Alter Bridge was born from the ashes of hugely successful US alt rock outfit Creed. When that band called it a day in 2004, Mark Tremonti (b. 18 April 1974, Detroit, Michigan, USA; guitar) and Scott Phillips (b. Thomas Scott Phillips, 22 February 1973, Valdosta, Georgia, USA; drums) cut all ties with messianic vocalist Scott Stapp and joined up with former Creed colleague Brian Marshall (b. 24 April 1973, Jackson, Mississippi, USA; bass) in a new project. Joined by ex-Mayfield Four singer Myles Kennedy (b. 27 November 1969, Spokane, Washington, USA), the quartet named themselves Alter Bridge and began work on a new studio album for the Wind-up label. Although Tremonti and Phillips claimed their new direction would avoid the stadium rock leanings of Creed in favour of a harder-edged metal sound, commercial dictates saw to it that much of the resulting One Day Remains was aimed squarely at Creed's sizeable audience. The quasi-spiritual leanings of "Burn It Down" and the title track could have been tailor made for Stapp to sing, while "Open Your Eyes" (written, as was much of the album, by Kennedy and Tremonti) was eagerly snapped up by US radio. One Day Remains debuted in the US Top 5 shortly after its release in August 2004.
The band left Wind-up in summer 2006, citing record company pressure to conform to a more commercial approach. The quartet completed the recording of their new album before signing a new contract with the Universal Republic label. Blackbird, released at the end of 2007, featured more songwriting contributions from lead singer Kennedy and was noticeably harder rocking than the band's debut.
