"Would you rather sell tons of records and have people come at you or sell no records and have everybody love you?" Mark Tremonti isn't losing any sleep over the Creed haters
· louderBy Stef Lach
published 23 December 2024
There's nothing new about popular bands attracting a lot of hate – and Creed are just fine with that
Creed guitarist Mark Tremonti says the hate that the band attracts is just part of the deal when artists reach a certain level of popularity.
And as long as people keep buying Creed records and attending their shows in huge numbers, he's not losing any sleep over the backlash.
Tremonti – who has also achieved success with Alter Bridge and his self-titled solo band – led Creed to extraordinary success in their early years. And their comeback tour has picked right up from where they left off after going on hiatus more than 10 years ago.
Tremonti tells Ultimate Guitar: "After a while you just kind of realise if you want to be in a band where it got as big as Creed did, there's gonna be people that love you, there's gonna be people that hate you.
"Look at all the biggest bands in the world, especially pop artists. If it becomes a household name, there's gonna be people that hate on it. And you've gotta take the good with the bad.
"Would you rather sell tons of records and have people come at you or sell no records and have everybody love you?
"And I got to see both sides of that when we started Alter Bridge. When we started Alter Bridge and we had gotten into a few records, we got a lot of critical praise, but we weren't selling the millions of records that Creed was.
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"So I got to see what it feels like on both sides."
People hating rock bands that cross into the mainstream in a big way is nothing new. Perhaps the most obvious example is Nickelback, who have been the brunt of countless jokes for decades.
But asked whether he regrets anything about Creed's meteoric rise, Tremonti is clear.
He says: "I'm glad I've gotten to experience it all. I wouldn't be here if it weren't for those early Creed days."
Mark Tremonti on Creed haters, Hells Angels & Dumble amps | On The Record - YouTube
Stef wrote close to 5,000 stories during his time as assistant online news editor and later as online news editor between 2014-2016. An accomplished reporter and journalist, Stef has written extensively for a number of UK newspapers and also played bass with UK rock favourites Logan. His favourite bands are Pixies and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Stef left the world of rock'n'roll news behind when he moved to his beloved Canada in 2016, but he started on his next 5000 stories in 2022.
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