We’ve Got A File On You: Scott Stapp

We’ve Got A File On You features interviews in which artists share the stories behind the extracurricular activities that dot their careers: acting gigs, guest appearances, random internet ephemera, etc.

Scott Stapp is a serious man. Earnest might be an even better word. The first time I interviewed him, in 2017, he discussed being inspired by Bono. But when I pointed out that Bono had moved away from the earnestness of The Joshua Tree — an album that had a major impact on Stapp — and embraced irony on Achtung Baby and Zooropa, he said, “I think it’s just not in me [to do that]. I think I have a particular style to my lyric writing that’s natural and authentic and it’s just who I am and the way that I write, and I just continue to go with that. I never overthink it or have a plan, I just write what I feel. And have continued to do that my entire career.”

Creed, the band that made Stapp a star, released three albums between 1997 and 2001. My Own Prison, Human Clay, and Weathered have sold almost 30 million copies all together in the US alone. The band went on hiatus in 2004, reunited in 2009 for Full Circle, and separated again in 2012.

Stapp began a solo career almost immediately after leaving Creed. He released the song “Relearn Love” on the album The Passion Of The Christ: Songs, with the Canadian alt-rock band the Tea Party backing him, and in 2005 put out his first solo album, The Great Divide. (Meanwhile, his former bandmates Mark Tremonti, Brian Marshall and Scott Phillips formed Alter Bridge with singer Myles Kennedy.)

Stapp has released three more solo albums to date — 2013’s Proof Of Life, 2019’s The Space Between The Shadows, and this year’s Higher Power. He also sang on the second album by Art Of Anarchy, 2017’s The Madness, replacing original vocalist Scott Weiland. And in 2021, he recorded the single “Light Up The Sky” with electronic artists Wooli and Trivecta.

Higher Power was recorded between 2021 and 2023 and released in March of this year. Two of its songs — the title track and “Black Butterfly” — have been hits at radio, and the third single, “If These Walls Could Talk,” is a first for Stapp: a duet with a female singer, Dorothy. Later this month, the two will perform it together at the Grand Ole Opry. (Stapp has lived in Nashville since 2016.)

But he’s been spending most of 2024 on the road with Creed. The band reunited in April for the Summer Of ’99 Cruise, which traveled from Miami to the Bahamas and back two weekends in a row, and also featured performances by 3 Doors Down, Buckcherry, Tonic, Fuel, Vertical Horizon, The Verve Pipe, Tantric and more. That was followed by the Summer Of ’99 Tour, which ran from July through September and saw the band play 40 sold-out shows with 3 Doors Down, Finger Eleven, and Daughtry, Switchfoot, Tonic, and Big Wreck on different dates. In November, they’ll be back on the road, playing another two dozen shows before year’s end.

Earlier this week, I got on the phone with Stapp to talk about Higher Power, his earliest solo work, collaborating with Carlos Santana, playing Frank Sinatra in the movie Reagan, maintaining sobriety and mental health on the road, and more.

Higher Power (2024)

You’ve got this new solo record out, which you started work on in 2021, but now with it out, you’re kind of balancing solo work with the Creed reunion. So do you think the new record is getting the attention it deserves?

SCOTT STAPP: Man, you know, I’ve been really blown away by the attention that the album has received. And I think that, you know, the chart numbers for this album have really spoken to the reaction from the fans concerning the record. You know, radio has been embracing every song I’ve released to date. And, you know, initially, I can’t mislead or not share that I was concerned that it would get overshadowed by [Creed’s resurgence]. But, you know, it’s actually, I think, enabled me to bring more awareness to the record, kind of riding the Creed wave. And all the attention that Creed was getting. You know, I think a lot of the fans who weren’t paying attention began to pay attention. And I’ve been grateful and blessed by the reaction so far to the record.

What were your goals, artistically, going into it?

STAPP: My goal going into the record was just to create in the moment and let the songs come from where I was in the moment of creation in real time, emotionally, mentally and spiritually. And, you know, during the time I was creating the record, I had no timeline. I went into the studio when I felt compelled, when I felt that I had something within me or ideas that I had already started to write down and that I needed to create and develop and document and make into a song. And so, you know, there was no preconceived plan or goal with this record. It was just how things were done in real time in that moment and what was required for the song and, you know, what musical bed I felt that the lyrics and the emotion and the context and the theme that the lyrics had created, what kind of musical bed needed to surround that? So that’s why I think it’s a pretty diverse sounding record. It’s cohesive, but it has diverse layers and textures, you know, from “Higher Power” to the last song.

