100.5 KATT with Bladerunner

100.5 KATT Oklahoma City, OK August 13 2004

BLADERUNNER: Rock 100.5 the KATT, your home for pure rock. I'm the Bladerunner and with me right now in the first interview for the KATT after the breakup of Creed, Scott Stapp.

BLADERUNNER: Hey Scott, how are you?

SCOTT: Doing good man, just working on my video, doing some phoners.

BLADERUNNER: Cool, and you're up in Canada right now? Why did you guys decide to do Canada for a video shoot?

SCOTT: I think that was a record company thing. I think they moved it up here because I think you can spend about half the cost that you'd spend in the States and get the same product.

BLADERUNNER: Oh really?

SCOTT: Yes, I think it was a financial thing. And the visuals are really great up here, you know, the mountains and the oceans and the forests and stuff like that.

BLADERUNNER: Tell us about your first released solo project Relearn Love.

SCOTT: Alright, well I got approached around June of last year to see if I wanted to do a song for The Passion of the Christ film and they invited me to come out and screen the movie, and I did, and accepted the offer. Basically it kind of coincided with a time in my life where I was kind of reassessing where I was at as a man and where my heart was. And then when I saw the film, it kind of put everything in perspective for me and helped clarify some musical ideas that I had already had and had working. So the song was born and basically I was excited about being involved with Relearn Love and the Passion in terms of my faith and how that was starting to make a new impact in my life. You know, I just thought that now that I'm solo, and we really didn't have a plan on how I was going to launch myself as a solo artist, this just kind of surfaced and just kind of made sense for me at the time, and felt right. Whether it works or not, you know, that's irrelevant. It just feels right to do at the time and I feel great to be part of the project and feel great to be amongst all the other artists that are on the soundtrack.

BLADERUNNER: How did you end up hooking up with The Tea Party to do that?

SCOTT: When I was with Creed, we met these guys back in 97 on a tour in Canada called the Edgefest, and they were very, very influencial to Creed's music and how we approached song writing and how we approached the sound of our band. They were kind of our mentors, so to speak. And so once Mark and I decided we wanted to work on some other things for a while, it was just a natural phone call for me to make, to call some guys that had an impact on what I was doing anyway but also were the source of the influences we had, and it just felt right. So I called them up and saw what they were doing and they were excited to get together and work on the song with me as well as work on my solo album. And so I was pretty excited about that.

BLADERUNNER: Are they the band that's actually going to be contributing to the full solo album or are you doing a Scott Stapp Experience, or creating a new band?

SCOTT: What I'm doing pretty much is, you know, I've got a lot of material that I've written and of course need other artists to play with me because I can't play all the instruments at the same time. And I really like what they bring to the table in terms of their creative ideas and their style and their sound. So, if all things work out it's basically going to be a Scott Stapp/Tea Party collaboration.

BLADERUNNER: And is that going to be like a feature thing for you do you think, or are you going to have a band eventually, where it's all full member.

SCOTT: Well I think it'd be awesome if it just worked out that me and my buddies could continue to work together. So, I don't know what's going to happen with their project in the rest of the world, and I wish that the best, but if it works out that they don't have anything else going on, and they can continue working with me on my solo album, then I definitely want to do that.

BLADERUNNER: Did you actually write Relearn Love before you saw Passion of the Christ, or was that something that happened after?

SCOTT: Yeah, I wrote the song prior to seeing the film. I hadn't had it completed but I wrote the chorus and had the music written, it just didn't have final direction. As I said before, my life had kind of come to a head to a point where I was kind of looking back to my roots and latching on to my faith all over again. And then the Passion project came along and it kind of solidified the direction that I was going already and gave me direction on where I was going to take the song. And so I came home after I watched the film and finished writing the rest of the song.

BLADERUNNER: Your solo stuff is debuting on The Passion of the Christ soundtrack, and then when Creed first started up you guys were mistakenly called a Christian band?

SCOTT: Well, let me clarify that. Actually, it was something that I was raised in and I was brought up in and to be honest with you the guys in the band were kind of upset with me that we were getting those kind of questions and they didn't understand why. So it was kind of a shock to the other guys in the band. And to me, I really didn't think about it too much but once it was brought up by the press, I was like, man, I guess I'm dealing with a lot of things of my past and things of that nature. And we were never a Christian band in terms of having an agenda or being evangelical. But, you know, two or three or four songs on the first record, and a couple on the second, couple on the third, definitely I dealt lyrically with my roots and the part of me that is a spiritual man and how I felt about that. And I think a lot of people tapped into that because it was a lot different than what was going on. But it definitely wasn't something we were trying to do.

