Mark settles your doubts about Brian Marshall and Christianity issues

[Bridge of Clay]

This is from OneLastRiff.com , I think that´s very interesting, since no one ever quoted this interview. I won´t bother to bold the best parts coz you´re all smart. Thanks to Ben and Andrew!

DISCLAIMER: LONG POST BELOW!

[Bridge of Clay]

INTERVIEW - ON THE PHONE WITH 107.7's "The End"


--Q: Mark?
Mark: Yeah

--Q: How you doing man?
Mark: Hey, how you doing?

--Q: Thanks for coming in, I appreciate it.
Mark: No problem, man.

--Q: Okay, so yesterday saw the release of your new CD, Weathered, and Human Clay, what you sell already, 10 million or something like that?
Mark: Ah yes we did.

--Q: So what are you hoping for?
Mark: On this cd?

--Q: Yeah, lets say first week. I mean you know, everyone's hoping for some record. Are you guys hoping you're gonna sell at least a million?
Mark: Yeah, I think everybody's goal is a million this week. It's ahh, kinda discouraging after Britney only did 750 last week.
Please tell me your not using that as a barometer!
You know, she sells some CDs.

--Q: Is that a mind blowing thing to even think though? I'm kinda expecting a million sales. I mean when you first started did you think you'd even sell a million records?
Mark: No man, Its crazy. Its just, we hope our fans trust us by now, the first two records we gonna put out... A record they'll like third time around.

--Q: Its a weird thing though, the follow up to such an enormous success. I've asked this question before - do you feel pressure to have the same kind of success - and people are always saying "no no, we're just gonna do out thing and if people like it, they like it." You can't really think that?
Mark: Well, when your writing you have to think that way or else you'll jinx yourself and you'll write a terrible record. You know, if you just always keep in mind that you're writing for yourself and your writing what you like and that's what your fans have liked all along, you'll be just fine. But if you start thinking that we sold ten million records, we've gotta do it again, that we gotta write songs that'll do well on the radio and whatnot it's just not gonna work.

--Q: I'm a fan of weathered, I really like this CD. To me it reminds me of the seventies' stadium rock bands.
Mark: That's exactly what we always tried to go for.

--Q: Seriously?
Mark: Yeah, you know, just the big old school rock and roll sound.

--Q: Well you guys aren't gonna translate well at The Paramount, for example, but put you in Memorial Stadium or Key Arena and I think it'll work huge.
Mark: Thank you very much

--Q: Well it's a great CD, and also in my opinion this album is somewhat Led Zeppelin-esque, and I'm not just talking about on My Sacrifice the Kashmir riffs, I'm talking about on other songs, it's just got that Zeppelin feel to it. Do you agree? Did you shoot for that? Are you aware of that?
Mark: Ah, well over the years I've noticed more and more that Jimmy Page is such a well rounded guitar player. He's kind of a guy, that if I would choose a single guy that had it all, I would say Jimmy Page. Yeah, I'd say that Jimmy Page is a great well rounded guitar player, that had a little bit of everything in his playing, and he's a great guy to try and live up to. He's a great influence.

--Q: You had a lot to deal with on this record yourself personally, not only were you doing all the guitar work, but you also had to throw down the bass lines as well. Was that a weird experience, you know in the past you had 4 full members, this time around you don't have Brian in the band and you had to do the bass playing.
Mark: Yeah, it was a fun experience. I'm really glad I did it because I've learnt another trade. You know every guitar player thinks they can play bass, but you really have to do it, its a whole different mind set. Its not a tough instrument to play when you're playing in a rock band, it might be different in a funk band, but in a rock band you just have to fill the void. Its just the whole different mind set and I'm glad I did it and I had a couple of producers in there with me to bounce ideas off and it was pretty fun.

--Q: Lets talk about Brian for a second. You know where you're calling, right?
Mark: Yes

--Q: Alright, Last year we were talking to Brian Marshall and I asked him "How do you feel about the people that say you sound like pearl jam?", his quote was "Eddie Vedder wishes he could write like Scott Stapp", now Brian is permanently fishing in Florida. What was, and I know that Scott subsequently, that wasn't the thing that got Brian kicked out of the band, that was just the straw that broke the camel's back. Apparently there was a lot going on that you guys didn't like about Brian, and that was just one of the things that I guess contributed to his demise in the band?
Mark: It was just, you know, he didn't really care about what he said too much, and that really bothered me personally, because I'm the type of guy who wants to be friendly with everybody, I don't want to want to start any, I don't want to have any enemies. You know I wanna keep it all politically correct, and lay low and have a good time and not have to deal with a big drama episode every day.

--Q: I understand, but to play Devil's advocate here, why couldn't he just be defending his band? I mean the guy loves his band, he thinks it's a great if he thinks its better than pearl jam so what?
Mark: Yeah, but even if you think your better than, you know, Metallica or anybody, you should keep your mouth shut, and keep it to yourself because that would offend a lot of people. It's just something you shouldn't say, but like you said, that wasn't the reason he got kicked out of the band, it was just a chemistry thing, we just were all different people and we grew into different people throughout the process of learning how to be in a rock band for a career and people change.

--Q: Well how do you about people who say "Ah, they're just trying to copy Pearl Jam and stuff, they sound just like Pearl Jam"
Mark: Well I don't take any offense to it, because I know I grew up on metal, and I never listened to Pearl Jam and if compare the music to music it doesn't sound anything like Pearl Jam.

--Q: Right, well what about Scott's voice verses Eddie's?
Mark: He was born with a baritone voice, you know, what can you do? Scott Weiland had the same thing when he came out and he grew it into his own

--Q: Well how come Brian couldn't have said that?
Mark: Because he was probably really early in the morning he was probably in a bad mood or couldn't hold his temper, you know I have a much better temper than Brian.

--Q: Are you guys still friends?
Mark: There's a lot of legal things that happens when people split up and when it turns into a big business, so we're not pretty much allowed to speak. It's too bad, you know.

--Q: You know mark, we did a little research today, and found out for what it cost to get Scott's sister Aimee to guest vocal on the CD you could've got Mariah Carey.
Mark: Well I think we paid her a little bit of money to do it and we actually wanted Faith Hill to do it. Scott has talked to Faith and gone to her concerts and met her and Tim McGrath a couple of times and thought it would be a great Idea to have her sing backup on a song. But she's pregnant and she's a little a little busy being pregnant, so she couldn't it.

--Q: Is Creed a Christian band playing rock and roll, or a bunch of rockers who just happen to be Christians?
Mark: Well I grew up Roman Catholic, up in Detroit where not too many people went to church on Sundays, me personally, my parents never made me go to church and let me listen to whatever I wanted to. I listened to King Diamond, Marshall Fate, Slayer and Venom growing up. Scott, on the other hand, grew up in the south, in the bible belt with Pentecostal parents.

--Q: Ok, so what's the deal with Scott for example, in the video, I forget which one, he's comes up and he's lifting off the ground and he's going the shape of the crucifix, and even in the new Weathered CD, if you go inside, again, it's a real religious figure or symbol on the inside of the CD cover. What is going on here with that?
Mark: Well that just means we've done our job and we've got you thinking just like everybody else, trying to figure out what this band's about. It keeps people's interest.

--Q: So it's premeditated on the band's part?
Mark: We don't try and avoid things because we think people might think are a Christian band or not, we ride the fence, as you said before.

[Bridge of Clay]

--Q: I understand, I don't care if youre a christian band, I think you guys rock and when I was listening to the CD I had it cranked up in the car as loud as it would go, and this, the weathered CD to me, the louder the better, it sounds great.
Mark: You know the funny thing is, I grew up like I said listening to heavy metal and its the last thing I ever thought I would be in a Christian band, or a band that people thought was a Christian band, but the lyrics, we like to get a big epic sound, and what's more epic than somebody's spirituality or the beginnings of the earth or apocalyptic songs? And the thing about Scott is that he's a very, very smart guy, and he has studied spirituality his whole life so his lyrics I think are just amazing and I think they're very deep, and I have no problem with anybody thinking we're a Christian band but like I said, I'm not your most religious guy in the world. I believe in god and I believe in my own god.

