Life after Creed happier for Alter Bridge drummer
 

Life after Creed happier for Alter Bridge drummer
THE FLINT JOURNAL FIRST EDITION
Tuesday, September 21, 2004
By Christina Fuoco
CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Alter Bridge drummer Scott Phillips couldn't be happier about his post-Creed life.

Phillips makes no bones about being unhappy pounding the skins for his former band, which featured singer Scott Stapp and guitarist/ Grosse Pointe native Mark Tremonti.

Creed announced in June that it was disbanding, and Phillips, Tremonti, ousted Creed bassist Brian Marshall and ex-Mayfield Four frontman Myles Kennedy formed Alter Bridge. Phillips raves about the democratic songwriting process on the new band's debut, "One Day Remains," and the easy nature of working with his new bandmates.

Especially on its first single, "Open Your Eyes," Alter Bridge shows some of the same traits as Creed: swirling guitar solos, soaring vocals and anthemic choruses.

"Mark wrote most of the material (with Creed). He wrote probably 60 or 70 percent of the lyrics, did most of the vocal melodies and came up with all of the guitar riffs," Phillips said in a recent interview from the band's rehearsal space in Florida.

"This time around, it was more of a democratic process. If we had an opinion or an idea about something - not that we couldn't always express it earlier - this time it actually would happen. Mark was very open to suggestions. I like the way the songs turned out. ... It was a really, really fun process. It was really cool."

Phillips explained that Kennedy was one of the first singers at whom the trio from Creed looked. Kennedy, who toured with Creed as a member of the Mayfield Four, was "definitely the guy for the job."

"He's just a good-hearted, fun guy to be around," Phillips said. "It's really cool. He's very creative. He's got an expansive musical background. He's a musician just as much as he is a singer. Scott, being an amazing singer, didn't have a real extensive musical knowledge.

"He (Kennedy) is really good at what he does and understands what we do as well. We trust him and his abilities, and he seems to do the same with us. It's a good mutual-admiration society."

Alter Bridge will kick off its first tour Thursday at Clutch Cargo's in Pontiac with a set entirely of material from "One Day Remains." The band has decided to steer away from Creed material.

"We really feel like we're going to have our core audience in there, and people that are fans of the new projects, and (those who) understand that we're not going to come in there and do two new songs and a do a bunch of Creed stuff," Phillips said.

"We just sort of felt like it wouldn't be fair to Myles to have to go through that. It wouldn't be fair for Scott to go out and do Creed stuff. It's not fair to the fans who are used to Creed, which Scott was a big part of, to watch somebody else do the songs.

"The same goes with Scott if he goes out and does Creed songs with a different band," Phillips said. "I just don't know if that would be fair to us. If he choose to do that, that's up to him."

Phillips added that Stapp has teamed up with the Canadian band the Tea Party to work on new material. He said Creed met the band while they toured together in the late 1990s.

Phillips admitted that he is a little apprehensive about touring with a new band.

"I'm sitting here in our rehearsal space wondering if I can remember how to play the drums," he said. "We got off a 31/2-week acoustic promo tour. We went from station to station sort of around the country and up to Canada and did acoustic performances and interviews.

"Mark got to play and sing. Myles got to play and sing, and Brian got to play his bass, and I was beating on congas. It's probably more challenging for me to get back out there and play full on," he added with a laugh.

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Also, I met AB in London, and Flip said they've spoken to Scott once after the breakup, so "Uncel Mark" and "Band break up, not friend break up" is problably mostly bullshit.

That's a matter of opinion. Ab fans are going to believe what they say and Stapp fans will believe what he said. What's bullshit is that Mark wrote a majority of the lyrics. Mark said himself that Stapp wrote 99% of the lyrics in a previous interview...someone isn't telling the truth here. :rolleyes:

99% is bullshit too!! Mark wrote much more than that, but 60-70, well who knows...? Maybe he did. I know the wrote the most for Human Clay

you got to meet 'em after the show? awesome!

No, I met them before the show!! I got to catch their soundcheck EXLUSIVE!!! We were just about 7 fans who did. They played a "not yet finished" song acoustic. Check the "Concert Review" forum to read my review of the day in London.

