Guitarist magazine - powered by MusicRadar

Back in issue 324 we spoke to Creed and Alter Bridge guitarist and Mark Tremonti, but as you'd expect with such a talented and versatile player, we just couldn't squeeze all his pearls of wisdom into the mag, so here it is, the complete Guitarist interview - uncut.

For Alter Bridge fans, the Creed reunion was a bit of a surprise - at what point did you decide it would be more than just a summer US tour and you'd make a new studio album too?

Mark Tremonti: "When we first met up it was to talk about the summer tour in the States. Then after spending a little time together in the weeks after our first meeting, we decided to record a new album as well. But the tour had already been scheduled, giving us only two and a half months to write a record - so we put ourselves under the gun."

That sounds like quite a challenge, did you already have a stockpile of material?

"I'm always writing, so there's always stuff ready to go. After all these years of writing for Alter Bridge, the biggest challenge was not sounding like Creed, so I stored away a lot of ideas that I'd written just so it didn't sound like Creed. It stemmed more from Alter Bridge having that different sound, but those ideas were still there. I still enjoyed them, I just didn't know what I was going to do with some of them. I'm glad it that it worked out. Now going back to Creed there's a bunch of ideas just waiting."

It feels like the theme of Full Circle is redemption with Scott [Stapp, singer] being pretty honest about the last few years...

"There's definitely themes on the album and one is Scott asking people to give him another chance because he knows he's made some mistakes in the past. He wants to get out there and prove himself - overcome the past."

How surprised was Scott at the huge development you'd made as a guitar player in the years you'd been apart?

"He was very complementary to everybody. He told us he's worked with a lot of musicians in the meantime, that it was tough for him, and that getting back with us is easy for him to work - it all seems natural. The four of us cut together as musicians so getting back together was actually very easy."

So do you feel more at peace now you have that friendship again like the beginning?

"Yes, Scott's definitely changed - we've all changed from back in the day. Eveybody's been acting like gentlemen and adults. We've all got our kids and families out with us and it's just a nice peaceful time. This tour's been good for everybody."

Around the web: