What Scott Stapp Says

HM Magazine November 2004

Over 30,000,000 Albums sold, Creed needs no introduction, even if they exist no more and even if they are old news. Ever since sitting on the My Own Prison record and not requesting an interview until after it blew up, and then getting the "sorry, there's already too many interview requests and we cannot grant yours" reply for the next seven years, this interview has been one that I've looked forward to do. To coincide with his first post-Creed single for The Passion of the Christ: Songs Inspired By album, his label scheduled several interviews, including this one.

Doug: What did you think of the movie, The Passion of The Christ? How did it impact you?

Scott: Well, it was, at first disturbing. I mean, it was very graphic (and) violent. But it was also very humbling, so to speak, in terms of looking at it as - I'm a Christian, and that's the story about Christ and what He did for me, based on my faith. It kind of put things in perspective for me in terms of, you know, when I'm down on myself or when I'm complaining or when I think I've got life bad or I got it tough, and look at the sacrifice that He made. Look what He gave up and look how He showed how He loved us and, you know, it ended up being inspiring. In that I can deal with what I've gotta deal with, because the foundation of my faith - look what He had to deal with. And it's kind of inspiring.

Makes a lot of sense. Well, what do you think of Christ?

What do you mean?

Uh, well as a person. What's your opinion of Him?

Ah, I mean I love Him. I think He's the greatest example of true love and pure love that ever existed in the world. And He's also the greatest....He''s kinda like my hero. He showed the ultimate in no fear and power, in that He was willing to give up His life for what He believed in and who He loved. And that's the ultimate sacrifice. And so all I can do is admire that, and also admire that level of commitment and that level of belief. That's where I'm at with that. That's a simple question to say, but so tough to answer, ya know?

(laughs) Yeah, it kinda boils down to Him in a lot of ways. What do you think of His claims to be, "The Way, the Truth and the Life, no one comes to the Father but by Me?"

Well, as a Christian, I believe that, and I've chosen to have faith in that and believe in that. Again, that's my belief system and that's the religion that I chose to believe in and so I have to, as a Christian, take what He said and believe it all the way. I can't...I've chosen to believe everything He said as the Way, the Truth and the Life. And, you know, if someone chooses not to believe in that, that's their belief system. But, for me, the way I live my life - that's what I choose to believe.

How does it feel to make statements like the ones you just made when you compare that to a couple of years ago with the press and media...

Well, I'm in a different place. A couple, three or four years ago, you know, I was in a band and people always asked us questions based on what the band's belief was, and what the band felt was right. So, when I answered those questions, or when Mark did, we were answering in a unified voice as four individuals. My beliefs were one of those belief systems. See what I mean?

Yeah.

So, as a unit we weren't a Christian band and, you know, we did share those belief systems; but now that I'm solo and someone asks me what I believe, you know, I'm not answering as a unified voice. I'm answering for me personally. And that's a major reason in how its changed.

Good deal. Well, how does it feel from being the number one best-selling rock band in the world to kind of being a punching bag in the alternative music press?

Well, I don't live my life based on other people's opinion.

Good for you.

And nobody can take away my achievements and what I've accomplished, and no one can take away my fans, and all the positivity that they've shown us and given us. And I think a lot of that comes with success, man. You know, anytime anybody's extremely successful and gains fame in the United States or even in the world, they've got 50% of the people that love'em and 50% of the people that hate'em. And you can't live your life based on either one. You've just gotta be who you are. If being in Creed wasn't cool, I'll be uncool for the rest of my life.

Yeah, I've always said that 'The bigger you get, the bigger target you become, too.'

Yeah. And I just know that everybody that I meet, that I spend time with, and that was a fan of my band really, really is awesome and has nothing but great things to say. And even if they don't like a particular song or don't like this record but like this other one better, I respect what they have to say and also understand that I don't write music for them. It starts off with me. I write it for me and for the guys and for us to get off on and for us to jam out. And, you know, I think that if I wrote for other people and I wrote for success and for fame, then all those opinions would matter. But, of course, we listen...and I will always listen to things that my fans have to say and respect positivity and respect negative criticism, because, you know, if you don't respect both them...probably you're not giving respect and then you're not respected. But, I just have to keep doing what I like to do. And, you know, I'd be doing this whether it was on the radio or a record company didn't want to put my songs out on CD, I'd still be writing music and playing music at some capacity. So, basically, my success was liked by the owners of my record company, who were actually pretty much the first Creed fans outside of Tallahassee, Florida and then a lot of people in the world, after they put it out, liked it. But, that's just a snapshot of my life and a time in my life as an artist. If it doesn't get any better or it doesn't continue on, you know, I'll still be happy and I'll still enjoy making music and doing what I do. You can't predict the future. You can't. That's tough. You're asking hard questions.

