Thanks for clearing that up.
That's the issue with forums and the Internet in general: we never truly know the intention behind written words.
I don't worship those albums at all. Human Clay's awesome, but ODR is equally good for me, and Blackbird isn't that far behind either as far as I'm concerned.
And as I've already said a lot over the years, I'm no fan of Full Circle. It's easily one of the least impressive Mark albums for me.
I think that's where our main difference of opinions comes from.
For me, Tremonti is so-so. There are some good songs here and there, but the whole concept of thrashy riffs with pop choruses doesn't really work for me.
Whereas I can almost enjoy every AB song and every 1997-2001 Creed song, I skip a lot of Tremonti songs, and very few of them stand the test of time for me. Marching in Time has grown a lot on me ever since it was released, though, and it may already be my favourite solo tune of his.
Overall, I think Mark is at his best artistically when he has a writing partner, and that's why I'll always be more interested in new AB or Creed stuff.
You make some really good points, especially with your last sentence.Micky wrote: ↑Thu Aug 12, 2021 9:18 am The relationship with Mark and Stapp is like one I have with an old friend of mine, Louis. Louis and I were super tight but after a while, egos on both sides got in the way and we had a very huge falling out. I'm not going into details into what they were. After a few years, we recently reconnected but he's mad at me because I didn't invite him and his wife on a camping trip with me and a bunch of my buddies. Why didn't I invite him? Because he's proven to me that he hasn't changed at all and while I don't wish ill will on him and will certainly be civil with him, I have no intention to ever really bring him back into my life the way we used to be.
I imagine this is Mark's mentality. I don't think it's that he "holds a grudge" its more along the lines of "I'll be friendly, civil, wish him well, but I don't want to be in a toxic relationship anymore." And I'm NOT saying Stapp is at fault 100% here. Nobody is perfect, Mark included. It takes two to allow relationships to fail.
One of the issues, IMHO, is that Stapp expects too much from a reunion, whereas Mark might just want to do a short tour once in a while. I think Stapp still wants Creed to be a full-time thing, and that's why Mark won't come back. It's too stressful, and since Creed is probably is least favourite project of the three, there is no way he would ever commit to Creed the way Stapp wants.
That was the main issue in 2012, and there's a big chance it would still be a source of arguments between the two 9 years later.
Fair enough.
He said he had been writing with some songs, but nothing's been recorded yet, so don't expect anything new until mid or late 2022.