Marshall plans to seek other interests and opportunities. Although Creed will not seek a permanent replacement for Brian, they have enlisted the services of Brett Hestla as their new touring bass player. Hestla, who is also the lead singer for Atlantic Records artist Virgos, will tour with Creed this fall. Creed's scheduled tour dates will remain unchanged. The band and its new lineup will embark on a 45-date fall tour that starts this Thursday in Chicago.
Creed wishes to thank Brian for his participation in their success and wishes him all the best in his future endeavors.
-Creed and Brian Marshall
Despite what is termed an amicable parting with bassist Brian Marshall, Creed guitarist Mark Tremonti says the band is still focused on making its next album. The group expects to start working on the disc at the beginning of 2001 and finish in time for a fall release.
"We have about four songs that are real strong now," Tremonti reports, "and we have about 1,000 different pieces [of music] that need to be structured into songs. If we had to go into the studio now it would be kind of hectic, but we could do it. We're always writing stuff. We write kind of in pieces; the hardest part is putting it all together."
But, for the first time in its five-year career, Creed will be writing and recording without Marshall. The group announced the split in a statement Wednesday, citing "personal and professional differences."
Marshall was recently taken to task by his bandmates for making disparaging remarks about Pearl Jam and its frontman, Eddie Vedder, but the statement did not cite that as a reason for the schism. Instead it tread a politically safe line, saying that "Creed wishes to thank Brian for his participation in their success and wishes him all the best in his future endeavors."
The statement also said Creed doesn't plan to permanently replace Marshall; Brett Hestla, singer for the band Virgos, will fill in on its current tour, which resumes Friday at the New World Music Theater in Tinley Park, Ill.
Tremonti says Creed may well perform some of the finished new songs during the tour. "We always say we're not going to," he admits, adding that the new tunes don't even have final titles yet. "After the second record came out, everybody had heard half the record because we'd performed [the songs] onstage. It kind of ruined the surprise. This time we want to keep them a secret. We say that now, but we'll probably have fun one night and pull one out."
As for the new album's direction, Tremonti says it's far too early to tell. "We're just kind of letting it go," he explains. "We've always just done pretty much what we've liked and always done well. We never tried to aim at certain structures, other than trying to keep a nice balance of the heavier songs with the easy-rocking songs. This time around, whatever comes out, comes out, and then … who knows?"
--Brian Marshall did do a hell of a job, and all of us (Robby and Terrece, lol) want to also congratulate him for doing such a great job, and thank him for supplying us with great music. We'll never forget you dude...
"I think [Durst] is just a bitter kid that needs to grow up," says the guitarist, explaining that the bad feelings between the bands seem to date back to last fall, when Creed was out-drawing the Limp Bizkit-headlined "Family Values" tour. "He comes out attacking Scott's personality but saying he likes our music. He doesn't know our personalities, you know? He's just a baby."
With no fisticuffs to train for, Tremonti says Creed is ready to hit the highways again for one more leg of touring to promote its multi-platinum sophomore album, Human Clay. The outing is slated to keep the quartet on the road into early December and will feature Creed's biggest stage production yet.
"We've added a whole designed set, double the pyro, and added video screens, three video towers," says Tremonti. "It's gonna be a big production. This is something we've all worked hard to get to; we always wanted to play arenas and do the big, KISS-type rock show. It takes a long time, step by step, but it feels great being here."
