not trying to revive a dead horse but a few articles that i thought rizzdaddy, roger daltry and co might be interested in. btw congrats to mark tremonti and victoria who are expecting their first child!

Alter ego
Spokane's Myles Kennedy dishes on hitting the big time
Isamu Jordan / Staff writer

When the news dropped in June that Spokane's Myles Kennedy signed on as the front man for Alter Bridge – former members of Creed minus lead vocalist Scott Stapp – the question on everyone's mind was "Isn't this just Creed with a new singer?"

"It's definitely three-fourths of the equation," Kennedy, of Mayfield Four fame, conceded during a telephone interview from the Bridge's home base in Orlando, Fla. "There are elements that are similar musically. But I don't sound much like Scott."

Kennedy's soulful vocals and added rhythm guitar role are the obvious differences in Alter Bridge. But as it was with Creed, the melodies and the majority of the songwriting are supplied by lead guitarist and true bandleader Mark Tremonti. In fact, Tremonti had more than half of the album written – lyrics and all – before the band began searching for a lead singer.

"Mark is always writing, so he had a bunch of stuff ready to go. Melodically he has been responsible for the group's success. That sense of melody is the same," Kennedy said.

Whether the sound recalls Creed's spatial arena-rock, when Kennedy and his new band buddies roll through for a sold-out Halloween bash on Sunday night at the Big Easy Concert House, expect them to be received, ahem, with arms wide open.

And that's pretty much the way it was for Kennedy when he was invited to join in late 2003. Tremonti, bassist Brian Marshall and drummer Scott Phillips hired him because they were impressed when Mayfield Four, a group of Mead High School graduates, opened shows for Creed in 1998 – that, plus Kennedy's humble attitude and passion for music.

Creed – whose three albums sold a combined 24 million copies in the United States – imploded after differences between Stapp and Marshall led to the unceremonious removal of Marshall. The band began struggling through live shows. Eventually fans in Chicago sued Creed in 2002 because of Stapp's poor performance.

Later, Tremonti and Phillips started jamming together, called up Marshall and rekindled the flame. All they needed was a lead singer, and the timing couldn't have been better for Kennedy.

Mayfield Four split shortly after 2001's "Second Skin" because "it felt like the machine was pushing the band," Kennedy said. The next year Kennedy was going through rock withdrawals after he gave up music because of tinnitus, a constant ringing in the ears common in rock musicians.

Kennedy's condition didn't worsen, nor did it get better, but he couldn't keep away from music for long. When Tremonti and company approached him about Alter Bridge, he already was hard at work on a solo album more in the vein of Massive Attack meets All That. Although he plans to finish the album, he gladly put it on the backburner to join them, that is, once he got to know them.

"I wasn't sure what to expect. I thought I might be dealing with a bunch of rock-star egos and head trips, and I didn't want to put up with that if that was the case," Kennedy said.

What he found instead was a well-grounded group of musicians with a relentless work ethic.

"The way Mark responds to fans; he is very gracious. He never turns fans away," Kennedy said.

So how is the new kid fitting in? Just fine ever since the acrophobic tenor was initiated into the band via a 300-foot-drop group bungee jump.

"I'm terrified of heights," Kennedy said. "They were trying to get me to squirm. It worked."

Kennedy also is getting more comfortable with being a famous face since the August release of the Bridge's hyped debut, "One Day Remains" on Wind Up Records. (The lead-off single, "Open Your Arms," peaked at No. 5 on Billboard's mainstream rock tracks chart.) Before Alter Bridge, Kennedy's 15 minutes were clocked in a cameo toward the end of the Mark Wahlberg/ Jennifer Aniston 2001 movie "Rock Star." Kennedy played Mike, aka "Thor, God of Thunder."

"I see people staring at me, and I'm not sure if it's because they've seen me on TV or if there is something hanging out of my nose," he said.

