SCOTT STAPP Says He Still Loves Playing CREED Songs Live: 'It's A Part Of Who I Am'

CREED frontman Scott Stapp recently spoke with Cameron Buchholtz of the Oklahoma City, Oklahoma radio station 100.5 The KATT. The full conversation can be streamed below. A few excerpts follow (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET).

On his upcoming album, "The Space Between The Shadows":

Scott: "It's great to have a new record I've poured my heart and soul into... it's been about six years [between records], and a lot's gone on during that time. Fifteen and a half months ago, my wife and I had another child — a little baby boy named Anthony — so I've just been spending time being a dad and making music and living life and gleaning experiences that I've poured into this record. I'm excited to share it with the world."

On first single "Purpose For Pain":

Scott: "It's no secret that I've had some struggles over the years and have gone through some things in battling addiction and depression, and during those times, I was given some advice that I didn't really understand in 2010 when someone first gave it to me. Finally, it clicked in my brain... to try to focus what I was going to do when I got to the other side of the pain, when I got to the other side of the struggle or the difficult time in my life. In focusing on getting to the other side, what was I going to do when I got there? To take that situation that I was going through, learn from it, fight through it and then try to help somebody else when I got to the other side of that situation that maybe going through the same thing. Keeping that mindset really gave me a lot of strength and hope to keep fighting and moving forward, and that's what the song's all about."

On his sobriety:

Scott: "I'm going on five years now... especially early on, and how public my last relapse was, it was tough, not only dealing with the public consequences and the embarrassment of what I did while under the influence, but almost losing my family and dealing with that. This all kind of came into fruition with me trying to just come out on the other side of that, and it really changed my perspective and helped me continue to maintain my sobriety, knowing that I could take my experience and my strength and my hope, and help someone else who's going through the same thing."

On whether it felt different to make the album while sober:

Scott: "I've had many times in my life where I've been sober in creating music. Almost all my records were created during a time of sobriety, and then the relapses and the binges and the things would happen later on. I knew I could do it sober, but this is a total different experience just because of the struggles of having [gone through] things so publicly, and then having to come out and address that. There was a little fear and a little nervousness about how I was going to approach that, but over the last five years, finally coming to realize that I'm not alone in this fight, that there's other people out there out there that have dealt and are dealing with addiction, alcoholism [and] mental health struggles, so that I can share my story and how I got through, which keeps me sober every day in doing that but also can help somebody else."

On what to expect from his upcoming live performances:

Scott: "Right now, I'm just going to be focusing on introducing this new record to the fans. [I'll also do] a couple songs from my previous solo records, and of course some CREED songs. I think that my fans would want to hear all of that, and I want to give them what they want, so I'm bringing it all."

On performing CREED songs live:

Scott: "I still love playing those songs, and the fans that have been coming to my shows over the last four years love to hear them. They're crowd favorites. It's crazy – I know some artists sometimes say that want to kind of put those on the back burner and just focus on their new stuff, but it's a part of who I am, and I love doing what I do."

"The Space Between The Shadows" will be released in July via Napalm Records.

As a solo artist, Stapp has released the platinum-certified "The Great Divide" (2005) and "Proof Of Life" (2013),which featured his first solo Billboard No. 1 active rock single, "Slow Suicide".

Scott will embark on a summer tour of America in late June.