Not Creed and not crud: Alter Bridge sounds tight with new singer October 29, 2004 By MIKE DANIEL / The Dallas Morning News In four months, Alter Bridge has risen from the smoldering pyre that was Creed, the most commercially successful rock group of recent years. The offering was Scott Stapp, whose voice and likeness defined the band but whose ideals, priorities and health no longer fit its mission. Chris Hamilton / DMN Myles Kennedy is the lead singer of Alter Bridge, made up of Creed grads, though without front man Scott Stapp. Front men such as Mr. Stapp frequently leave their original bands, which almost never attain the same level of fame after such a defection. But often, the question to ask those abandoned bands is not whether they want to return to the same heights; it's whether they're healed and happy. Alter Bridge is both. Its Creed alumni – guitarist and songwriter Mark Tremonti, bassist Brian Marshall and drummer Scott Phillips – sound superb. They and new singer Myles Kennedy served a steady, lightly metallic diet of rock to the youngish, buttoned-up, couples-heavy crowd, which heard all 11 songs from the band's debut CD, One Day Remains , and not a peep about Creed. Alter Bridge's act gleams from the mirror-smooth buffing it received in those glory days. The set order was nearly the same as when they opened their tour more than a month ago, and the instruments and mix all sounded fantastic. Mr. Tremonti occasionally missed a chorus vocal, but such minor errors essentially went by unnoticed. Such a balance among aw-shucks foibles, sonic cohesion and theatric calculation usually satisfies fans. It may not, however, typically win over nonconverts, a bad sign considering the band's mission to build a new fan base the old-fashioned way: on the road. That, along with the languid, uneven stage attitude of Mr. Kennedy, are Alter Bridge's weaknesses. The Spokane, Wash., native's voice is a huge improvement over Mr. Stapp's, but it's potentially even more stereotypical. Mr. Stapp took flak for sounding too much like Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam; Mr. Kennedy more than resembles another Seattle grunge icon, Chris Cornell of Soundgarden (now of Audioslave). Hints of a third Washington State rock legend, Geoff Tate of Queensr˙che, will revive copycat complaints. But Mr. Stapp's singing didn't hurt Creed's album sales of 30 million (it may have even helped it), so Mr. Kennedy's shortcomings may not matter much, either. Many music consumers resist change once they like something, and plenty liked Creed's rock 'n' roll recipe. Alter Bridge is the same dish, just baked longer. Which is why the band will probably play a much bigger venue the next time it comes through town.