Creed's Biography
It's
not easy to find a success story as genuine as Creed's in popular culture these
days, with all the carefully scripted rises to glory and the falls that
inevitably follow careers built on hype. If any band in recent years can claim
to have ascended strictly on its own merits, it's Creed. This Florida-bred band
went from zero to sixty, (or, more accurately, from zero to selling more than
fifteen million albums) by virtue of a combination of finger-on-the-pulse songs
and powerful live performances, rather than a raft of hype.
"With My Own Prison, I knew we had the talent to get a record deal and I
knew we had songs good enough to get played on the radio, but I never had any
expectations of reaching this many people," says Creed's dynamic frontman,
Scott Stapp.
Nonetheless, the band's success has been truly phenomenal. Creed was the first
band in history to have four Number One Rock Radio singles from a debut album --
a feat even more impressive in these days of love-'em-and-leave-'em, one-hit
wonders. On the strength of their singles, including the crushing title track
and the more pensive "What's This Life For," Creed topped countless
year-end charts and was recognized as the Rock Artist of the Year at Billboard's
1998 Music Awards. Their debut album was also the #1-selling Hard Music album
for 1998 on SoundScan's Hard Music chart and to date has sold more than five
million copies.
Since the release of their second album, Human Clay, Creed has upped the ante
yet again. "Higher," the first single from their already 10x Platinum
sophomore release, broke the Active and Mainstream Rock airplay records for the
most consecutive weeks at number one, holding the coveted spot for eighteen
weeks. Furthermore, Creed was recognized once again as the Rock Artist of the
Year at Billboard's 1999 Music Awards.
"We're the type of band that functions really well under pressure, and
there was definitely a pressure to try to top ourselves this time," says
Stapp. "Not so much what we sell, because we don't really care about that.
We wanted to make a really great record. The band's goal has always been to make
records that are solid from start to finish; records that take you through an
entire range of emotions."
Those sentiments come across loud and clear during stretches of Human Clay. On
"What If," Stapp's baritone turns fierce when addressing those he
feels have judged him unfairly over the years -- a pitch that's matched by the
searing guitar lines that Tremonti turns out. The intensity comes through in
more subtle ways as well, as in the plaintive tone of the album's first single,
"Higher," which finds Stapp seeking refuge from the rigors of the
outside world, as his bandmates erect a majestic wall of riffs to ring his
discourse.
Throughout Human Clay, the entire band is on a quest to explore different sonic
territories, ranging from the Led Zeppelin-styled eastern modalities of the
album's first track "Are You Ready?" to the lush balladry of
"Wash Away Those Years." While Stapp grants that the band's increased
resources had some impact on the structure of Human Clay - the first album was
recorded for a mere $6,000 -- it's clear that Creed's evolution is far more than
just a matter of dollars and cents.
Scott Stapp wrote this before the release of My Own Prison
For Human Clay, Creed once again turned to longtime friend and producer John
Kurzweg to ensure that they captured the anthemic guitars, dramatic vocals and
bold lyrics that made Creed's brawny-yet-intimate sound a radio staple for two
solid years. Together with Kurzweg, the band recorded the new album in a studio
they constructed in a house just outside of Tallahassee.
On Human Clay, Stapp contemplates how responsibilities, choices and actions
impact people. The album's songs explore fears of growing up and letting go of
youth ("Never Die") conscience ("Faceless Man") and betrayal
("Beautiful") among other topics. Creed challenges their listeners to
think without preaching or pretending to have all the answers. Balancing Human
Clay's hard rock sensibilities is "With Arms Wide Open," a deeply
personal song that Stapp wrote when he learned he was going to become a father.
"I think my songwriting is very direct and understandable," says Stapp.
"People can relate to that, so that's something I didn't want to move away
from. At the same time, we're a little bit older and more mature now and we've
been through a lot in the past two years, so we were looking to put things
across in a way that reflected that."
In many ways, Creed has been evolving gradually since the band played its first
dates together five years ago. After high school, teenage acquaintances Stapp
and fellow songwriter Tremonti took different routes, but both ended up in
Tallahassee, where they recruited bassist Brian Marshall and drummer Scott
Phillips to form Creed. Within a few months, they had meshed their wide-ranging
influences to create the band's rich musical texture.
Creed's reputation for dynamic, passionate live performances has led to
consistently sold-out shows. During the past two years the band has played to
more than two million fans worldwide, not including the enormous crowd who
witnessed their awesome performance at Woodstock '99. Creed gave fans something
special to remember the festival by when they invited Robby Krieger, guitarist
for The Doors, to join them during their performance on the main stage. When
Stapp introduced Krieger, the crowd of approximately 200,000 erupted in cheers
and shouted along to Doors favorites "Roadhouse Blues" and
"Riders On The Storm." Krieger also stayed on to play slide guitar on
Creed's "What's This Life For."
"We were out on tour for a long time, and wherever we went, there were
people telling me how much certain songs meant to them and how they felt so
close to them," says Stapp. "That means more to me than any other kind
of attention. It's important to feel as if you're doing something worthwhile,
and in this band, I feel like I am."
It will only take a few listens to Human Clay to see that they are.
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