Mark Tremonti Talks Christmas Album, Creed Reunion + More – Interview

2023-12-12

Image of Mark Tremonti of Creed and Alter Bridge by a Christmas tree.

Mark Tremonti – Author Anne Erickson, Photo via Chuck Brueckmann

Sure, you know Mark Tremonti from his stellar guitar work and signing in Creed, Alter Bridge and Tremonti. But, did you know he also has a more traditional side? Tremonti recently released an album of Frank Sinatra covers, and now, he’s unleashed a full album of Christmas classics. I’m a fan of holiday music, so when I got wind of Tremonti doing a Christmas album, I had to check it out. Let me say that record lives up to the expectations, offering lots of festive spirit.

“Mark Tremonti Christmas Classics New & Old” features a bevy of traditional Christmas songs, as well as one original song, “Christmas Morning.” Tremonti tells Audio Ink Radio that doing this album was “some of the most fun I’ve ever had in the studio.”

“I love Christmas music,” he says. “Also, any excuse I have to get back to the guys I recorded that album (the Frank Sinatra album) with I’ll take. I partnered up with 17 of the same guys I did the Sinatra record with.”

He adds, “I feel it suits my voice way more than the hard rock stuff. That’s why I only started singing professionally in the rock thing. It’s probably been 10 years now. But, I’ve been a processional musician now for almost 30 years, so it’s something I have to work on. I still don’t love my voice for rock, but I do enjoy my voice for this kind of stuff.”

Switching gears, after years apart, Creed is finally reuniting with Tremonti, Scott Stapp, Scott Phillips and Scott Phillips. As Tremonti explains, the timing was simply right.

“Me and Scott spoke before Covid happened. We had done a few Shiprockeds with Alter Bridge and Tremonti, and I always enjoyed them. I thought it would be a great idea to do our own cruise at some point. When I was speaking to my manager, I was like, I think a Creed cruise is something that would really work. At the time, our agent had already been doing the Paramore cruise, and they always had a lot of fun with it. So, I said, I thought it would be a great reintroduction to do that, because it’s a soft landing back into the world.”

He added, “It just made sense, and when it came out and it did so well, it made us really reevaluate what we were going to do the rest of the year, and that’s when we announced the tour. The funny thing is everything happened naturally at once, with all the hype with the Rangers playing the music and Vikings playing the music. Just the other night, my kid showed me a clip of the Green Bay Packers playing ‘Higher’ at the stadium. It’s a great coincidence that Creed is coming back into the fold in popular culture, which has been great for us, since we just planned the tour at the same time.”

So, is new music from Creed in the works? It’s very possible down the road, Tremonti says.

“If we would had known this was going to do so well, we would have planned ahead of time and done new music beforehand. But, from an outsider looking in, sometimes people are like, ‘Yeah, just put out new music.’ But, we would’ve had to record it nine months ago to have it be ready now for the tour. If we stared writing music now, it would take us months and months and months to write it, and then months to record it and then six months of setting it up, and by then, it’s time for us to start Alter Bridge. So, it’s kind of a different thing. So, maybe if there was a song or two or EP, it’d be earlier. I also go into the studio in February with Tremonti, and Scott Stapp is just releasing a solo album, so it’s a tough thing.”

Tremonti says that he’s always thinking of new music for Creed, though, when writing for his other projects. “When I’m writing songs, and I go over ideas, I’m like, ‘Wow. That would be a great Creed song,’ and I kind of hold it aside for that day that it happens. So, that’s definitely- a lot of times when I’ll write a song that I put on a Tremonti record, I’ll be like, that would have bene a great Creed song, and it turns into a song the people like, but they just kind of get forgotten. Some of the ballads on Tremonti records, the die-hard Tremonti fans love them, but I think they would have ben bigger Creed songs, some of them.”

Listen to Tremonti’s full chat with Anne Erickson of Audio Ink Radio on Apple Podcasts here, Spotify podcasts here and via the audio player above. Also, speaking of Creed, find Audio Ink Radio’s classic review of the band’s “My Own Prison” album here.

Anne Erickson
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Posted by Anne Erickson | Features, Interviews, Music, Rock

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