Creed Breaks Up, Scott Stapp Recruits The Tea Party
Friday June 04, 2004 @ 03:00 PM
By: ChartAttack.com Staff
http://www.chartattack.com/damn/2004/06/0406.cfm
Creed
After nearly 10 years together, Creed is no more. But Scott Stapp has vowed to go on, with The Tea Party standing behind him.
Stapp has gone back into the studio and is currently working on a solo album with hip-hop producer 7 Aurelius and his new backing band, The Tea Party. Yes, our Tea Party — Stapp and Jeff Martin are at last working as one. Before we see that gem, Stapp will provide a track on an album filled with songs inspired by The Passion Of The Christ, due out August 31.
While Stapp is moving forward, Creed fans are still crying over the announcement of the band’s demise. The band’s unabashedly straightforward Seattle grunge sound that critics slammed for being derivative and formulaic was exactly what certain music fans were looking for. Neither the heavy seriousness nor the Christian, spiritual content would effect their massive mainstream success and after eight years and three albums, selling more than 30 million copies worldwide, Creed became one of the biggest bands of the past decade.
Creed’s sophomore release, 1999’s Human Clay, propelled the band beyond the smattering of post-grunge disciples who faltered after their initial releases. Songs like "With Arms Wide Open" and "Higher" became radio mainstays and their third (and final) studio release Weathered debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in December 2001. Damn the critics, damn the alterna-Christian labeling and damn creative experimentation in their music. Creed was entrenched in a formula that worked, and Stapp, along with bandmates Mark Tremonti, drummer Scott Phillips and bassist Brian Marshall were on top of the world.
[rest is dumb, read online if you want]
—David Missio