written and collaborated three of the songs that would go on to become tracks on their chart-topping debut album My Own Prison. The songs were "One", "Sister" and "What's This Life For".[5]

Brian Marshall current member of Creed, live in concert

Creed's debut album, My Own Prison, was independently released in 1997, on their own Blue Collar Records, which was funded by manager Jeff Hanson and it was distributed to Florida radio stations. Creed was playing a small gig when Diana Meltzer from Wind-Up Records heard the group. She had heard their independent album and, after hearing them live, signed the band to her label. After a remix to make it more radio friendly, My Own Prison was re-released by Wind-up Records across the country. The album was a surprise success, reaching the Top 40 on the Billboard 200, and spinning off several singles ("My Own Prison", "Torn", "What's This Life For", and "One") that topped the rock radio charts. The band's hit song "My Own Prison" was also featured as a live performance on the charity album Live in the X Lounge. The band covered Alice Cooper's song "I'm Eighteen" for The Faculty soundtrack in 1998.[5]

Human Clay and Marshall's departure: 1998–2000

With money made from My Own Prison, band members each contributed to the purchase of a remote, secluded, piece of land they could use for relaxation and collaboration meetings. This is where they worked on their second album, Human Clay. This album was released in 1999 and debuted on the Billboard 200 album chart at number one, based on the strength of its first single, "Higher", which spent several weeks on the top of the rock radio charts. It wasn't until early 2000 that the single crossed over onto pop radio going to the Top Ten on the Billboard Pop Chart, and Creed became a household name. The follow-up single, "With Arms Wide Open", also hit number one that fall. This gave the band seven consecutive chart-topping hits on rock radio and Anthony Bozza of Rolling Stone called Creed the best-selling hard rock band in America. [6][5]

During the summer of 2000, bassist Brian Marshall made headlines for criticizing Pearl Jam's recent songwriting style during a radio interview; he later apologized, and Stapp distanced the rest of the band from Marshall's comments on Creed's website. Months later, as the band readied itself for an American tour, it was announced that Marshall was no longer a member of Creed. He was quickly replaced by touring bassist Brett Hestla (also of Virgos Merlot) and later formed a new band, Grand Luxx, with his old bandmates from Mattox Creed.[5] Around that time, Fred Durst of Limp Bizkit bad-mouthed Stapp at New York's K-Rock 92.3 "Dysfunctional Family Picnic Concert" where they were both performing. In response to this, Scott Stapp invited Fred Durst to an open boxing match.[7]

Weathered and break-up: 2001–2004

In the fall of 2001, "My Sacrifice", the first single off Creed's third album Weathered, was used in a series of promotional tribute videos made by World Wrestling Entertainment. The song peaked at #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart on February 9, 2002, and #1 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart for 9 consecutive weeks, starting in December 2001. In early 2002, "Bullets" was released as a single, along with a costly, special effects-laden video. The song and video were possibly Creed's least successful since achieving mainstream success. However, Creed rebounded quickly, with one of the summer's biggest hits, "One Last Breath". Weathered was also Creed's first and only album without bassist Brian Marshall. The bass on the album was performed by Tremonti.[5]

On June 4, 2004, Creed officially announced their break-up. Tremonti, Phillips and Marshall started a band with Myles Kennedy called Alter Bridge while Stapp opted for solo career. On November 22, 2004, Creed released their Greatest Hits album.