Stop the constant arguing about who did what and live with AB as the band they are not as the band they were part of! (shakes head) A fact is, he wrote the lyrics now mostly for AB and Flip's happy. That's enough to be happy of over yatta yatta who did and who did and argue babble argue!

I would think the 60 percent to 70 percent refers to Alter Bridge stuff, not Creed stuff. Where it says (with Creed), it probably means "while still with Creed." In the paragraph before that one, they are talking about AB music.

It clearly says Mark wrote 60 or 70 % of the lyrics with Creed

so it does, Lithium...but do you actually believe everything you read?...it may say it altho, it could easily be a misprint, now couldn't it?...writers are not infallable...nor is the author of this article...;)

~peace

I believe it if it comes from the band

That still doesn't make it true. Scott writing 99% of the lyrics also came from Mark previously so either this was a mis-quote or one isn't true. They can't both be right. :D

Their memory of Creed seems to be getting fuzzier and fuzzier with every interview. What a shame. We all know that Scott wrote 99.9% of the lyrics. It's obvious. Just reading the lyrics for ODR you can see difference. You can see that there is no influence from Scott. The lyrics don't have as much feeling and depth as Creed's did.

Lith, you seem to only have one view of things. Believe what you will. You can't believe everything you read or hear.

Not 99%. Mark wrote very many lyrics for Human Clay

We do?

I don't know what the percentage was with Creed but Scott had song writing credits on all of the songs. With Alter Bridge, and I don't have the liner notes in front of me so bear with me, it looked like Mark wrote 6 or 7 of the songs by himself and Myles helped on the other 4 or 5. Which would lead to the 60-70 percent for Alter Bridge (Mark) and the 99 percent for Creed (Scott). But does it really matter who wrote what and where and how much as long as you appreciate the music for waht it was and now is?

LOL, and you don't?

Drop the double standard.

Ehh... Yeeaah, I got my view - you got your view.

Right on!!

Hey NEWBIE - you have absolutely no clue. Mind your own business.

Let me post some comments from Mark (interviews from when Weathered dropped)

"Let me post some comments from Mark (interviews from when Weathered dropped)

Quote: "Scott writes 90 to 95 per cent of the lyrics, and he was brought up in a real religious family," Tremonti said. "His reference point in spiritual things has always been his studies with the Bible."

Quote: Another interview of mark's
It was great to meet Scott because I never had the patience to write quality lyrics. I would always get an idea for the melody down on my little four-track, I would put in my little Dr. Rhythm drum track. Then I would put down a melody with stupid words, whereas Scott would always have killer words ready for me" -- Mark Tremonti

Quote: "What Scott's real good at is songs like Unforgiven. I could never write a melody over that choppy verse. He is good at doing the choppy stuff like Sister and Unforgiven." -- Mark Tremonti

Quote: From michael himself about MOP...

On the MOP album? The first verse and chorus for Whats This Life For. Chorus for Pity For a Dime. Chorus for My Own Prison(the part he sings). I think thats about it on that cd. Scott handled 90% of the lyrics on that cd. Until recently Mark was more of the melody guy than a lyricist."


:clap: Thank You Shadow! :)

Come on Robyn, just because he's/she's new it doesn't mean you have to be right!! You do only see things of one view! And so do I.

Yes, I know those quotes, but it just seems weird to me...

I believe what I read...and I've read the lyrics to every Alter Bridge song. The stuff coming from Creed wasn't, for the most part, coming from Mark Tremonti. Not saying he didn't contribute. If it wasn't Stapp....I don't know who it was....but when you compare lyrics from both side by side.....its pretty obvious. :D

Yeah, but the fact this interview says something totally different is weird. And also Micheal said "Creed fans would be surprised if they only knew how many lyrics Mark writes". I know he did very many to Human Clay!!

Well that certainly isn't obvious to me after reading the lyrics to ODR....
sorry :D

Don't feel sorry for me, we're just discussing facts

I wasn't indicating that I feel sorry "for" you....I was simply saying....sorry....I don't agree. :wtf:

Lol, newbie? Isn't that a term that little kids on online games use? And plus you will see a lot of posts out of me. :D

If it matters i am a guy......

I think Ann is right in that the writer might have messed up. Even if it says the words, with Creed, the context of the sentence is in relation to AB's music. It definitely can be read both ways, I guess...That writer needed a good editor :D. Anyway, this is all really pointless to bicker over.

No, Lith, actually I don't. I am a Scott supporter 110% and you know that. But with each new interview that comes out Mark and Flip seem to change their story just a little. I've picked up some of the mags with AB on the cover (Guitar One and Metal Edge). They make their comments here and there and they are unnecessary. Publicly, Scott has said nothing but kind words about them. I'm not saying Scott is a saint, I know he is not. He has faults just like everybody else.

You have to realize that Michael is Mark's biggest supporter. He will stop at nothing to promote Mark and AB (as he rightly should). His biggest priority is Mark. Just keep that in mind. He has no loyalties to Scott anymore.

I really had hoped that this "battle" between AB and Stapp fans would cease to exist. I'm sorry that it hasn't. There are certain people (not pinpointing you Lith) that want to continue arguing.

All of a sudden Mark and Flip weren't happy in Creed. That's pretty funny because I can quote like crazy from interviews (both audio and video) that they were in Creed for the longevity.

Was Mark happy when he received a Grammy? Where they happy selling 30 millions records? Where they happy receiving award after award from Blockbuster, VH1 and Billboard? None of that would have been possible without Scott. How soon they forget. Aren't friendships supposed to last through good and bad times, no matter how bad things get?

Reponses Bolded

Sorry for the double post, but i reread the article again and it states that he wrote the AB material with creed, not he wrote the lyrics to creed. Sorry Lith

Flip and Mark have said kind words to Scott as well!! Just read this interview, Flip said a couple of times that Scott is an AMAZING singer!!

Yes, but you don't have to be happy just because you win many awards!! Their so happy in Alter Bridge with Brian and Myles!!

I agree with Dogstar here. I read it like Mark wrote these lyrics for Creed songs or while he was in Creed, not that he wrote 60-70% of the Creed lyrics. This writer here is very confusing.

This whole argument started due to a horribly written article.

What Phillips was saying was that Tremonti wrote 60-70% of Alter Bridge's material.

The author has added that little (with Creed) bit and it's made the whole quote quite confusing. If you take out that bit, it reads like:


That certainly isn't confusing. He's talking about Alter Bridge in the first paragraph. I think the writer was implying that Mark wrote the 60-70% of lyrics etc whilest still technically in Creed. But she's done it poorly.

Speaking of which, Weathered's linear notes say "Lyrics and Vocals Scott Stapp", and "Guitars and Bass Mark Tremonti". While I'd have thought that there were times when Stapp was a little blocked, or Tremonti wasn't sure of the direction the song should take, or Phillips wasn't certain on how to approach the drumming, and the other band members (and the whole team behind Creed) helped out, that second paragraph leads me to believe that Weathered was a record written with very defined jobs, that noone was open to suggestions from other bandmates.

It seems all members of Creed are happy with the current situation, so I don't see why there should be divide between Stapp fans and Alter Bridge fans. Unfortunately I've seen it before, when At the Drive-In split up to Sparta and The Mars Volta, a lot of people stuck with one side or the other. Considering I've not heard anything from Stapp (I'm NOT installing Real Audio. No. No. No.), I'm not saying anything, but if the Tea Party are playing the music, it's got to be good! Why can't people enjoy both branches of the Creed tree?

Yeah, it's very blurry, but that makes sence!!

scott wrote all but two tracks on weathered, who cares both mark and scott are better together, than apart, so this crap is bull ,who did this who did that, the end results si no more Creed, thats a drag..........

Why did you bump this?

I think yesterdazewine drank a little too much of yesterday's wine...

What I think happened with Creed's lyrics is that Mark had most of the initial ideas and perhaps had the chorus down and than Stapp would come in and tidy things up and the lyrics would vastly improve. So Mark would write 60-70% of the lyrics but its that missing 30 from scott that makes all the difference. take a creed song like "is this the end" (i think scott did this 100% but i'm not certain) and compare it to anything on ODR......the comparison is laughable in a lyrical sense.

that's cool , your bedside manner is that of a maggot, u need to learn to be positive instead of causing shit , this is a talk board to discuss creed not a place where you can cut people down, learn it, live it, love it,,,,otherwise screw