Sorry, man.

That's alright. Hey, this is, like, my 50th interview today...

Yeah, it gets to be a drag...

No one's asked me these, so that's cool.

Good deal. Well, I want to applaud the way you have honored your son in public and your relationship with him. Thanks for doing that. It hasn't gone unnoticed.

Oh, thank you very much.

What motivates you as a father? What are your plans for his future?

Well, I mean, the best thing that I can do is to love him unconditionally and just give him love. And the other thing I can do is be a good example for him. You know, I think a lot of people, when they have kids, it changes the way...It kinda makes'em mature a little bit and you've always gotta realize there's little eyes watching you all the time. He's a boy and he wants to be just like his daddy and sometimes I make mistakes and I do things and, of course, he emulates them. And that becomes part of who he is, so I've just gotta kinda be able to admit that I'm wrong and I make mistakes and kind of grow with him. But he definitely holds you to a higher standard. And, uh, you know, I'm a single father and I raise him without the help of his mother at all. Um, she's elected not to be involved in his life, and I think one of the biggest things that I want to do as a father is be there for him - to help him understand that and help him in any way, shape, or form. If he wants to figure that out, however he wants to deal with that, and just try to always be there for him and not be so involved in my career and in other relationships or in anything that takes me away from being the father that I should be. I put that as a big responsibility and it changed my life forever. And, I tell ya, it's the best thing that ever happened to me and probably one of the only reasons I'm alive right now; because I was on a path of making stupid mistakes and self-destructiveness and...You know, sometimes I wonder if I wouldn't have been so fortunate to be alive if he wasn't born. It really shapes you up.

I've heard some trash talk that Creed was sued for "sucking" at a Chicago show...

(laughs)

...and allegations about swimming naked in pools in Miami and...

What was that?

Swimming naked in pools in Miami and...

Who did they say did that?

Uh ... you.

That's the first I've ever heard of that. Well, I mean, I might've swam naked in my own pool. Is that wrong?

Yeah, I don't know if I wanna hear about that, though (laughs)

I'm just saying that, you know, at 3 o'clock in the morning if I wanna go out in my hot tub, I might've been naked. But, whatever. That's part of fame, brother. It's just ... You've always got people that want to tear you down and people that are jealous and resentful and other people that just wanna make money, which is what happened in that Chicago show. I mean, if two people didn't like the show and thought we sucked, which I'm sure they did. Then giving them their money back for their tickets, and, you know, their money back for parking and trying to, if they wanted anything, in terms of free CDs or whatever to make their lives better, they'd take it. But saying you sucked, two individuals, and suing you for two million dollars is a completely different thing.

Is that what they did?

Yep. And I think that just goes to show that these people wanted attention and money. It's just like that Tigger guy. Disney got sued because this lady said that Tigger touched her daughter's breasts, so she sued 'em for like, ten million bucks. Now, it's one thing to try to, you know, if someone's wronged you, to get the guy fired and reported to the police, but where did ten million bucks come from? That's the same with our show. Is, you know, it's one thing to get your money back and be refunded because you didn't enjoy the experience, but it's another thing to say you hated it so much you feel like you should get paid two million bucks for the hour and a half that you were there.

Yeah, we used to have all that kind of behavior sequestered in California, but now we've got it in Chicago and Orlando...

Ah, it's everywhere, man. It's everywhere. And, you know, people watch you like crazy. If someone saw me get in my hot tub naked, they were probably spying on me. So, whatever, I'm a human being like everybody else. I try to live the most normal life that I can. And, you know, but people are always going to look at people that are in the public eye with a microscope and judge you and analyze you. Basically, it drives a lot of people to never want to go outside. And never want to be around other people, because they're so afraid of rumors and negativity and just depressed. Well, I don't care about that kind of stuff. People can say whatever they want and, you know, if I did something, I'll admit it. I'll be the first one to tell you, but I'll also be the first one to tell you if it's not true.