Reunion and Full Circle: 2009–present

On April 27, 2009, Creed's website announced the reunification of the original line-up for a new tour and plans for a new album. According to Tremonti, "We're all very excited to reconnect with our fans and each other after six long years."[2] He later added that being in Creed again was "the last thing [he] expected." Phillips also stated: "Our career as Creed came to a very abrupt and unforeseen ending. After reflecting on some of the greatest personal and professional moments of our lives, we've come to realize that we are still very capable of continuing that career and our friendship on a grander scale than ever before."[2] In an interview for People.com, Stapp elaborated on the reunion, saying, "We never felt like we weren't together. We're not looking at this as a reunion. It's more of a rebirth."[8]

In June, Stapp, Tremonti, Marshall, and Phillips performed together for the first time in 6 years on AOL Sessions, showing the band playing "Higher", "With Arms Wide Open", "My Own Prison", and "My Sacrifice".[9] In addition, the band performed live on Fox & Friends on June 26, 2009. Creed's reunion tour kicked off on August 6, 2009, and concluded on October 20, one week before the release of the album.

Full Circle, Creed's first album in eight years, came out on October 27, 2009. Stapp elaborated on the title, which is also the name of a track to appear on the album: "It really defines and articulates, melody-wise and lyrically, what’s happened with us. We’ve come full circle and it’s a great place to be.[10] The first single from Full Circle, "Overcome", was posted on the band's official website on August 19, the same day the radio premiere started along with its release as a digital download on August 25. The second single, "Rain", hit radio on September 23 and became available on October 6 as another digital download. It was also confirmed that Creed has more albums to come after Full Circle.[11]

October 24, 2009, it was confirmed by Scott Phillips that Creed was to go on a world tour in support of Full Circle in April 2010, starting with an Australia/New Zealand tour, followed by South America, Europe, and North America. The tour is called The 20-10 Tour. Tickets for the tour will cost ten and twenty dollars to stand up against rising concert ticket prices. The first 2,010 tickets purchased for every concert will not include any service fees. The tour will kick off on July 26 in Nashville, TN. Skillet and Theft will be joining the tour as main support, Red, Theory of a Deadman and Saving Abel will also play on several dates.

Other projects

Solo work: 2004-present

Stapp released his debut solo album The Great Divide in 2005 with Roadrunner Records recording artist Goneblind. Stapp has confirmed that the reformation of Creed will put work on his second solo album on indefinite hiatus[10], though he is back in the studio. He also stated that a collaboration with Carlos Santana is in the works. He has also worked extensively with members of The Doors, and he has hinted at further collaborations with them.

Tremonti has worked with several artists over the years, since the beginning years with Creed. Most recently was his contribution to the Sevendust album Chapter VII: Hope & Sorrow, to which he provided a guitar solo that can be heard on the song "Hope." Alter Bridge vocalist Myles Kennedy also provided vocals to the song "Sorrow." Tremonti and Kennedy also appeared on the Fozzy album All That Remains, performing on the songs "The Way I Am" and "Nameless Faceless," respectively.

Tremonti has also collaborated with comedian Larry the Cable Guy and helped co-produce several songs the 2004 Submersed album In Due Time, including the song "Flicker," which features Tremonti on guitar. In 2008 he also appeared on Bury Your Dead's self-titled album, where he performed on the song "Year One," and on Michael Angelo Batio's album Hands Without Shadows, performing on the Deep Purple cover "Burn". He will be appearing on Myles Kennedy's upcoming solo album in 2011.

Alter Bridge: 2004-present

The other band members (including former bassist Brian Marshall) formed a new band, Alter Bridge, with Myles Kennedy, formerly of The Mayfield Four, a rock band that Creed had toured with earlier in the band's career before they made it big. Alter Bridge released their debut album, One Day Remains, on August 10, 2004. After finishing up the final leg of the One Day Remains tour in mid-2006, Alter Bridge started recording their second album. In 2007, with Universal Republic, Alter Bridge released their second album, Blackbird, on October 9, 2007. The band's third album, AB III, is expected to be released October 11, 2010 worldwide.

The band all states that Creed's reunion will not affect Alter Bridge in any way and that in spite of this, both bands will co-exist, so it is expected that Tremonti, Phillips, and Marshall will "switch off" between the two bands, with Scott Stapp and Myles Kennedy working on solo material and other projects while the other band is touring and recording.