What's taken the most getting used to, he said, is singing someone else's lyrics, especially with so many personal tracks on "Remains," such as "In Loving Memory," written about Tremonti's mother who recently died.

"I have to try to live the lyrics and get inside (Tremonti's) head," Kennedy said. "That's a cathartic song about the loss of his mother. I lost my father at a young age. You never get over that. I tried to put myself there. It's like acting in a way."

It doesn't hurt that Kennedy found in Tremonti a kindred spirit in lyric writing, even if they have different styles.

"We're both so obsessed. He's as freaky as I am. The writing process can go on for months," Kennedy said. "Stylistically I tend to be more direct, lyrically. Mark uses a lot of clever metaphors, visual imagery and general mood."

Kennedy wrote the lyrics to "Down To My Last," the verses for "Find the Real" and co-wrote "Open You're Eyes" with Tremonti, who wrote pretty much everything else. In Creed, Tremonti partnered with Stapp on songwriting.

Stapp is working on a solo debut with The Tea Party, from Canada. Former Mayfield Four bassist Marty Meisner is now running with Seattle-by-way-of-Spokane band Holfiller, formerly Tommy Holfiller, originally a white boy porn rap outfit that has now cleaned up its act and plays more conventional rock.

As Tommy Holfiller, it was all but banned from playing locally after two strippers the band hired put on a live sex show onstage at Fat Tuesday's in 2002. Holfiller headlines at the Big Easy on Nov. 6.

Mayfield Four became one of the few bands from Spokane to hit the big time when it signed a multimillion dollar deal with Epic Records in 1997.

"I had great expectations for Mayfield Four. I was sad when it was over, but this is like getting a second chance," Kennedy said.

Oct. 26, 2004, 9:13AM

Guitarist builds Alter Bridge regardless of Creed
BY MICHAEL D. CLARK
Houston Chronicle

Alter Bridge guitarist Mark Tremonti can now tell the tale of his former band Creed.

"Writing songs is a lot like having a relationship. There's got to be passion, and camaraderie is a big part of a rock band," says Tremonti, who co-wrote the bulk of Creed's three albums with vocalist Scott Stapp. "One of the reasons that Creed isn't around anymore is because it lost that. It became more of this big corporate monster."
Ned Dishman / Getty Images
Guitarist Mark Tremonti of Alter Bridge talks about the breakup of Creed and how he started up his new band.

In June, after months of speculation that the band was suffering from infighting and that Tremonti and Stapp were working on other projects, word came down that Creed -- after selling 24 million albums in five years -- was calling it quits.

Any questions about where the battle lines had been drawn were answered quickly: Tremonti, drummer Scott Phillips and original Creed bassist Brian Marshall would form a new rock band, Alter Bridge, featuring former Mayfield Four vocalist Myles Kennedy.

Stapp could do whatever he wanted.

Fans may have been surprised, but some classic signals of a rock band in peril had been evident for a while. In 2000, Stapp distanced himself from Marshall's critical comments about Pearl Jam's style, ousting the bassist and hiring Brett Hestla. In 2003, several Chicago-area fans filed a class-action suit against Creed asking for a refund on tickets to an allegedly sub-par concert in which Stapp was accused of being drunk and passing out onstage.

Stapp, who strictly controlled media access to the band, had already announced his intentions to contribute to an original soundtrack for The Passion of the Christ. And Tremonti had nearly all the pieces to Alter Bridge in place. One Day Remains was released in August.

"Alter Bridge is a chance to exhale," Tremonti says. "We want to make Alter Bridge fun, and we're very driven to do it right and have a good time with it.

"It's a different band, and we're not trying to compare."

Houstonians will get their first chance to hear the more-concentrated guitar sound of Tremonti and Co.'s debut album, One Day Remains, when Alter Bridge debuts here Friday at the Verizon Wireless Theater.