You kind of touched on this already, when you talked about your son kind of giving you perspective. What kind of stuff have you survived in the past couple of years? How did you survive? Are you surviving? What caused this? How did you recover?

Well, I had a lot of health issues in 2001 and 2002. I had pneumonia during the Weathered tour, they discovered two tumors behind my sternum during the Weathered tour. I had a nodule on my vocal chord and couldn't sing. They put me on this Prednisone treatment. It's a steroidal anti-inflammatory to take away the swelling, so I could continue to perform. It made me retain water. It bloated me up and it also has a real depressive side-effect. It kinda makes you depressed and down and kinda drives you into a hole. It makes you kinda isolated. I was making all those sacrifices and staying on tour, because I didn't want to let anybody down and I didn't want to let the fans down. I was under a lot of pressure from various groups and various people to continue and whatever agenda they had was fulfilled. And, you know, my son,,,I kind of got caught up in that for about 8 or 9 months and I really wasn't thinking about my long-term health and what was best for my son. I could've had some serious things go wrong during that period of time and left my son without a father. So, how he's put that in perspective is reminding me that everything I do has an impact on him. And even when I'm trying to be a superhero and make everybody happy; which is what I got caught up in, because there was so much negative criticism and so many people around me that I later learned it was resentment. That was the basis of their feelings; jealousy. I was trying to make everybody happy and what I've realized in life is you can't make everybody happy. You've gotta do what's right for you and for your family and people that love you. I did that, but then I kinda snapped out of it for about a year and was just like I said, trying to make people happy and kinda when I had to reflect, I was like 'You know, I owe it to my son to take care of myself and to do what's best for he and I.' He's also effected how I approach all kinds of situations. Like, I tell ya, I don't get in a car without a seatbelt, because if I get in a wreck, I wanna be safe. All these little things, where you start... There's a reason for you to be alive. There's a reason to live. And it's a damn good reason. He's affected every area in my life in terms of me as a human being and how I conduct myself and how I live my life. Now, that's not to say I'm not going to make a mistake. That's not to say that I don't screw up and do dumb things, which I'll probably continue to do for the rest of my life, but definitely when it comes to my health and my safety and also what's around me and, 'Does it make me happy?' Because you've got to be a happy individual for your kids. If you're depressed and lonely and down in the dumps, that's definitely going to affect how you are as a father or a mother and the kind of example you are setting for your children. So, in every area of my life - spiritually and mentally, physically - he's had an impact on me.

Cool. How are you writing songs now? Alone? With a collaborator? How's that going?

Usually I sit down on a piano or on guitar and write. I've got a friend of mine, named 7 Aurelius (Murder Inc), that really is a songwriter and a producer. Also I've got some friends in a band call The Tea Party from Canada that... sometimes I'll write with them and a lot of times I'll write without them and then bring them what I've written and say, 'Hey guys, what do you think of this? Lean this.' And then they'll kinda play it and expound on it and add their own flavor until we all love it. And so, I enjoy working with other artists. I enjoy getting their take. But 90% of what I do comes from me first. Occasionally there'll be something that I love so much that one of my friends does or someone I'm writing with does, and I'm just like 'Man, we've gotta go with that.' Sometimes that's the greatest stuff. A lot of it comes from me and I take it to them and say, 'Hey, what's your take on this?'

What kind of sound do you think we're looking at for your new album?

We're looking at a groove-oriented rock record. With a classic sensibility. A lot of my influences are Zeppelin and black Sabbath and old school classic rock. But I really like the groove-oriented rock. You know, the rock that, when you're driving in your car kinda makes your head bounce a little bit. I like that, and I like the classic feel, too. So, that's where we're headed.

Back when you were growing up, were there any Christian heavy metal bands you listened to? Any magazines like Heaven's Metal or anything that you, uh...

You know, I'm sure a lot of people say this, but I couldn't listen to regular secular rock music in my life. Stryper and Petra, stuff like that. US, also was a band that I convinced my parents were a Christian band after they took Stryper and Petra out, because those electric guitars were evil. So, I convinced them that U2 was a Christian band (chuckles) and they probably were the most predominant influence in my life as far as a songwriter and singer, aside from Elvis. And then The Doors, in my early twenties, were a huge impact on my life. Just in terms of how I approached lyric writing. And that it actually did matter for the song, which is something that, unless you are a lyricist, you don't put a lot of thought in... There's a lot of guitar players in the world that think lyrics don't matter. They'd just throw anything in there and, as long as the music's good, the song's good. I think with Creed, me and Mark really believe that there needed to be a completeness in terms of the music and the lyrical content and what was said. If you look at all those artist - U2 and The Doors - they both really cared about their lyrics, so I think that had a major impact on me. At the end of the day, Elvis...My three greatest influences of all time and that shaped me as an artist were Elvis, U2, and The Doors.