The song “If These Walls Could Talk” that you have out as the current single is really interesting because it’s a duet, which you haven’t really done. And you know, it’s a little more country. But what I think is interesting is the way country has been importing rock and rap in the last few years. Like, country now is basically anything that people are listening to in a truck, and that’s rock, that’s rap, that’s everything. So tell me about that.

STAPP: So I think if you go back and listen to my first Creed record, you know, My Own Prison all the way through the Weathered album, my first three Creed records, I think you will definitely hear that. It’s just been a style that I’ve created in since the beginning of my career. You listen to “My Own Prison,” which, you know, we wrote in probably 1995, and you can definitely hear that if that song came out today, you would probably note the same comparison. The same with the song called “Weathered.”

For me, after we wrote “Walls,” the song that came to mind to me that I felt like, you know, “This kind of reminds me of this song,” was “Shallow” by Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper from A Star Is Born. I felt it was more in that vein. And I think with my voice, and particularly with Dorothy’s voice, I think it really cements that song, you know, as rock-leaning. But I definitely hear what you’re saying. You know, it definitely has some of those elements of modern country. I almost feel that it’s a song that can be brought across multiple formats, you know, rock, mainstream rock, even pop, you know, just the same crossover appeal.

And so in no way I attempting to, you know, intentionally create something for the format, for country. It just — the song came out that way, and the way we dressed it sonically and musically. You know, you’re right, it probably could fit into the modern country scene at this point. But I haven’t ever had any intent except to be a rock artist. Because that’s the music that I like.

Debut Solo Single “Relearn Love” From The Passion Of The Christ: Songs (2004)

Your solo career started with the song “Relearn Love” from the Passion Of The Christ record. What do you remember about making that first track as a solo artist, and what the feeling was?

STAPP: Well, prior to writing that song, I had written a lot of the songs that were on The Great Divide, but I guess that was kind of my first, now that I think about it. At the time, it was exciting. You know, I was working with artists that I had respected. I had a band called the Tea Party from Canada who heavily influenced Creed early on in our career. They introduced us to open tunings, which really impacted our songwriting early in our career in 1997, when we got to meet them and did a show with them, I think at the EdgeFest in Canada. And I always wanted to do something with those guys. They flew to Miami and I wrote that song together with a producer called 7 Aurelius who became a friend of mine that I met down there. And, you know, it was an exciting time in life to kinda step outside of something that had been so comfortable, which was my creative and writing relationship with Mark Tremonti, and begin to try something new and experiment with other musicians to see what would come out, and having that opportunity to be associated with Passion Of The Christ and to write that song for that soundtrack. I’m forever grateful.

Covering “Fortunate Son” With Santana (2010)

You also you recorded a cover of Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Fortunate Son” with Santana in about 2010. Were you actually in the studio with him, or was that a remote thing?

STAPP: That was a remote thing. I did that in my studio in my house. Santana and his people sent me the music bed, and then I did the vocals over top and sent the file to [producer] Howard Benson.

Did you ever get to talk to him? Because I’ve spoken to him, and it’s always an interesting experience talking to Carlos Santana. He’s a very mystical dude.

STAPP: There was a message that he sent through his team to me that was very flattering, very complimentary, and very spiritual. And I remember being just humbled that he knew who I was, he knew about my music and could sense and feel, you know, the spiritual aspect of me as an artist. And he identified with that and encouraged me through his team. So that was a pretty cool thing. I wish I got to hear it from him directly. But just, you know, getting that message from his team that Carlos wanted to share something with me was really incredible at the time, because he’s such a legend.

Playing Frank Sinatra In The Ronald Reagan Biopic Reagan (2024)

You played Frank Sinatra in this new movie, Reagan, which I have not seen. But I’m curious about your part and your experience doing it, because my impression of of you and of Sinatra are very different people. Like he was kind of like a twitchy guy from Jersey and you’re, you know, sort of a chilled out Southern guy. So tell me about the whole thing.

STAPP: The same gentleman who was a part of the team with Mel Gibson that produced Passion Of The Christ, Mark Joseph, also is the producer of Reagan. And so we go way back to that experience. And that’s where I met Mark. And so he reached out and and asked me if I wanted to be a part of Reagan. And I absolutely wanted to.

It’s just a cameo performance. It’s not, you know, a full-fledged role. It’s a cameo where I’m performing a Frank Sinatra song that actually was originally recorded by Bing Crosby, and then Frank Sinatra recorded it later. I recorded the song; it’s going to be coming out on the movie soundtrack. I stayed true to Frank’s melodies, but I in no way was trying to impersonate him. I just wanted to do Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra’s family, if they hear the song, I wanted to do them justice [so] that they would be proud to hear a rendition done. I was really just blown away by the whole experience of being on set. Even for my little cameo, it was a tremendous production and involved, you know, 150-plus people and scenes and whatnot. So I’m just honored to be a part and honored to be in that film and to have that small cameo.

