Scott Stapp discussed Creed bassist Brian Marshall’s 2000 departure from the band in a new interview on the Jasta Show, and shot down the longtime rumor that Marshall was dismissed from the band for dissing Eddie Vedder and Pearl Jam. Alternative Nation transcribed Stapp’s comments.
“Let me tell you, before you even go any further, that is all a rumor and BS. That had nothing to do with why Brian was asked to leave Creed at that time. I don’t want to get into spilling the beans and rehashing the past on why, but it had nothing to do with that.
That’s all just fictitious rumors, that would be absolutely stupid, because Brian was one of my best friends, and one of Mark [Tremonti]’s best friends, and [Scott] Phillips’ best friend.
It would have to be something extremely serious, and something that was persistent to the point where all options were exhausted before you would have someone like that, before you would ask them, and tell them, that they’ve got to step down. It had nothing to do with that.”
Marshall said Stapp was a better songwriter than Eddie Vedder in a June 2000 interview with Seattle radio station KNDD.
“Eddie Vedder wishes he could write like Scott Stapp,” Marshall told the radio station before backpedaling slightly. “I love Pearl Jam, but I just don’t understand the route they took, and I don’t think it all had to do with Eddie Vedder.”
When pressed by the interviewer, Marshall pointed out that while there were some similarities between the two groups’ “lyrical tones,” there were many, vast differences between Creed and Pearl Jam’s album sales and fan bases at the time.
“Pearl Jam tends to… in their recent albums, [have] gone in such a different direction, which is fine, but looking at their album sales and their fans, you can just see the decline.”
Marshall also said that while he listened to Pearl Jam throughout his college days, he didn’t understand why the band chose to “write songs without hooks” following their early to mid 90’s commercial hey day.
Marshall left Creed in August 2000, but regrouped with Tremonti and Phillips in Alter Bridge a few years later when Creed broke up. He later took part in Creed’s reunion from 2009 to 2012.