"There was quite a bit of Alter Bridge done (at the time of Creed's breakup). I had about half the record completely done," Tremonti says. "Myles helped me finish a lot of the lyrics on the second half of the album, which came together quickly."

Not surprisingly, One Day Remains does reveal the fingerprints of Creed, especially on first single Open Your Eyes. Others, such as Watch Your Words and Metalingus, sound like a cross between Creed and Soundgarden. One could hear how the music might be smoothed out into an anthem for Stapp. Instead, it takes the opposite approach, with gnashing guitars and Kennedy adding another layer of chords and more machismo.

It's clear that these songs, as well as Burn it Down and Broken Wing were built with improvisations by Tremonti in mind.

"Back in the Creed days I would shred all the time in my room and write songs highlighting myself as a musician, but I couldn't really show what I do in concert," Tremonti says. "Now we have the freedom to release and play heavier tunes."

In other words, Creed was Stapp's band. Alter Bridge belongs to Tremonti.

Hector Saldaña
San Antonio Express-News

When alt-rock singer Myles Kennedy of Mayfield Four stepped in to replace departed (ejected may be more accurate, according to some accounts) Creed singer Scott Stapp 11 months ago, in a revamped, renamed version of Creed, few of that hit band's millions of fans had a clue anything was wrong. The breakup wouldn't be officially announced for months.

For his part, Kennedy had no illusions about the challenge of taking the place of one of the most charismatic frontmen of the post-grunge era and what it would take to lead a new group, Alter Bridge.

Like matchbox twenty's Rob Thomas, Stapp was the hunky, visual focal point for almost every female in the audience. Sonically, he sounded like Eddie Vedder and Jim Morrison. He was a huge part of why Creed sold more than 30 million albums.

But Creed's original rhythm section (including chief songwriter Mark Tremonti on guitar) and Kennedy's vocals helped make Alter Bridge's debut album, "One Day Remains," one of the most powerful rock releases of the year, debuting at No. 5 on the Billboard 200.

Not a platinum seller out of the box like Creed, Alter Bridge's debut album has sold more than 300,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan. It’s dropped out of the Top 100 on Billboard’s album chart.

Alter Bridge performed at Sunset Station earlier this month for about 1,000 people, spreading the word about the new CD and that they "weren’t gonna play any (expletive) Creed songs!"

Before hitting town, Kennedy talked about the new group.

Was there a lot of pressure to step into a new situation with former members of a platinum-selling band?

"Initially, there was for me. Honestly, Creed was such a huge, huge band, and I was just this guy from Spokane, Wash., you know. But now we've been a band for the last nine months, and it feels like we've really come into our own. It feels very natural. And just hearing the fans' response, we're starting to be embraced by folks. We're just trying to develop our own legacy at this point. It feels good. It feels real natural."

Did you have to audition? Were you friends with the Creed guys?

"It was somewhat of an audition. I wouldn't really say that we were friends. We had toured. I was in a band called the Mayfield Four, and we had opened for Creed in the late ’90s and they were familiar with me. Mark (Tremonti) called late last year and asked if I'd be interested in laying down some vocals on some songs that he had. So what he did, he sent me these four songs. I sang over them and sent them back. The next phase was the ‘audition' and to come down here, down to Orlando and see how it was in a live environment. And so, that was pretty much the extent of the audition."

Can you speak to the importance of chemistry in a band?

"So much of performing together, writing together, it is a chemistry thing. You're basically speaking to one another with your instruments, you know. And so it has to be there. I remember when I got down there, and we started playing together for the first few rehearsals, it felt, a few days into it, so natural. It felt like we'd been a band for a long time. That's one of those things, and it's hard to articulate. You don't know why you put a certain group of people together and it works and other times it doesn't."

Sometimes things that look good on paper, even with friends, don't always work, right?