Reception and musical style

Creed was one of the most commercially successful rock bands of the late 90s and early 2000s, having sold an estimated 35 million records worldwide.[2][3][4] Their first three studio albums, My Own Prison, Human Clay, and Weathered, have all gone multi-platinum in the United States, selling 6 million, 11 million, and 6 million copies respectively.[12][13] The band won a Grammy Award for Best Rock Song for the song "With Arms Wide Open" in 2001. For many years, Creed collaborated with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), allowing many of their songs to be played for promotions. In addition, many of the band's songs have been featured in film and television soundtracks. Despite enormous commercial success, Creed was poorly received by professional critics such as Robert Christgau,[14] Rolling Stone magazine,[15] and Allmusic.[16] The band is often criticized for being too derivative of the band Pearl Jam.[17][18]

Due to the influence of Alice in Chains and Pearl Jam, Creed's music is generally considered to be post-grunge. Ann Powers of Rolling Stone notes guitarist Mark Tremonti's delicate, minimal technique is influenced by Jerry Cantrell's style.[15] Allison Stewart describes singer Scott Stapp as having Eddie Vedder-like mannerisms such as "the great, emotive growl, and the hair-tossing solemnity". Stewart also notes Creed's music has "Zeppelin-style riffage married to melodic Top 40 hooks".[19] Andrew Leahey and Steve Huey of Allmusic describe Creed's music as hard rock, alternative pop/rock/post-grunge.[3]

Band members

Current members

Current touring members

Former members

Former touring members

Discography

References

  1. ↑ Cohen, Jonathan (Mon Dec 1, 2008). "Rock act Creed in talks to reunite". http://www.reuters.com/article/entertainmentNews/idUSTRE4B08WX20081201. Retrieved 24 December 2008. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 http://www.creed.com
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:jbfwxquhldse~T1
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 http://drownedinsound.com/news/9762
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 Allmusic biography
  6. ↑ Creed Biography
  7. ↑ Rosen, Craig (2000-07-14). "Creed's Stapp To Limp Bizkit's Durst: Get In The Ring". http://music.yahoo.com/library/default.asp?m=content&add=news&i=12058198&. Retrieved 2007-01-10. 
  8. ↑ Herndon, Jessica (April 27, 2009). "Band Creed Reunites for New Album". People. http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20274934,00.html. Retrieved April 29, 2009. 
  9. ↑ AOL Sessions
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Greene, Andy (2009-04-27). "Creed’s Scott Stapp Calls Reunion “A Renewing and a Rebirth”". Rolling Stone. http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/index.php/2009/04/27/creeds-scott-stapp-calls-reunion-a-renewing-and-a-rebirth/. Retrieved April 29, 2009. 
  11. ↑ http://tunelab.com/2009/10/24/creed-to-launch-2010-world-tour/
  12. ↑ http://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinumdata.php?resultpage=3&table=tblTop100&action=
  13. ↑ http://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinumdata.php?resultpage=1&table=tblTop100
  14. ↑ http://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?id=2173&name=Creed
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/creed/albums/album/194123/review/5944925/human_clay
  16. ↑ http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:kudqoa9aqijd
  17. ↑ http://allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:jbfwxquhldse~T1
  18. ↑ http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1451247/20011129/creed.jhtml
  19. ↑ http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/creed/biography

External links

Creed
Scott Stapp · Mark Tremonti · Scott Phillips · Brian Marshall
Studio albums
My Own Prison · Human Clay · Weathered · Full Circle
Compilations
Greatest Hits
Videos
Creed Live
Singles
"My Own Prison" · "What's This Life For" · "Torn" · "One" · "Higher" · "With Arms Wide Open" · "What If" · "Are You Ready?" · "My Sacrifice" · "One Last Breath" · "Hide" · "Don't Stop Dancing" · "Weathered" · "Bullets" · "Overcome" · "Rain" · "A Thousand Faces"
Related articles
Discography · Alter Bridge · The Great Divide