BLADERUNNER: Yeah, that's where I was going with that. Because it seemed like the media picked up on this whole Christian thing and labelled you guys as a Christian band, then along the line you guys had to kind of defend and explain the rock star actions that kind of contradicted that. And now with you doing the soundtrack for The Passion of the Christ, is history about to repeat itself or are you just taking this direction to some extent?

SCOTT: No, I'm a three-dimensional person, you know. I have my spiritual life and I have my physical life and my personal life and everything else that falls in between. And I think to be labelled a Christian artist would mean that you have a specific agenda to make other people believe like you believe. And I would classify myself as a person of faith and spirituality and of a Christian mindset but that doesn't per se have any effect on my art form and if it does poke its head out a little bit, it's more about me trying to figure out a certain situation. And how The Passion of the Christ fell into play was because of that Christian comment, or what came from the media, they basically called me as their first artist to be involved with the project and I had to say the same thing to them, you know. Guys, you know, I'm not a Christian artist, but I have Christian beliefs and faith and spirituality as a man." And I used to make this reference about my father. My father's a Christian and he's a dentist. So does that mean he puts in Christian fillings? No.

BLADERUNNER: [laughs]

SCOTT: He puts in fillings and cleans teeth, but are they Christian? No. He's a doctor who has a spiritual side to his life. And that's the same thing that involves me. The reason I've never really been so adamant about my faith and my Christianity is because I don't want to be a hypocrite, man. Because I've never tried to proclaim that my life as a spiritual person or a Christian could be any kind of a positive influence on anybody else, you know. I'm a struggling man just like everybody else. A lot of this commentary had been thrust on me and on the band, and we definitely understand why, but we'd rather be looked at as a rock band and rock artists that have a commentary on various social issues and various things that involve human beings, but don't hold us in judgement or look at our lives as examples.

BLADERUNNER: Let me ask you this, if someone is caught shoplifting The Passion of the Christ soundtrack, should the punishment consist of 'eye for an eye' or 'turn the other cheek'?

SCOTT: [laughs] Well, if I caught him I'd let him go. I don't know man, I mean, that's one thing I tried to run from in the church, is judgement. I think that's part of the reason that I rebelled against my family and left home as a 17-year-old, because I couldn't stand the judgement and the condemnation and the guilt that the church brought on me. And I think that's a lot about what I dealt with as a young man early on in my career. You know, I'll leave that up to the cops - whatever the cops have to say is what they got to say - but as far as judging people on a spiritual level because of what they do, I'll leave that up to God.

BLADERUNNER: Is it scary for you right now, being out on your own? SCOTT: You know actually it's kind of - oh, what's the word - I kind of feel like a weight's been lifted off my shoulders. You know, I mean, every idea I have and every song I write I don't have to put before a panel of three, you know what I mean? So I can kind of do everything that I've ever wanted to do without having to make changes here and there because I got three other guys in the band that want to do it this way and that way. Essentially it was just me and Mark that had to do those compromises, you know, back and forward. We left each other's instruments alone. He left my vocal melodies and my lyrics and my arrangements alone and I left his guitar alone, but we always left everything up for a team effort. The only thing that's scary about it is I respected those guys' opinions and I admired their musical ability and their musical talent. The only thing scary about it is I don't have their input so I'm kind of having to kind of fly by the seat of my pants. But, you know, I've wanted to do this since the end of Human Clay and so has Mark and we're kind of doing our own thing, and I wish them well and I know they wish the same for me. So, we're still trying to have fun and stay true to ourselves and keep having a good time.

BLADERUNNER: That's cool. Have you spoken to them at all since the breakup of Creed?

SCOTT: Oh yeah, definitely.

BLADERUNNER: Cool, cool.

SCOTT: You know Mark is 'Uncle Mark' to my baby boy. So I'd hate to think that a departure from a working relationship temporarily - and I say temporarily in that the door is always open, and that's something that maybe the public doesn't know - I wouldn't think that that would end a friendship and end a family relationship and that's what we had.

BLADERUNNER: Well along that line, years from now, when you rejoin the former original members of Creed on stage in a weepy reunion moment, will it be for:
a) a worldwide charity event,
b) a rock and roll induction ceremony, or
c) a drunk birthday party in a small motorcycle bar in Florida?

SCOTT: A drunk birthday party in a small motorcycle bar in Florida. [laughs] That sounds like better aspirations if you ask me. I don't want to set the bar too high.

BLADERUNNER: [laughs]

BLADERUNNER: What do you think of Alter Bridge? Have you listened to their music?

SCOTT: You know, I've been so caught up in what I've been doing that I haven't really had a chance to sit down and really digest what they're doing. I mean, I've heard the single a few times on the radio and it's really cool to hear my old band together and sounding good. You know, it's a lot different than if I was involved and what I would've brought to the table, but I think they sound great.

BLADERUNNER: At one time, and I think you guys even knew, there was a huge over-saturation of Creed on radio, on television. What direction do you think we're headed now that our Creed stock has split, diversified and we have three times the fun now?

SCOTT: Well hopefully between Alter Bridge and myself and any new artists that are coming along the way. you know, I don't really know. I hope it all boils down to good songs and good song writing and songs that make people feel and think and share some kind of emotion. I think a good song is a good song and so it doesn't matter where it goes as long as it fits in that category.

BLADERUNNER: Cool. What year do you think Guns N Roses will eventually release Chinese Democracy?

SCOTT: [laughs] Probably. I don't know, what are they going on nine years, 11 million dollars, something like that?

BLADERUNNER: I think so, yeah.

SCOTT: You know, I have no idea but I hope nobody ever compares Creed to Guns N Roses. [laughs]

BLADERUNNER: When a band of your stature breaks up, does everybody around you freak out? I mean, what was it like the day that it was officially announced? Was your cell phone jammed?

SCOTT: My son said, "Yay, daddy, now you can spend every second with me!" You know, it wasn't so much like a breakup in a bad sense, man. It was something that, and I'll be frank with you, had there not been outside influences that benefited financially on our breakup announcement, the four of us would have never made that announcement. Because we had no intentions of making that announcement. That was something that benefited some people financially, and not the band. And the band wasn't fully aware until after it had happened.

BLADERUNNER: Really?

SCOTT: That announcement never would have been made had those people not been involved. Because we just simply wanted to go take a little break, man, you know? We had been joined at the hip for the last 10, 11 years and had some different interests we wanted to do. And Mark's always been a big 80s fan and loved the 80s singers and some of the 80s sound and he kind of wanted to do a side project - for a while he was going to call it Downshifter. And I had some things that I wanted to do and we talked about it all the time, and it was totally copacetic, you know?

BLADERUNNER: Yeah.

SCOTT: And so, the breakup might've come across as some kind of drama or soap opera because of the way that it was handled by certain individuals, but as far as the band's concerned, the announcement didn't even need to be made.

BLADERUNNER: If you could pick any one of the songs that you've written in your career and have it recorded by anyone of your choice, which song would you pick and who would you have do it?

SCOTT: One that I've already done or one I've written for my solo album?

BLADERUNNER: Either/or, just anything that you've ever had musically.

SCOTT: Well I think anything that I've ever written, could it be recorded by Led Zeppelin, with Mark Tremonti involved, would be amazing.

BLADERUNNER: That's cool. Do you have any really cool celebrities programmed into your cell phone that we might recognize?

SCOTT: [laughs] Hold on, let me get my cell phone. Yeah, I got a few but I don't know if I should share that because, you know, they're porn stars. I'm just kidding.

BLADERUNNER: Awesome!

SCOTT: [laughs] I'm just kidding. Let me think. I've got Lenny Kravitz, and some girls I don't know if I should mention.

BLADERUNNER: Did you ever accidentally hit one of the keys and dial them when you're out doing things you shouldn't be doing?

SCOTT: Yeah. [laughs]

BLADERUNNER: [laughs] Hey dude I got this message on my machine, what is this shit?!"

SCOTT: [laughs] See man here's how my life goes. Three and a half weeks a month I'm a pretty conservative stay-home dad, you know, that works and stays at home to raise my boy. But I generally try to take four or five days a month and be a 29-year-old. So, that's how it goes.

BLADERUNNER: Wow.

SCOTT: Try to keep that balance because I think it makes me a better daddy.

BLADERUNNER: You've been through a ton of really hardcore stuff over the past couple of years culminating with the band breakup and everything. It must be really hard dealing with all of that stuff and your personal stuff while everybody's watching it on www.scottsprivatelife.com.

SCOTT: Yeah it is man, because you know a lot of the people in the press and the fans, you want to share with them and them to know the truth but a lot of times you're so busy dealing with a lot of personal stuff you don't have time to really make a comment. I don't know if a lot of people know but over the last six years, I dealt with a lot of things in my personal life as well as my health and it was responsible for a lot of things that I was going through and I never really had a chance to explain. And some of that was based on advice which I look back on now and realize wasn't very good advice. And other parts of it were just pride in terms of not wanting to make any excuses. But you live and learn. And in this business, the relationship between you and radio and TV and the fans deserves open and honest communication. Even though I never lied to anybody, just by not talking created a kind of a gap that needed to be bridged. And that's something I really want to work on here, is to kind of explain a lot of things that were going on and why things were going on. I was dealing with pneumonia and diagnosed with two tumors behind my sternum on the Weathered tour, and everybody knows about the car accident. I was a hurting dude and I kind of made a bad decision in terms of deciding to use Prednisone to keep me on tour, which bloated me up like a beached whale, and kind of made me depressed and isolated. And a lot of people and the public just didn't know what was going on. And in my efforts to talk to management and other people about hey I need to tell my fans what's going on, and some of my friends at radio and the press what's going on" they were like, No, no, just keep it down." And now I realize why they told me to keep it down. Because I think the fact that I was using a steroidal anti-inflammatory to keep my voice going so I could perform would've made them look like monsters, if you know what I mean.

BLADERUNNER: Yeah.

SCOTT: I mean, that was my decision to do that and I don't hold them responsible because I'm a grown man and I can say no and I didn't. I just wish I would've let people know what was going on, not to make an excuse but to probably give me some support to pull the plug. Because things could've taken [gap] blessed right now that they didn't. But you know you live and learn and you make mistakes and this is rock and roll and you do what you got to do. But as a father I can never jeopardize my life or my health for my career, or having something stand in the way of me being a father, and I'm glad I learned that lesson and made it through.

BLADERUNNER: Exactly. Along that line, I was going to ask you, you know, the Chicago show where fans had thought you'd passed out...

SCOTT: Just two people.

BLADERUNNER: Really? Wow.

SCOTT: [laughs] People are like 'fans'. Two people. Actually, you want me to explain that 'pass out'? I was very sick and I had exhaustion that night and like I said I was dealing with a case of pneumonia and some other things that I had kept to myself and kind of patched up with Prednisone. And that night I was just exhausted and I performed and sang every song. And during a song called Who's Got My Back I kind of just got depressed and was like Why am I even up here?" You know? Do the people around me care more about making money than my health?" And I kind of got depressed and I looked at the crowd and I said Who's got my back?" and I kind of shrugged my shoulders. And then I looked back at my band and, in something that I regret doing and wish I could take back, I kind of shook my head and then said Uh, nobody's got my back," and then I laid down on stage and sang the song. So it was kind of airing some family laundry on stage. And a couple of guys who had poor seats and basically were looking for a reason to try to sue us for two million dollars picked that night. And it got thrown out of court three or four times. The judge kind of made a mockery of them, you know, they were kind of gold digging. But at the end of the day I think that they brought attention to a point in time in the band's career and in my personal life where we were just burnt out. And I had a lot of health problems and I expressed some frustration on stage that even though it was kind of under my breath, you know, probably hurt some people's feelings and I feel bad about that and I apologize for that. At the end of the day, the show did happen and every song happened and I even played the show for the judge. So that was blown out of proportion. In retrospect it's kind of funny but I know it hurt a lot of people and brought a lot of negative attention to something that was so positive and if I could take it back I would.

BLADERUNNER: Are you involved in a law suit right now with a strip club about using your music without paying for it?

SCOTT: You know it's funny, I just heard about that like last week.

BLADERUNNER: [laughs]

SCOTT: No, you know what happened? I think BMI, my publishing company, they're the ones who are suing, and basically they're just using. Dude, I enjoy being at strip clubs when they play my music, man. [laughs] I mean, I wouldn't sue anyone over it, come on. I think my publishing company, BMI - as you know there's two, BMI and ASCAP - I think that they're kind of going after people who are giving away some music and stuff on the internet and also people that aren't paying publishing royalties to BMI and ASCAP and I think they just used a few artists as examples. Because I know I'm not paying any lawyers, and I haven't been contacted about that.