Wow.

Crazy, huh?

Not a bad combo.

Elvis was huge, though, dude. He was it until I was, like, 14.

Do you have a lot of his records?

Um-hmmm. That's all I could listen to. My mom loved him. I used to have dreams about Elvis when I was a kid - that I was at an Elvis show and Elvis stopped the show, pointed at me in the back of the audience, called me up to the stage, and then when I got up, I took the mic and started singing and I took over the show.

Awesome!

Crazy.

Have you seen the move, Bubba Ho Tep?

No, I haven't.

It's kinda rough, but it's hilarious. It's got an Elvis guy in there.

Really? What's the name of it again?

Bubba Ho Tep. It's a mummy/Elvis/horror movie.

Oh my god, dude. Sounds like a trip.

There was a Christian speed metal band that sounded like Slayer, called Vengeance Rising...

They sounded like Slayer? That's awesome.

Yeah, really intense. They went through some changes and whatnot and the other four member of the band - after the singer quit or was fired or whatever - they reformed as a band with everybody minus the singer. Which pretty much tells a story that 'Hey, this relationship is severed.' Alter Bridge apparently is the original members of Creed with a different singer so...

Well, I was shocked that they brought Brian (Marshall, bassist) back, I'm happy that Brian came back. It was actually my idea. When we were rehearsing to do a fourth record, you know, we were all starting to drift apart and one of my ideas was 'Listen, if we're gonna do this fourth record, let's call Brian up and see if he's doing okay, first of all. If he's doing okay, let's get all the original members back together and let's do this fourth record.' I think that, initially, Mark was gonna do a solo record - just himself. And, basically, that idea was changed by various situations and the label. And so I had already decided to move... Since he was doing his solo record, I was gonna go do mine. To be honest with you, the original plan was not having a new singer, but it was initially going to be Mark singing and Mark playing. And I went in a new direction, and wanted to work with the band called The Tea Party, so it was more convenient and easier for Mark to just ask Phillips and Marshall what they were doing and see if they wanted to work with him, based on my decision. I know what it appears to be, but it's a lot different than what it appears. And Mark always liked the singer that they have right now. He was in a band called Mayfield Four. They used to open for us. Mark really is into metal and really likes those high, high singers - that eighties kind of vocal. When they heard that I was working with The Tea Party, they knew that that was inevitably going to happen. Just like I knew that if Mark ever decided not to sing for himself on his solo project, then I figured that he'd get a singer just like that, and I figured that it would be him. So it made sense. That's kind of how it all happened.

I wanted to tell you a couple of things real quick: Joshua Brown from the band Full Devil Jacket...

Yeah, Josh is with Big Dismal right now. Do you know him?

Yeah, yeah...

You're talking about Joshua Brown... Okay

He's born again. We're doing a story on him in our next issue.

Awesome...

And he sounds like he's doing great.

Awesome man.

There's a band called Kutless, that's a Christian band that sounds like they're trying to be like Creed, so if you ever want to hear somebody trying to sound like you guys, you ought to pick that up.

That's cool. I love all that stuff man. And that's good to hear that Josh got saved.

Yeah, he's a fireball, man.

I kinda had a re-commitment of my life in the last two years and just kind of me coming to grips with my upbringing and re-learning love, so to speak. A lot of people have asked me today in interviews if what 'Relearn Love' was about and I was kinda talking to somebody and I said 'You know, I never thought about this, but it's kind of about becoming born again. I mean, what do we do when we become a Christian? We ask Christ to change our heart.' In that song, I'm asking Christ - if that's the way you want to hear it - I'm asking Christ to retrain my heart and to change my heart. And so I think 'Relearning Love,' from someone who grew up a Christian is almost like rededicating your life. That's kind of where I'm at right now.

Alright. Well, man. Have a great day Scott. I enjoyed talking to you.

Alright, take care.

.Doug van Pelt

.Typed by Robyn