It's not easy to find a success story as genuine as Creed’s in popular culture these days, with all the carefully scripted rises to glory and the falls that inevitably follow careers built on hype. If any late-'90s band can claim to have ascended strictly on its own merits, it's Creed, a Florida-bred foursome that went from zero to sixty (or, more accurately, zero to nearly 4x Platinum) by virtue of a combination of finger-on-the-pulse songs and powerful live performances, rather than a raft of hype.

"With My Own Prison, I knew we had the talent to get a record deal and I knew we had songs good enough to get played on the radio, but I never had any expectations of reaching this many people," says Creed's dynamic frontman, Scott Stapp. "But when I think back, I can remember that Mark Tremonti definitely did. The very first time we went into a meeting at Wind-up, he said he'd be totally disappointed if the album didn't go triple platinum."

Tremonti didn't have to suffer any pangs of regret. Creed was the first band in history to have four Number One Rock Radio singles from a debut album -- a feat even more impressive in these days of love-'em-and-leave-'em, one-hit wonders. On the strength of their singles, including the crushing title track and the more pensive "What's This Life For," Creed topped countless year-end charts and was recognized as the Rock Artist of the Year at Billboard’s 1998 Music Awards. Their debut album was also the #1-selling Hard Music album for 1998 on SoundScan’s Hard Music chart.

Now, with the release of their second album, Human Clay, Creed is poised to up the ante yet again. "We're the type of band that functions really well under pressure, and there was definitely a pressure to try to top ourselves this time," says Stapp. "Not so much what we sell, because we don't really care about that. We wanted to make a really great record. The band’s goal has always been to make records that are solid from start to finish; records that take you through an entire range of emotions." Those sentiments come across loud and clear during stretches of Human Clay.

On "What If," Stapp's baritone turns fierce when addressing those he feels have judged him unfairly over the years -- a pitch that's matched by the searing guitar lines that Tremonti turns out. The intensity comes through in more subtle ways as well, as in the plaintive tone of the album’s first single, "Higher," which finds Stapp seeking refuge from the rigors of the outside world, as his bandmates erect a majestic wall of riffs to ring his discourse. Throughout Human Clay, the entire band sounds to be on a quest to explore different sonic territories, ranging from the Led Zeppelin-styled eastern modalities of the album’s first track "Are You Ready?" to the lush balladry of "Wash Away Those Years."

While Stapp grants that the band's increased resources had some impact on the structure of Human Clay - the first album was recorded for a mere ,000 -- it's clear that Creed's evolution is far more than just a matter of dollars and cents. For Human Clay, Creed once again turned to longtime friend and producer John Kurzweg to ensure that they captured the anthemic guitars, dramatic vocals and bold lyrics that made Creed's brawny-yet-intimate sound a radio staple for two solid years. Together with Kurzweg, the band recorded the new album in a studio they constructed in a house just outside of Tallahassee. On Human Clay, Stapp contemplates how responsibilities, choices and actions impact people. The album’s songs explore fears of growing up and letting go of youth ("Never Die") conscience ("Faceless Man") and betrayal ("Beautiful") among other topics. Creed challenges their listeners to think without preaching or pretending to have all the answers.

Balancing Human Clay’s hard rock sensibilities is "With Arms Wide Open," a deeply personal song that Stapp wrote when he learned he was going to become a father. "I think my songwriting is very direct and understandable," says Stapp. "People can relate to that, so that's something I didn't want to move away from. At the same time, we're a little bit older and more mature now and we’ve been through a lot in the past two years, so we were looking to put things across in a way that reflected that." In many ways, Creed has been evolving gradually since the band played its first dates together four years ago. After high school, teenage acquaintances Stapp and fellow songwriter Tremonti took different routes, but both ended up in Tallahassee, where they recruited bassist Brian Marshall and drummer Scott Phillips to form Creed.

Within a few months, they had meshed their wide-ranging influences to create the band’s rich musical texture. Creed’s reputation for dynamic, passionate live performances has led to consistently sold-out shows. During the past two years the band has played to more than two million fans worldwide, not including the huge crowd who witnessed their awesome performance at Woodstock ’99. Creed gave fans something special to remember the festival by when they invited Robby Krieger, guitarist for The Doors, to join them during their performance on the main stage. When Stapp introduced Krieger, the crowd of approximately 200,000 erupted in cheers and shouted along to Doors favorites "Roadhouse Blues" and "Riders On The Storm." Krieger also stayed on to play slide guitar on Creed's "What's This Life For."

"We were out on tour for a long time, and wherever we went, there were people telling me how much certain songs meant to them and how they felt so close to them," says Stapp. "That means more to me than any other kind of attention. It’s important to feel as if you're doing something worthwhile, and in this band, I feel like I am." It will only take a few listens to Human Clay to see that they are.

DISCOGRAPHY Albums My Own Prison -- August 1997 Human Clay -- September 1999 Singles "My Own Prison" - August 1997 "Torn" - January 1998 "What’s This Life For" - May 1998 "One" - December 1998 "Higher" - August 1999 Soundtracks "Bound & Tied" (from the Dead Man On Campus soundtrack) - August 1998 "I’m Eighteen" (from The Faculty soundtrack) - December 1998 "