In a recent interview with 95.5 KLOS, Creed guitarist Mark Tremonti opened up about his Frank Sinatra project, admitting that he felt Sinatra’s style suited his voice more than the music from his rock bands.
Tremonti explained that the idea stemmed from his experience singing at Christmas parties. “It all came from me singing at Christmas parties. I got a buddy who has a karaoke stage, and we’d sing Christmas songs. I’m like, ‘You know what? I sing these songs better than I sing rock stuff.’ It just suits my voice better. Between me and you and everybody listening, I don’t want to offend anybody else, but these are my favorite shows to perform out of all of my bands. I love doing the Sinatra shows. Even though they’re not my songs, they feel very personal to me.”
He also mentioned the project’s deeper meaning: his daughter. “The reason why we did this project was to raise money for the National Down Syndrome Society. My daughter has Down syndrome and now it’s my life’s mission to spread awareness and raise funds and do all I can to try to be a good human being, to do the best I can for my daughter and folks like her. So putting the record together, all the stars aligned along the way.”
Tremonti shared that the experience of working with Sinatra’s band was special for him. “It’s my happy place. Everybody was telling me, ‘Aren’t you nervous as hell? Are you terrified to go in there and sing with Frank Sinatra’s band?’ Even my manager’s like, ‘Dude, you gotta watch what you say, you gotta watch what you do, you got to do this and do that. These are very hardcore guys.’ They’ve been there way before. Frank was before the Beatles, he was before Elvis. He was the first big star. Ben Crosby was a star, but Frank was the first big star that people would just lose their minds over.”
“He was the guy. He was before everybody and being able to get in there, I wasn’t nervous. I was excited to do it because I couldn’t have practiced another minute to do this thing and then what’s somebody going to say? ‘You did a bad job raising money for charity,'” he added.
In March 2022, Tremonti announced that he would release a cover album of Sinatra songs. He recorded the LP with former members of Sinatra’s band. The album was released on May 27.
Tremonti also spoke about the challenges of recording the album, particularly Sinatra’s unique vocal style. “His phrasing. He never sang a song the same way twice. He approached vocals almost like a trombone player would approach his instrument. It seems like Sinatra was trying to show that his voice was an ever-evolving instrument,” he said.
Even with the difficulties, Tremonti stayed committed to completing the album, even the most difficult track, ‘Nancy with the Laughing Face.’
