D.C. Experiences the Stapptasm
During the dark years before neo-garage and 1980s post-punk revivalism saved modern rock radio from itself, the airwaves were ruled by a gaggle of stultifyingly awful rap-rock outfits united in their middle class yowl and bent on demonstrating that the suburbs were, indeed, killing them. During that period, however, a critical need emerged for the fans of the popular mook rock: namely, some vaguely sensitive sounding shit that could help them convince that girl who was kicked off the field hockey team to put out. To fill that need, there emerged another group of bands, capable of producing sludgy and overwrought midtempo baritonica by the metric ton. Of that second group of bands, none ruled the landscape with a more glittery rock scepter than Tallahassee’s Creed.
Fronted by the energetic eyebrows of former law student Scott Stapp, Creed’s schtick was to blend their late 90’s watered-down grunge stylings with lyrical content suffused with heady Christian overtones. The faith-based content was kept subtle--more in the "Campus Crusade for Abercrombie and Christ" vein. The combination proved irresistible to fans, who gobbled up Creed’s albums by the yard and sent four singles from their initial public offering to the top of the Billboard charts. Last year, Stapp released his first solo record since the break-up of Creed, The Great Divide, and this past Tuesday night, Stapp was on hand at the 9:30 club. DCist was there to capture the experience, and ended up learning ten interesting things about the solo Scott Stapp.
(Photos by Kyle Gustafson)
1. Free tickets to last night’s show were available at the door, and by “at the door”, we mean literally taped to the door with a sign that said “FREE.” We initially considered making an immediate update to DCist to that effect, but thought better of it after realizing that we’d only subject ourselves to the outcry of the True Fans angry that we’d blown another special deal. For Stapp’s part, he can content himself in the knowledge that his draw in Washington is roughly identical to the Bicycle Thieves.
2. Apparently, Stapp has some anger issues for which he needed some time to vent. The concert began with a group of songs that were relentless in their yell-at-the-top-of-your-lungs bleakness. Stapp definitely has some things in the current events file that are among his foremost concerns: his crazy feud with 311, his arrest for public intoxication at LAX, and, of course, the blowback from the recent news of the generous sperm donation he made with Kid Rock. It was relief when the show finally took a turn for the happier, because initially, one wondered if some sort of meltdown was imminent.
3. Scott Stapp is even chattier than Perry Farrell at his drugged-out best. To serve as Stapp’s lead guitarist, you must be willing to provide endless pre-song vamping as he converses with the audience. Last night, the highlights of Stapp’s raconteurism had to be his thoughtful address to the crowd: “I’ve been thinking a lot about bullets…and how bullets are like words…they can hurt people.” Hey, who hasn’t had their flesh torn asunder by words, be they of the .22 caliber variety—like “apothecary”—or semi-automatic armor piercers like “disintermediation”?
4. Stapp’s show is generously salted with all of Creed’s greatest hits—“My Own Prison”, “Higher”, “My Sacrifice”—they’re all there. It makes one wonder what the terms of separation are between Stapp and his former mates. If, for example, Alter Bridge wants to play “My Sacrifice”, do they have to call it “Scott Stapp’s Sacrifice”?
5. One of the Creed songs Stapp played at the 9:30 club was “What If?”, from their 1999 album Human Clay. Hearing it was enough to inspire one’s own “What if” questions. Such as: what if it turned out the toms could have been miked louder? What if soul patches come back in vogue this year? What if the guy standing by the bar screaming “Whooo! Whoooeeooo!” every five seconds is doing so because of a medical condition and not, as one might assume, because he’s a gigantic fan of the Stapp? And what if the gigantic drop that reads “Scott Stapp” in massive letters isn’t enough to let people know that Scott Stapp is here tonight, indeed, playing onstage at this very minute?! So, remember: Scott Stapp gives you a lot to think about.
6. Stapp is prone to talking in life-affirming bumperstickerspeak. “This is my happy place.” “We’re all just here, if you think about it.” “Hang in there.” “You don’t have to be crazy to work here, but it helps.” “I brake for bass fishing.”
7. It’s true: music can be played too loud. But, as the deafening low-end churgle rattles your ribs and inexorably stamps out any trace of melody, it does offer the listener the time to take a moment and think to oneself: “My God. Scott Stapp really does have one awesome head of hair.
8. Scott Stapp is a performer well versed in the typical rockstar moves. But the best move of the evening was his perfectly executed “Towel off and toss the towel into the crowd.” Here’s Stapp’s inner monologue at that moment:
“Yeah! Whoo! Man, this has been an awesome forty-two minutes of rocking! My, oh my…it looks like I’ve got myself a nice film of rock sweat forming on my forehead. Oh, hey! What’s this! Why, it’s a clean white towel! Hmmm...let me heft it, get a feel for the weave. Oh, yeah! That’s not a bad thread count at all! I bet that this baby is super-absorbent! Better get my daub on! Mmmm. Mmmm, yeah. That’s good. Damn, this towel really collects the moisture and leaves my forehead nice and dry! (notices the audience screaming) Oh, yeah! You like that, don’t you! You feel, as I do, that personal hygiene is pretty fucking important! That’s right, this is a quality towel!! Tell you what! You take it! You take it! It’s my gift to you! I bequeath to you this awesome towel! It’s cotton! And that is THE FABRIC OF OUR LIVES!!”9. Stapp tends to introduce each song by awkwardly referencing the title of the song in an attempt to make it seem like the introduction is actually just a part of some casual conversation. “Thank you Washington! You guys mean so much to me. But I wonder if we can take this higher. You think that we can take this higher?! I bet that we can take this higher! Whoa-ho-ho! We’re in luck! It just so happens that I wrote a song called ‘Higher’! What do you think? I bet that it would dramatically enhance our chances of taking this higher.” Imagine if all lead singers did this. It would be like Alex Kapranos saying: “All right, DC! Yeah! Man! I think it’s getting kinda wet in here! Do you feel that? Are you starting to see some puddles, Washington! Well, it looks like I’d BETTER PUT MY BOOTS ON!!”
10. All joking aside, one thing that has to be said about the Scott Stapp experience is that he has got some of the absolute best fans in the world. You’d kill to have these fans. They yell and cheer and jump and wave their arms in the air. They answer back when Stapp points at them. They lustily cheer when they recognize the songs. They loudly sing along like Dashboard Confessional devotees. And they are entirely sincere in their devotion. There is not one trace of pretension to be found. And that’s more than can be said about the hipster dick army that’ll tell you to your face things like, “Rehearsing My Choir is actually a really rewarding listen when you finally, you know, GET it,” while all the while the twinges in the iris of their eye belie the fact that they don’t actually believe a word that they’re saying and that they cannot wait for their shift at the Supercool Factory to come to its merciful end.
Also, they don’t call out requests at the top of their lungs. Imagine that: rock fans who understand the concept of a set list. Many of you could learn from that.
More photos over at Flickr.