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In Step with Stapp
Dallas Star-Telegram, March 10 2006
Scott Stapp has always been one of rock music's most loved and loathed figures -- loved by his fans (and fans of his former hard-rock group, Creed) and loathed by just about everybody else. He's touring behind his solo debut, last year's The Great Divide, but overshadowing it is a sex tape that recently emerged featuring him and Kid Rock taking part in various sexual activities with strippers. Great timing!
Unfortunately, our chat with Stapp took place before the tape came out, so we didn't get to ask him about it. He's got plenty of other stuff to talk about, though.
Q: What are you doing?
A: I'm sitting in an office at band rehearsal in a 10-by-10 room that's all white with a blue floor. This is probably my 17th billion interview in a row. I'm alive, and I'm jamming with my band. I'm getting married soon. I have a 7-year-old boy who's doing great. Today, things are great. That's all I can go by.
Q: That hasn't always been the case, though. You were a mess for a while -- drugs, drinking.
A: I went through a lot of stuff there for about three months -- getting all the medications out of my body. Some of the new songs deal with the hurt and betrayal I still feel and dealing with some of the lies I've had to deal with and the bonehead mistakes I've made. I'm still dealing with a lot of things emotionally, so part of [the record] is cathartic. I don't write about who I am. I write about what I want to be. With this record, I'm still in the great divide, trying to make sure I come out happy and healthy.
Q: Why'd Creed break up?
A: The "Christian-rock" tag developed some resentment in the band. I didn't mean for it to, but the tag wore on the guys. And we were not respected for the quality of our music and of our live shows. Combine that with my car wreck, a callus on my vocal cord, and then I got pneumonia. I used the drugs, and they were prescription drugs, to continue to tour to keep everybody happy. But my biggest strength and weakness is my heart, trying to make people happy, and I just couldn't anymore.
Q: So do you still talk to the guys?
A: I shoot [guitarist] Mark [Tremonti] an e-mail every once in a while, but for the most part, I haven't talked to them since we broke up.
Q: You've gone from being the singer for one of the biggest bands in the world to pretty much starting over. That's gotta be sobering.
A: I feel, on one hand, my God, I'm a brand new artist and I've got a platinum record and a sold-out tour. That's amazing. On the other hand, my last Creed show was in front of 40,000 people. That's amazing. But [the solo career] is good because I want to be close enough to the crowd to look 'em in the eyes, and I want to explain certain songs. I want to be understood. I don't want to be misunderstood anymore.
.Malcolm Mayhew