'Passion' inspired Creed frontman to go solo

Herald Tribune September 7 2004

Many have said "The Passion of the Christ" reawakened their spirituality.

For former Creed frontman Scott Stapp, it did that and more. After seeing the film, Stapp left one of the most successful rock bands of the past decade at the height of its popularity to concentrate on a solo career that reflected his renewed sense of Christianity.

"I had a lot of hurt in my life over the last 10 years that I didn't really get a chance to deal with," Stapp said in a telephone interview. "There were just a lot of things that piled on my heart and made me a little hard, made me a little jaded and calloused. I was just getting to a place in my life where I wanted all that to go away.

"A lot of times, I get so stubborn that the only time I cry out to God is when I'm on my back and there's no way to look but up. That's kind of where I was personally when the film came in."

Stapp's first solo release is the lead single off "Passion of the Christ: Songs," a CD of tracks inspired by the movie on Lost Keyword Records, a new imprint of Stapp's label, Wind-Up.

The disc -- which also includes such diverse artists as P.O.D., Lauryn Hill, Kirk Franklin, Brad Paisley, MxPx and Charlotte Church -- is being released today to coincide with the DVD release of the film.

Stapp's contribution is "Relearn Love," which combines the typical faith message of contemporary Christian music with a good helping of autobiographical material. "The man I am now must be shed," Stapp sings. "I've weathered storms and I am broken."

It's easy to interpret it as a reference to Stapp's problems while in Creed. When the Tallahassee-based band exploded in 1997 with its multi-platinum debut, "My Own Prison," it immediately drew questions of a religious nature because of the CD's themes of tolerance and spiritual crises.

Stapp, who grew up the son of a strict Pentecostal minister in Orlando, drew the ire of other bandmates.

"We got a lot of Christian questions: 'Are you a Christian band?'" Stapp said. "And we weren't. (Drummer) Scott Phillips was an atheist -- and has since changed -- and Mark (Tremonti, guitar) was a Catholic who went to church on Easter and Sundays.

"They were kinda upset with me, because they didn't understand why we got these questions … it wasn't our agenda or my agenda to be evangelical."

Things came to a head in 2002 while the band was touring behind its third album, "Weathered." Stapp was injured in a car accident, an incident he said started a cyclone of health problems.

"I had the accident, and then within two months, I had pneumonia, and then in another month, I had a callus on my vocal chords, and then another month, they found two tumors behind my sternum," he said. "And all this I kept to myself and was advised to keep to myself and basically put my life at risk to continue touring.

"There was just a lot of pressure. Whether that was because people just cared about money, I don't want to know. But all that stuff was kind of a catalyst to where I'm at now spiritually, because I spent a lot of time alone trying to recuperate … it was my 40 days, so to speak."

Creed was already headed for a breakup when "The Passion" was released, Stapp said. The film, and the invitation to write a song for the compilation CD, simply put a period to the sentence.

"It was just ironic that this project and the launching of my solo career came along at a time when I was coming back to my faith," he said.

The rest of Creed has formed a new band, Alter Bridge, which is scheduled to play Sept. 4 at St. Petersburg's Jannus Landing. For Stapp, "Relearn Love" is the first salvo in a solo career, to be followed by a full-length album in November.

If anything, Stapp says, he no longer has to dodge the Christian question.

"Hopefully, it's gonna be a lot of fun, and I can meet a lot of people, and probably even get more involved in the Christian community, because that's a part of my life," he said. "And it's something I can choose now, because I don't have three other buddies who have an equal vote."

.Rod Harmon