Creed’s Summer Of ’99 Cruise And Tour (2024)

Now, you’ve done a couple of cruises with Creed, in addition to the regular touring stuff.

STAPP: Yeah, we did two cruises and just completed 40 shows.

Is it difficult maintaining sobriety on a cruise ship?

STAPP: No, it’s not. You know, I create my own world. And I have my own, my entire situation laid out for me and a big 5,000-square-foot cabin. And I actually brought my sponsor out, just because he’s my friend. Not because I was concerned about having a drink. But my sponsor was there with me, and I had a couple of friends with me. And that’s what I do. I create my own environment, my own sober environment. Drinking, at this point in my life, it’s not an option. That’s where I’m at. I wake up every day and have notes on my phone that remind me throughout the day, drinking is not an option. And, you know, I stay in touch with my sponsor and try to surround myself with other people trying to stay sober. And in doing that, I’ve only had two or three slips in the last 10 years. Which is a tremendous amount of progress from where I came. And hoping the next 10 years, there’ll be no slips.

That leads me to sort of a broader issue, which is in the last couple of years, there have been stories coming out about younger artists, across genres, who’ve been having difficulty navigating fame. And some of them have even been pulling back off the road for the sake of their own mental health. So as someone who’s had these struggles but has maintained a long career, do you have any advice for how artists can set boundaries and keep their equilibrium and keep going?

STAPP: Absolutely. I mean, number one, you’ve got to be acutely involved in your scheduling, in your planning and in what’s going on and make sure that you can navigate it and handle it and it’s balanced. Self-care and self-preservation is very important. And you have to think long-term, not short-term. And you have to remind the people around you and not be pressured by the people around you into, you know, “You’ve got to do this now, now, now, now, now.” Because that’s what creates the breakdown, the having to pull away. And so it’s all about being in control of your scheduling, your planning, learning how to say no, learning about self-care, surrounding yourself with a support team that you trust and that you can bounce ideas off of that are in no way affiliated with your business, that are people that are there that care about you.

If young artists have family, a mom or dad, brothers and sisters that they trust, you know, I would keep it in the family. But if artists don’t have that, like I didn’t when I started… you know, if I could go back and do things again, I would have had a couple of really strong individuals that I trusted around me to bounce things off of and to help and tell them what my goals were in self-preservation, in self-care, in maintaining my health mentally, physically and emotionally to kind of help me, have a team around me that could help me assert myself. And I would advise all young artists to do that. And don’t be afraid to say no. Don’t be afraid to rest.

This job is much more demanding than people think. It’s not just the two hours you’re on stage. This is a 24/7 job if you allow it to be. There’s always something going on. There’s always something to do. There’s always interviews, phone calls, planning. It’s constant. Art designs, [interviews like] this, social media, and it can become overwhelming. And so you’ve got to set in place times as an artist where you completely unplug. And it needs to be weekly, where you just say, “I am not available these two days.”

And then also, you’ve got to set boundaries and constraints on times you’ll work, when you’ll do this, when you’ll do that. You’ve really got to get into a self-preservation mode in every decision that you make. And then if you have pitfalls and things that you struggle with, you’ve got to put those guardrails up for yourself and not feel like you’ve got to do it alone. Bring those guardrails with you as a support team who have marching orders to say no on your behalf and who know what your goals are and what your needs are and to help you implement that. And so it’s complicated, because like I said, a lot of people don’t understand the demands that are on an artist. But it’s extremely important to maintain balance as much as you can and then implement everything that I just shared with you.

Another thing people have been talking about, and this is artists on every level, it seems like, and maybe it’s because of coming back out after a pandemic and stuff like that, but it seems like fans don’t know how to act anymore. So how do you deal with fans’ idea of you, or idea of what’s appropriate behavior at a show?

STAPP: Well, I mean, you have a security team — like, I’ll give you an example. For like a meet-and-greet, for example, our fans and my fans solo, they are given basically a briefing on what the do’s and don’ts are, how to behave around the artists. And if they don’t do that, then they will be quickly escorted out. Now, in terms of the crowd and the audience, you know, I’ve been very fortunate with my solo fans and Creed fans that 99.9% of them are incredible. There’s just an outlier here or there. And I’ve had to address that from the audience; if I see someone who’s being abusive towards a woman or a man, physically or in any other way, I have to call it out. It’s my job. I have to protect things that I see in the front. I think that’s just part of the job and part of my responsibility up there holding the mic. And I’ve had to do that. I had to do that a couple of times on this past Creed tour. And security quickly got there, intervened. But aside from that, I don’t know any other way that you would handle it.