--Q: We're talking about epic and deep and spiritual, to me the song that stood out, besides My Sacrifice is the track called Hide, which is definitely one of your more mellower songs on the record, could you tell us a little more about that one? I feel that one could have the same kind of impact like With Arms Wide Open had.
Mark: Well that was the song that had, Scott just bought a boat and he called me out one night to come out on his boat and I brought my guitar and the kind of vibe we had going on, just floating on the water. We wrote that song in one night pretty much.

--Q: After having traveled the world, name one place you'd never play again. Maybe had a weird experience while in town, someone get a girl pregnant, you know, whatever? Anything bad happen that made you think, you know I'll never go back there again.
Mark: Huh. I'm trying to think. Well there's one place that will never welcome us back and that's Vancouver, which is close to you guys, because there was a little string of sickness that I think they thought we just skipped out on them. But we couldn't do it. If we skipped out on them, it would domino effect all the shows. We couldn't get back, and I think that things happened to us, that you know they hate us there now, so I guess we'll try to let it wear off a little bit.

--Q: Thanks for answering our questions, for being cool...
Mark: Thank you very much, I'm sorry about your last interview with Brian.

--Q: That's quite alright. There are people that you know, some that you either love Creed or you hate them, and we found that to be true. There are people that just love you guys, and people who can't stand you guys. But even the people who can't stand you, if they just took the time to be a little fair, give this CD a little listen, they might they might be converted, and I think that's what you want, right?
Mark: Yeah, thank you very much. I think there was a quote a while ago about that how, in differences is your best bet. I dunno why that is, but its true - people love us or hate us.

--Q: So in other words, you don't give a shit?
Mark: I used to, and every time I'd read something bad I'd get all upset about it, but now I call on my family and friends to not tell me about it. I blow it off, it doesn't mean too much, these people don't know me as a person.

--Q: It kinda reminds me of how people treated KISS back in the seventies.
Mark: Even Zeppelin back when they started.

--Q: I don't think it's an insult that for sure.
Mark: I think longevity is where we'll win over the masses, when the critics finally turn around it'll be our 4th or 5th record.

--Q: If that doesn't work maybe you should try all over face paint.
Mark: All over face aint, that's right you know...

--Q: or clown masks!
Mark: Hey, it's working for them!

--Q: Mark thanks a lot...
Mark: Ok thank you.

[Bridge of Clay]

that´s all, folks! =)

[hotforscott]

Whew, took me a minute, but thank you so much for posting it Marcos. I love reading interviews, etc. Thanks!

[Bridge of Clay]

yeah, it´s great to hear this kind of thing from their own mouths and not from "I heard him say" blah blah blah

[Higher_Desire]

That is a pretty cool interview. There's something really sad about it though. It was on 107.7 The End. That's in Seattle. A 3 hour drive from me. I listen to that station all the time, and I never heard that interview! How can that be???!!! Oh well.

Did it say who was interviewing Mark?

I also find it interesting that Brian was "kicked out" of the band! I've never heard that before.

I feel sorry for Suzie... Mark saying they'll never play Vancouver again.


H-D

[TeriB19]

Great interview Marcos, thanks for posting it!!

[Dogstar]

Excellent read, Marcos. Thanks for sharing!

[DangerousDan85]

thanks for the interview Marcos

[facelessman]

thanks for the post!

[VillageWolf]

I've never read that one before. Thnx for posting it.

[tremonti.net]

Hmm I remember typing that out one time for some people at MT.net
I think I have the audio for that interview, I'll upload it somewhere when I find it.
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Honda Nu50M
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SUBARU FORESTER

[SCOTTSMYMAN]

Thanks for posting that Marcos!

[Sheila63]

Quote:

Originally posted by N30°14'?.7 W84°
<b>yeah, it´s great to hear this kind of thing from their own mouths and not from "I heard him say" blah blah blah </b>

I feel the same way, Marcos. Thanks for posting it for us, I enjoyed reading it.