Wind-Up Act Creed On A Mainstream Rock Roll

Billboard November 22, 1997

LOS ANGELES--Wind-up Records act Creed isn't escaping notice as its debut album, "My Own Prison," continues its run up The Billboard 200.

The band, whose album bowed Aug. 26, became a Heatseeker Impact act when "My Own Prison" entered the top half of The Billboard 200 at No. 93 in the Nov. 15 issue.

"This has crossed all demographics," says Wind-up president (U.S.) Steve Lerner. "Look at the last two Heatseeker acts, [Outpost/Geffen's] Days Of The New and Creed. Everyone's fixating on the next big thing, whether it's electronica or whatever, and we've come back to the song and music that makes a connection on an emotional level."

That raw sincerity, agrees Creed singer/songwriter Scott Stapp, is the standard by which the band creates its music and the element that has so far proved most compelling for its fans.

"We're connecting with people through honesty," says Stapp. "However they may interpret our music, I think they're feeling the honesty and passion of it, and they know it's sincere. That's all I ever wanted to be and do, and I don't think I could be insincere with the sort of feelings I sing about."

Though most of Creed's songs, published by Dwight Frye Music and Tremonti/Stapp Music, touch on more spiritual issues, Stapp's first songwriting effort sprung from the timeless theme of forlorn love.

"The first song I wrote was in fourth grade," says Stapp. "My girlfriend dumped me for a sixth-grader, and I sung her this song on the playground to get her back. It didn't work."

Stapp's more recent material, however, has found a highly receptive audience.

In this issue, "My Own Prison" is at No. 104, while the album's title track is at No.2 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart.

The growth rate of the album owes much to the $6,000 worth of seed money co-manager Jeff Hanson invested is an early, independently released version of the album that came out in April.

It was that disc, along with early airplay on such stations as modern rock WXSR in the band's home market of Tallahassee, Fla. (Popular Uprisings, Billboard, Aug. 2), that caught the attention of staffers at New York-based Wind-up.

Within two weeks of hearing the album, says Lerner, the band was signed and back in the studio reworking the set with original producer John Kurzweg. Ron Saint-Germain (311, Soundgarden) was brought in to mix the album.

Although Creed was an unknown act and the first signing for the label since it rose from the remains of Grass Records, Wind-up took a great leap of faith, rush-manufacturing the band's first single and booking the act a club tour before it had shipped "My Own Prison" to radio.

As it turned out, says Lerner, every tour market selected by the label, except one, was playing the single by the time the band embarked on its tour. The majority of those stations also ended up supporting the band's live dates.

"In this business, you have to take your shot when you've got it," says Lerner. "From seeing people respond to this music and their live show, we knew they related to it on a very emotional level, and we knew that's what would translate from the tour and radio. We didn't consider that what has happened wouldn't happen. There was no margin of error, and we didn't have any error. The timing was incredible."

The group, which is booked by Stage Door, continues to tour through the rest of the year. On Monday (17), Creed plays the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C.

Similar to the confidence shown by its label, members of Creed have also operated with a sense of destiny.

"Part of the reason we're handling [success] so well is because we've always assumed this was supposed to happen this way even before we got a record deal," says Stapp. "We thought we were supposed to sell a lot of records, and we thought we were supposed to play in front of big crowds."

Still, when Stapp enrolled at Florida State University with hopes of eventually becoming a lawyer, he admits that his interest in music was mostly founded in fantasy.

"This is the first band I've been in, and I didn't even know I wanted to do this until 1993," he says. "I just decided I wanted to get in a band, and within two days I moved to Tallahassee. I figured if [Jim] Morrison had started there, I could go to Tallahassee, jump in a band, and become a rock star."

While Stapp soon would see his vision fulfilled, Creed's earliest foray into the Tallahassee music scene was not exactly welcoming.

According to Stapp, Creed gained few friends among what he terms the "cliquish" bands playing the scene.

"We're not in a band to be buddies with other bands, but I was under the assumption that we would walk into a bar and say, 'Hey, what's up?' and sit around jamming acoustically and drinking a beer," he says. "Thinking about it now, our ignorance and naivete were probably good. We were like little kids, and that kind of innocence helped us get to where we are."

lso helping out has been mainstream rock radio, which has been largely responsible for such '97 Heat-seeker Impact acts as Tonic, matchbox 20, Sister Hazel, and Days Of The New.

"The pendulum has been in motion for the past year, and I wouldn't be surprised to see changes by some labels as to their signings," says Lerner. "If you look at it from a format perspective, it's getting harder to tell the difference between modern rock and active rock."

Meanwhile, mainstream rock KRXQ Sacramento, Calif., PD Curtiss Johnson says the station is enjoying the popularity of new rock acts and is eager to break more.

"It's nice to see mainstream rock bands come back into the fold," he says. "They don't have to have wild haircuts or a trendy look. They're just solid rock bands that write good songs, and the rest of it doesn't matter.

"I hate to use this term, but people are getting back to the rootsy rock'n'roll bands," he adds. "Songs used to have to grab you immediately, and I think people are gravitating away from that one-hit-wonder sound."

"My Own Prison," which is in heavy rotation at KRXQ, is also testing well in call-out research, says Johnson.

One mainstream rock act that Creed seems inextricably bound to, at least for the time being, is Days Of The New.

Chris Wester, music buyer for the four-store Minneapolis-based Down In the Valley, says the rise of the Outpost act may have primed the market for Creed.

"As bad as this may sound, I think [Outpost-distributing label] Geffen really paved the way for this band with Days Of The New," Wester says. "With the success of [Days' single 'Touch, Peel And Stand'], radio was ready to take Creed and eat it up."

Hoping to whet that appetite even further, Wind-up recently shipped an acoustic version of the title track, while a clip for the song, directed by Stephen Scott, is due at the start of December.

The label has also coordinated promotions with distributor BMG, which tied into the act's appearance in each market. Local television advertising and lifestyle marketing have also played an important role, says Lerner.

Meanwhile, Wind-up has emphasized the band's World Wide Web site with exclusive concert footage. The label is also hoping to support a network of fan sites by providing free software to chosen individuals.

"This project has happened so quickly," says Lerner. "We need everyone else to catch up with the grass roots. Look what we've accomplished without a video and without national media."