I mean, at the Live Nation venues that we play at, I know they have signs, and I know that they try to reiterate to people how to properly behave, and how to properly manage their alcohol consumption, and how to properly do this. But again, there’s always somebody — because it’s a party for somebody to go to these shows. It’s their night out. And when you’re drinking alcohol, anything can happen. Trust me, I know. And so you just have to navigate it on the spot. But then anything that you can control in terms of your fans when they’re doing personal interactions with you, they just have to be briefed and they have to know the do’s and don’ts and the consequences of it.

But all in all, man, the fans are incredible. And, you know, what you’re talking about are anomalies. Like I said, 99.9% of people are incredible and extremely cool and just there to have a good time and enjoy the music.

Has your voice changed over the years? And if so, does it impact how you perform older songs? Like, are there songs that you sang “wrong” when you were young because you didn’t know any better and now you’re stuck with that because that’s what the audience expects?

STAPP: No, I’m not stuck with it. I have to do what’s right for my voice and what’s right to preserve my voice. And so most definitely, I sang a lot and recorded a lot of material early in my career wrong, you know, because I didn’t know properly how to sing. I was just going off just pure, I guess, raw ability. And then over the years, as I’ve learned how to sing properly and preserve my voice, I’ve had to change. I still have my voice. But there might be — it might be a little cleaner-sounding instead of guttural and rough, you know, throat singing. And so I actually think it’s better, and that’s been kind of the fan response is that singing these songs properly, they actually sound better than the original recordings. But, you know, having a voice that has a pretty defined and unique characteristic to it, that’s just how I sing. And it’s going to come out whether I’m singing properly or improperly. So it still sounds like me. But there’s a minor difference that you probably wouldn’t notice unless you A-Bed the live vocal to the record. But yeah, my voice has changed, to answer your question. I believe it’s gotten better.

I’m always amazed when that happens. I saw Iron Maiden, like, five or six times between 2003 and 2010. And I swear, Bruce Dickinson’s voice was better in 2010. It was incredible.

STAPP: I think a lot of vocalists are really taking the time because they — it stinks to be backed in a corner with a sore voice and have to cancel a show. So learning proper technique, taking care of your instrument, and doing everything you can do to learn how to use your instrument properly and to preserve it actually will improve your ability as a singer and a vocalist. It’s just like, the more you practice guitar and learn how to play it right, the better you are. Well, the same thing goes for your body and your vocal cords. Now, I wish the vocal cords were a machine, like a guitar. So there is a little unpredictability; that consistency of playing an electronic instrument is not always going to be there. But you can get pretty consistent if you keep your body and your vocal cords in proper shape and you’re singing properly.

Relationship With Other Members Of Creed

I guess my last question is, just because I interviewed you and Mark separately in 2017 for the 20th anniversary piece on My Own Prison, and I’m curious, were you on good terms with the other three guys at that point? Or were things in kind of limbo?

STAPP: In 2017? I wouldn’t say we were on bad terms, but I would say the communication was scant at best. We were all doing our own thing. But, you know, you got to look at bands that have been around this long like brothers or like family. And you have your good times and your bad times. And I think that’s all part of it. And so I wouldn’t want to say anything or put anything out there that would be negative, because it’s normal in a band to have these ebbs and flows of feelings and tensions and whatnot, especially a band that’s been doing things for as long as Creed has. I’ve had relationships like — Mark and I [have known each other] since high school. You’re going to have your spats and whatnot over the years. But here we are today with, I think we just played in front of 700,000 fans in two and a half months. I think it’s incredible. And I think we may, by the time this year’s over, reach the million fans mark in 67 or 68 shows.

I think that really speaks to the band’s commitment to bring it live and to just get up there and do what we do best and not let any anything along the way that’s happened in the past… let it go and just enjoy this ride and enjoy this resurgence and how our music is connecting with the fans. The numbers aren’t lying, and I’m so grateful for that. I mean, when we booked this tour, we didn’t know what was going to happen. And to have all 40 shows sell out and play in front of that many people in such a short amount of time, after all these years, is just an incredible blessing that I know we’re all grateful for. And it’s really an anomaly. And you know what? I think we’ve got nothing but good stuff to focus on and to build on from here.