Creed had a hugely successful 2024 and will look to top it with an arena tour in the US later this year, but the hard rock giants may be wary that the last time they reunited and thought it was going well, it all went pear-shaped. That was back in 2009, a reunion that resulted in their fourth studio album Full Circle but also petered out not long after.
Speaking to this writer last year, guitarist Mark Tremonti said the key to keeping Creed together in the long-run was the band’s members appreciating the different projects they all work on away from the group.
“Everybody needs to be open about what they’re doing outside of Creed,” he said. “We all have to understand that we’ve put a ton of work into our other bands and projects and they can’t just get thrown away because of this. This is doing very well, better than any of us have ever thought, but that doesn’t mean that come March, I’m not getting in the studio with Alter Bridge to write and record another record.”
At that point, he already had the Tremonti record, which was released on Friday, in the bag, having recorded it in the wake of Creed’s hugely successful cruise tours. At the time we spoke, frontman Scott Stapp had also just released his Higher Power solo album. “We’re all doing things, which is great, I think that keeps Creed healthy,” he continued. “Everybody needs to know, I got my project, you got your project, and then we come back with Creed. This fanbase is always going to be there. We can take a couple of years here and there to do our other projects and it’ll be just fine. It’s something everybody has to keep in mind.”
The trick, Tremonti explained, was band members talking to each other and letting each other know what they had planned outside of Creed. “We’ve all got to be open-minded,” he said. “Me, Brian and Scott, we’ve been together for 30 years now. It’s just a matter of us and Scott Stapp having an open line of communication and saying, ‘Let’s schedule all this stuff way in advance’.”
The guitarist certainly isn’t one for empty slots in his schedule. If all goes to plan, he’ll follow the release of the new Tremonti record with the recording of an Alter Bridge one with Creed reconvening for a US tour in the summer.