BLADERUNNER: Well I know just on a small scale for myself, I've had stuff like that happen, until I hired the law firm of Hetfield, Hammett and Ulrich.

SCOTT: [laughs] I know man. You know I almost hired their shrink.

BLADERUNNER: Really? [laughs]

SCOTT: Yeah, to talk with the Creed guys and me. But we kind of all got together and realized we didn't really have any kind of dieing problem, that we just needed to take some time and do our own thing. And so we told him we'd take his card and call him later.

BLADERUNNER: Have you ever illegally downloaded any Metallica songs off the internet?

SCOTT: No but I've illegally called their record company and had them send me demos.

BLADERUNNER: Really? [laughs]

SCOTT: Yeah, that's the benefit of being in the business.

BLADERUNNER: Are there any songs on the Passion of the Christ soundtrack that would be good for strippers to dance to?

SCOTT: POD's song, it's called "Simply Amazing" [sic], it is simply amazing, and there's a lot of strippers out there that are simply amazing. I think it's one of the best songs... I think it blows my song away, to be honest with you. I think it's the best song on the soundtrack.

BLADERUNNER: Well I would guess it would probably be two completely different things because I wouldn't think that Relearn Love would be a good strip club song.

SCOTT: You know but I think it would baby, I think it would.

BLADERUNNER: [laughs]

SCOTT: You know I never thought My Own Prison would be a good strip club song but when you see a girl dancing to it, you're like, Hey man, that makes sense." [laughs]

BLADERUNNER: If you could have the cryogenically frozen head of Elvis or John Lennon to display on your mantle, which one would you choose?

SCOTT: Elvis.

BLADERUNNER: Really?

SCOTT: Because I am a fan of the king. He's probably the artist that has the most impact on my life.

BLADERUNNER: Really, were you kind of weaned on that as a.

SCOTT: Yeah, I was kind of weaned on that as a kid.

BLADERUNNER: Are there any cover songs in your not too distant future?

SCOTT: Yeah, man. You know, I'd love to do some Led Zeppelin tunes, and just, God man, even a couple of Prince tunes but rock style. It sucks, it doesn't suck, but it's kind of weird you asked me that question and I've got like a million on the tip of my tongue that we've thought about in the studio just jamming - Cream and Creedence Clearwater Revival and just a bunch of stuff from the 60s and 70s. Even Black Sabbath.

BLADERUNNER: Wow.

SCOTT: There's been some Black Sabbath tunes. War Pigs, yeah I wanted to cover War Pigs for a while.

BLADERUNNER: That would be tough to do after Faith No More did that though with Mike Patton.

SCOTT: Oh! Did they do that?

BLADERUNNER: Yeah, Mike Patton did that.

SCOTT: Dude, 'cause he kicks ass, bro.

BLADERUNNER: Oh yeah, he rocks.

SCOTT: Yeah, we've been jamming that CD and we were like, oh, we should do that, we should do that!

3rd VOICE: Like Iron Man or something?

SCOTT: Yeah, maybe Iron Man. [deep voice] I AM IRON MAN.

BLADERUNNER: If you were going to do War Pigs, how would it sound? Could you give us a little bit of it on the phone?

SCOTT: [laughs] I can't.

BLADERUNNER: Do the very beginning. [sings] Generals gathered in their masses!!!

SCOTT: Dude you kick ass with that, dude! You want to come play on my record?

BLADERUNNER: [laughs]

SCOTT: Come on, dude, you rock!

BLADERUNNER: [laughs] Let me hear you do it, I want to hear up.

SCOTT: No, that was awesome dude, I can't top that. Actually I've been chain smoking all day so I don't have my falsetto voice going right now.

BLADERUNNER: Well alright, but we definitely want to hear a Prince song from you.

SCOTT: Yeah... dude. [laughs] I'll be like [sings] I never meant to cause you any sorrow, I never meant to cause you any pain, yeah.

BLADERUNNER: Awesome! [claps]

SCOTT: Yeah dude, I'll be doing Purple Rain in my velvet suit.

BLADERUNNER: Cool and I'll relearn the rest of the lyrics to War Pigs and we'll do a little duet on that.

SCOTT: Exactly, you relearn that, boy.

BLADERUNNER: Alright then.

SCOTT: Alright then.

BLADERUNNER: [laughs] Thanks Scott, appreciate you calling.

SCOTT: Alright man. Talk to you soon.

BLADERUNNER: See ya.

SCOTT: Bye