The Answers

[Jez]

It gives me absolutely NO pleasure to post this stuff, but I know that there are still alot of you here who don't understand what is going on with the band or are confused, and in my opinion the not knowing and waiting around for official confirmation that is never going to come is much worse than seeing the information for your own eyes, no matter how painful or dissapointing it is. Believe me when I tell you that I wish this was just a bad dream....a joke....a really nasty rumor...but it's not. Try not to read too much between the lines. There's nothing there.....no semantics at all (until you get to the e-news that you all recieved, that is)



Originally it was posted by a well known pit member (SS) that Mark stated during the Orlando M&G that Creed as we now it is over. That's pretty much all the info that she gave...which left alot of room for speculation as to what that meant exactly. She didn't post more because she felt that she had already gone too far as it was. Subsequently, there was alot of confusion and pleading for more information which led to one of the other persons that was in the room to come forward a day later to clarify more. The following is what she (CG) posted:

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The new band will NOT be called Downshifter. They decided against the name.

Flip will remain with Mark.

The genre will be extreme heavy metal. I brought up Disturbed and he said " Ten times heavier than Disturbed. Metallica even" (note that this was a misunderstanding as you will see was then clarified by the post from Michael Tremonti)

He said he has worked harder in the past 11 months than he ever has before.

Creed did get together for a rehearsal, but it just wasn't working out.

He seemed very excited about this new venture.

They are auditioning a lead singer.

There will not be a DVD.

There will not be a "new" Creed album anytime in the near future.

He and Scott have parted ways.

His new band expects to have an album out by this summer.

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After CG posted the above, Michael Tremonti came in and clarified a bit further by posting the following:

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This is in response to what Creed Goddess wrote about Mark's "extreme" heavy metal band. She got a little confused. Mark did mention this but he was talking about the metal band he wanted to do in the future. The project he is working on now IS NOT THAT BAND. I have heard the songs he has written and produced in his studio. They run the gamut from ballads to epic anthemic rock to heavy songs. Hes been working on these songs for a year and a half and are among the best he's ever written.
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Please note that he did NOT discredit anything about Creed not being a band any longer.



It seemed that there were still some confused individuals, so CG again posted stating that she would answer more specific questions about what Mark said during that meeting. One person came in and asked some questions. Here they are, followed by CG's response. I don't think that it can get any clearer than this. Hopefully now, those of us who need to grieve can get on with this process and not feel left in the dark about what is happening.

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I understand that you may not be able to answer all of them but I'd appreciate it very much which ever ones you can answer.

Again, thank you so much.

#1. What brought this on? Was he asked about what's next for CREED or a new album or something? How did the subject arise?

#2 What were, if you can remember, his exact words? What was the verbage?

#3 When he said them what was his mood like? Was he somber or did he seem happy or just uninterested?

#4 Was there anything else said by him that led you to the conclusion that CREED was no more (if you can share that with us)?


I'll do my best to answer your questions.

#1. It was brought about by asking him about starting a new band called Downshifter. I believe that's when he replied that it wouldn't be called Downshifter. He was then asked if this was in addition to Creed.

#2 His response to that question was "Creed is over". He was asked "over, as in done"?, or something to that effect, and he re-iterated that it was, using different wording this time(and we can't quite remember what that was)

At this point all three of us were reeling on the inside and simply trying to digest what had just been said. So the details get fuzzy.

#3 His mood: well, Mark is a very laid back guy. He is also incredibly kind, and goes out of his way to make you feel comfortable. You never really feel like you are talking to a "rock star". When he said "Creed is over" he didn't appear to be angry or sad. He just said it. Kind of matter-of-fact. If anything it was in a dismissive tone, but definitely not angry.

#4 It was obvious that he was concentrating soley on the project at hand. And when he talked about it you could see that he felt proud about the work he was doing. He made it a point to tell us that he had worked harder in the last 11 months than he ever had before.

Really, you couldn't help but be really happy for the guy. We wished him the best of luck. He thanked us. And that was it.
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[hide]

Jez the release sent out by CreedInk competely discredits this, for Downshifter simply won't be happening well at least not until 2005. It is a solo album not a new band, plus the fact that they will be recording next year at least a couple of new songs anyhow.

Now I can either choose to belive offcial sources such as creed ink, creed.com, wind-up and the like or I can choose to believe some "well-known" person from a bulletin board. I think I'll stick to the facts and nto rumours.

[devils_here]

Either way thank you very much for the info Jez. I really appreciate it As always you are a great help

[TeriB19]

Thanks for the info Jez.

[tremonti.net]

I reckon the solo thing is this new band with Flip and Marshall...
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[Delirium]

im confused..... so there is 2 solo projects he is doing

1 is gonna be out sooooon, does that have him as lead vocals, and is it that ballad/anthemic rock thing

and the 2nd is a real heavy metal band which has someone else as lead vocals and will be out in the distant future

some clarification will be great, kthnxbai

[creedlvr]

If Brian is going to be part of the new band ... that will really make me mad. It's bad enough that Mark and Flip are teaming up together against Scott, but if they bring in Brian ... that will be the ultimate slap in the face to Scott.

I know he's brought a lot of this on himself, but still. I would really just like to see if they can be the Creed gang minus Stapp and think that they will be as good as they were with him.

I feel bad for Scott. This was his dream ... his ambition ... and now they're all moving on without him. It's like they're ganging up on him. I don't like it.

[Dogstar]

Well, we really don't know the whole story so it's really hard to judge without knowing all the facts.

[creedlvr]

that's true ... but I still feel bad for him. (don't mind me ... I'm just bitter!)

[Delirium]

I say good riddance to Stapp.

[creedlvr]

[Delirium]

i was just kidding, but i do think its the best thing that's happened to mark. maybe even STapp might do well, but i hate U2 and the Doors so idno if i'd like how it turns out

[tremonti.net]

<!--QuoteBegin-Delirium+11-21-2003 04:45 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Delirium @ 11-21-2003 04:45 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> 1 is gonna be out sooooon, does that have him as lead vocals, and is it that ballad/anthemic rock thing [/b][/quote]
They are looking for a vocalist. They're flying in a guy from NY to try out.
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[Bridge of Clay]

funny! I did hear something about Stapp moving to NY. Now he has to go back all the way down to FL!

[RMadd]

<!--QuoteBegin-creedlvr+11-21-2003 12:47 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (creedlvr @ 11-21-2003 12:47 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> If Brian is going to be part of the new band ... that will really make me mad. It's bad enough that Mark and Flip are teaming up together against Scott, but if they bring in Brian ... that will be the ultimate slap in the face to Scott.

I know he's brought a lot of this on himself, but still. I would really just like to see if they can be the Creed gang minus Stapp and think that they will be as good as they were with him.

I feel bad for Scott. This was his dream ... his ambition ... and now they're all moving on without him. It's like they're ganging up on him. I don't like it. [/b][/quote]
I don't necessarily view it as ganging up on Stapp. For one, we haven't heard the circumstances of this alleged break-up (i.e. if it is, in fact, going to happen, who is abandoning whom). If it is happening as is alleged, we don't know if Stapp wanted out, if Flip and Tremo tried to ditch Stapp, or if it's mutual. Perhaps Flip and Tremo wanted to do some harder music, and Stapp, as seemingly evidenced by the music in Weathered, is heading in a slightly different direction. Perhaps now their musical tastes just don't mesh anymore. I think it'd be cool if Flip, Tremo, and Brian reunited, though. Then Brett could join to sing.