Creed initially disbanded in June 2004, a full year after their last activity, but the band’s darkest times actually preceded their split, as Mark Tremonti reveals in a recent Spin interview.
In fact, Tremonti can point to the song “One Last Breath” as a track where the band was their darkest time as a group, feeling that they were able to channel the internal fracture into what has become one of their most beloved songs.
The guitarist told Spin, “That song came out at the perfect time because Creed was going through its initial stages of breaking apart. It was probably the darkest time for the band. ‘One Last Breath’ was genuinely sung by Scott [Stapp] and genuinely played by us because we were feeling the emotions that we put out in that song. It’s one of the most truthful songs that we performed.”
Stapp joined in, commenting, “We named the album Weathered because that was exactly where we were as a band at that time. The band was splitting apart.”
He explains, “My struggles, and Brian [Marshall]’s struggles with other issues outside the band really defined where we were as a group. And it was about as honest as you can get. It was not something that we planned or thought of ahead of time; it just came out. And that’s how we always wrote as a band. I know that sounds cliché: to be ‘honest and authentic in your songwriting,’ but that’s exactly what we were.”
A Creed Trajectory
Reflecting on that period, Tremonti also was quick to point out that the Weathered album included the upbeat single “My Sacrifice.” He adds, “That was one of the earliest songs we had written for that record; we were even playing it at sound checks on the Human Clay tour. So if you look at that era, you can kind of see the band’s emotional time lapse between ‘My Sacrifice’ and ‘One Last Breath.'”
READ MORE: Creed Reflect on First Reunion Show in 12 Years
That said, Creed knew they had something special with “One Last Breath.” As Stapp recalled, “We would get excited after we wrote a song because we felt it. We used to have this saying: ‘Does it pass the goosebump test?’ If it didn’t give us goosebumps, we didn’t want to put it on our records. And with ‘One Last Breath,’ we felt it. We knew it was special to us. We knew that we had written something that inspired and resonated with us. And when that happened, we knew it was going to resonate with our fans.”
Creed, “One Last Breath”
Creed in 2024
It’s been a huge year for Creed, who are making the most of their second major reunion as a band. The group has already staged a pair of cruises to mark their return and have dates booked through most of 2024. Check out the group’s website for their touring itinerary and ticketing details.
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Gallery Credit: Chad Childers, Loudwire
