Scott Stapp Comes Clean

Minneapolis Star-Tribune, May 19 2006

The former Creed frontman spiraled out of control, and now he's trying to stage a comeback, opening for INXS

Scott Stapp, rock's latest big embarrassment, is starting his solo career all over again. He had to.

The former Creed frontman released his debut solo album, "The Great Divide," in November and headlined several club shows but messed up too many times (more on that below). Now he's returning to the road as -- is this embarrassing or what? -- the opening act for INXS, which has been resurrected by reality TV.

For Stapp, reality hurts.

On Halloween, he reportedly sucker-punched a member of the band 311 in a bar. In December, he appeared drunk on Spike TV's "Casino Cinema," calling female workers unflattering names. In February, he was arrested for being intoxicated while trying to board a plane in Los Angeles the day after his wedding. A few days later, a 1999 tape of him having sex was released.

"That was the most humiliating thing," Stapp, 32, said of the tape featuring him, Kid Rock and some strippers. "When that tape thing surfaced, [I was] three days into my honeymoon with my second wife. That rained on her day, our wedding and our new life together. I was afraid she was going to leave me. Fortunately, I'd been honest with her about the indiscretions of my past. She put it in perspective."

The Spike TV incident was the second most embarrassing thing. He admits that he justified his bad-boy antics as typical rock-star behavior and his life spiraled out of control. Now he knows better: no booze, no more prescribed painkillers or anti-anxiety meds.

"I have been completely without anything in my body for 3½ months," said Stapp, who phoned right on time for the interview, which made him proud. "Nothing goes in my body but food, water and soda. Caffeine is the only thing in my body.

He talked about why Creed, one of the biggest post-grunge bands of the turn