"Absolutely, absolutely. That's the truth. Fortunately, it worked out. And I think some of it is just that musically, like, Mark's sense of melody, my sense of melody, the way I phrase things, we're all kind of on the same page. And that also goes for Scott (Phillips) the drummer and Brian (Marshall) the bass player. When they contribute things, everybody's judgement about what should and shouldn't be in a song, usually everyone's on the same page – and that's a rare thing."

The new album should please Creed fans but has heavier moments, harsher riffs and faster tempos. Was this by design to carve out a new identity?

"I don't know if any of it was really by design. I think it just evolved that way. That was the interesting thing. It was never like we were sitting there going, ‘Well, this group of fans is going to like this or this demographic is going to like that.' I would never hear anything like that. It was all about what we liked and what we enjoyed and what got us off. So, I think that's why the record sounds the way it does."

Was the new album mostly leftover Creed songs or were they written fresh?

"Some of the stuff, Mark had around for awhile, yeah. Mark is always writing and always has things sitting there on his micro-cassette recorder. And then, a lot of it was a matter of arranging, and he and I sat together for a good four months and would take some of these parts and melodic ideas and lyrics and piece them together. That was a long process. That was a lot of work.

What makes it so difficult?

"It's intense. Mark and I are both pretty obsessed with (music). That's part of the beauty of this. I have never in all my years of playing and performing met someone who was as intense as (Mark). We're just complete music junkies. We just love what we do and feel very fortunate to do that. In the course of a day, we spend so much time writing and arranging songs with the band, and then coming back to the house and writing into the wee hours of the morning. We did that for so long that it really worked well. Mark's got a great work ethic, and it's nice to be involved with somebody like that."

What do you bring to the chemistry of Alter Bridge? Where do you fit in?

"One of the unique things about the four of us is that our temperaments are very similar. We're all pretty mellow guys. There are not a lot of egos. There is none of that. Period. Which is strange because most bands, there's always so many different personality types that can be put into the equation. But we're all kind of hard-wired the same. I think that's part of why it works so well. You don't have that one guy standing up and throwing a temper tantrum if he doesn't get his way. Everybody respects one another. Ultimately, that's what it's all about. As far as what I bring to it, I bring my sense, my musical sense, everything that I've taken in musically over the years I just bring and try to add to he party and add to what they do, you know.

What is the feedback on the new album?

"I'm surprised. It's going so well. If someone would have told me nine months ago that our record was going to debut at No. 5 on Billboard, I would have been blown away. I was blown away. I couldn't believe it. People seem to be accepting it. It's a very subjective business and there are people who aren't going to embrace it. But there seems to be a faction of folks out there that really are digging it. It really seems to move them one way or another. And that's all that we can hope for as band, to develop a fan base and develop that rapport with the people."

How does Brian Marshall (Creed's original bass player) feel about being back in the fold?

"The guy is completely thrilled out of his gourd. He told me that after he got the call that he was literally running around and screaming in his house. So, he's really glad to be back. Being a musician is such a luxury. The bottom line is that you get to play your instrument, write your songs, sing your songs, for a living. It's a really amazing lifestyle, and I think we're all just really blessed to be able to do it.

Where did you grow up? Who were your influences?

"I grew up in Spokane, Washington. I was pretty schizophrenic (musically). I love music so much. I started off really into Jimmy Page and all the Zeppelin stuff I was really fond of. And then a little bit later on I really got into Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder. When I heard ‘Songs in the Key of Life,' I was pretty taken by that record. A lot of different jazz: Coltrane, Miles Davis. I really enjoy a lot of different things."

What is your favorite song to sing on the new album?

"I really enjoy singing this song called ‘Down to My Last,' which I think has a really beautiful melody. That was one of the first songs that Mark sent me. I really enjoy that one a lot."

Is there any contact between Alter Bridge and former singer Scott Stapp?

"To my knowledge, and I didn't know Scott, but from what these guys have told me, no, they haven't spoken to him in quite a while.

If you were working on demos months ago, the break-up was maybe not as sudden as it seemed to Creed fans?

