Creed Comes 'Full Circle' with New Music, Attitude

Creed's mercurial run was highlighted by a Grammy in 2001 for best rock song ("With Eyes Wide Open"). The Tallahassee, FL post-grunge group became a force on the charts and concert halls during the late 1990's, but emphatically and dramatically broke up--seemingly for good in 2004. During that time, the band had generated 35 million in world-wide sales with three albums going platinum.

Stapp admits that a variety of self-indulgent and egotistical behaviors led to the bust-up, and quite a bit of hard feelings all around about the way things ended. "We were all a bit naïve to think that we could do anything we wanted and couldn't fail...I had to take a risk in reaching out to the other guys because I knew there were hard feelings that I had generated but there had been a decent passage of time."

"I will say this: we are not doing this tour because we want to prove people wrong, or anything like that. This is not a 'reunion' where we are just playing the old stuff, to me it's a 'renewal' because we are striking out in new directions with the new CD (Note: The new album is called "Full Circle". A single entitled 'overcome' was scheduled to be released on August 5th in advance of the tour, I-tunes downloads of the entire CD is scheduled for August 12th, with the physical disk expected mid-September), and definitely a new attitude.

"I truly believe that the best days are lie ahead for the band. We are truly humbled by the opportunity to reconnect with our fans and develop new relationships. This was a precious thing that we squandered, we realize that now, and we want to show everyone the depth of our new commitment."

As evidence, Stipp points to the work that he has been doing with a new vocal coach, Beth Cohen. "Before, I would get by on what was in the tank, and use it up far too often. Beth got me to start thinking about approaching my vocal as an instrument. Because of the hard work we both did, I can truly say that my voice has never been better. I certainly can exhibit both a higher and lower range than ever before."

Good intentions are one thing, performance another. It appears that Stipp seems to know that second chances in this life are relatively rare, and that if the Creed fan base returns to them they are receiving a rare privilege. He notes that the interpersonal relations among band mates should be markedly better in their middle-ages "what used to be points of irritation are now seen as creative building blocks."

They appear to have the willing spirit, but their fans will have to see if it can truly be sustained.