"I think it officially came out that Creed was done around May or April. I came down here, and it was official that I was in probably the first week of January, eight or nine months ago."

What did producer Ben Grosse bring to the sessions?

"A lot of his role was to make sure that everything sounded as good as possible, and that's Ben's real forte. He gets some of the best sounds in the business, the tones. He's got a really good sense, like a good producer should, about what makes a song fly, you know. If there are bad little vocal phrasings, he's got a good sense of that. He's a real laid-back guy, as well. Everybody on the project was so laid back and cool. There were no temper tantrums or weirdness. He's an awesome producer.

How do you know when a track is done?

"If Mark, Ben and I are all satisfied, then we usually would let it fly. There were a handful of vocals on there that I still wasn't sure about because I'm such a perfectionist but I trust Mark and Ben's judgement. The easiest vocal to put together was ‘Find the Real.' That one came pretty quickly for me. ‘Down to My Last,' the range on that song was a definite challenge but I'm real happy with the results on that one."

http://www.toazted.com/artistinfo.php?artist=494 (link to mp3 about break-up of creed, mark's speed metal project that might or might not happen and alter bridge).

last post here i promise but mark will be guesting on two upcoming albums for those that weren't aware. he will feature on insanely talented guitarist's album michael angelo battio where he will play a solo. he will also feature on a fozzy album which features "professional wrestler" and part-time muso chris jericho. the album also features zakk wylde and ex megadeath guitarist marty friedman.

By MIKE DANIEL / The Dallas Morning News



In four months, Alter Bridge has risen from the smoldering pyre that was Creed, the most commercially successful rock group of recent years. The offering was Scott Stapp, whose voice and likeness defined the band but whose ideals, priorities and health no longer fit its mission.


Chris Hamilton / DMN
Myles Kennedy is the lead singer of Alter Bridge, made up of Creed grads, though without front man Scott Stapp.

Front men such as Mr. Stapp frequently leave their original bands, which almost never attain the same level of fame after such a defection. But often, the question to ask those abandoned bands is not whether they want to return to the same heights; it's whether they're healed and happy.

Alter Bridge is both. Its Creed alumni – guitarist and songwriter Mark Tremonti, bassist Brian Marshall and drummer Scott Phillips – sound superb. They and new singer Myles Kennedy served a steady, lightly metallic diet of rock to the youngish, buttoned-up, couples-heavy crowd, which heard all 11 songs from the band's debut CD, One Day Remains , and not a peep about Creed.

Alter Bridge's act gleams from the mirror-smooth buffing it received in those glory days. The set order was nearly the same as when they opened their tour more than a month ago, and the instruments and mix all sounded fantastic. Mr. Tremonti occasionally missed a chorus vocal, but such minor errors essentially went by unnoticed.

Such a balance among aw-shucks foibles, sonic cohesion and theatric calculation usually satisfies fans. It may not, however, typically win over nonconverts, a bad sign considering the band's mission to build a new fan base the old-fashioned way: on the road. That, along with the languid, uneven stage attitude of Mr. Kennedy, are Alter Bridge's weaknesses.

The Spokane, Wash., native's voice is a huge improvement over Mr. Stapp's, but it's potentially even more stereotypical. Mr. Stapp took flak for sounding too much like Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam; Mr. Kennedy more than resembles another Seattle grunge icon, Chris Cornell of Soundgarden (now of Audioslave). Hints of a third Washington State rock legend, Geoff Tate of Queensrÿche, will revive copycat complaints.

But Mr. Stapp's singing didn't hurt Creed's album sales of 30 million (it may have even helped it), so Mr. Kennedy's shortcomings may not matter much, either. Many music consumers resist change once they like something, and plenty liked Creed's rock 'n' roll recipe. Alter Bridge is the same dish, just baked longer. Which is why the band will probably play a much bigger venue the next time it comes through town.

(see i post the more negative articles too )