Brian Marshall

Early life

Brian Aubrey Marshall was born April 24, 1973 in Jackson, Mississippi but has lived in Florida since 1979. He started out his music career by playing his father's drums. He states that after scratching his father's drum set a few times, his father decided it was time to buy him a bass guitar. He cites Steve Harris, John Entwistle, Geddy Lee, John Paul Jones and Doug Pinnick as major influences. Brian truly began his music career in the early 90's at Florida State University in Tallahassee, Florida where he was a member of an original band, Mattox Creed and later, a cover band called Baby Fish Mouth through which he would eventually meet his future Creed band mates.

Creed

After being recruited into the band as a full-fledged member by Scott Stapp and Mark Tremonti, Marshall came up with the name Creed after a band he was in earlier called Mattox Creed which had since disbanded. He was in Creed until late 2000, when personal issues with vocalist Scott Stapp led him to depart the band after criticizing Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder during a radio interview, though some sources state that Marshall was fired. Marshall, however, remains silent about this issue and does not state the reasoning behind his departure.

Brett Hestla from the band Virgos Merlot, replaced Marshall for the tour. For Creed's third album, Weathered, guitarist Mark Tremonti played bass and Brett Hestla played bass during live performances.

After months of speculation, Creed announced in April 2009 that they had reformed, and also announced that Marshall was back in the band. He appeared on Full Circle, the Creed album released in October 2009, making it the first album since Creed's sophomore release, 1999's Human Clay, to feature him on bass. The band toured in support of Full Circle throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, Australia, and South America during the summers of 2009 and 2010.

Alter Bridge

When Alter Bridge started getting off the ground in late 2003, Marshall was asked by Tremonti and then-former Creed drummer Scott Phillips to join the band since they enjoyed his playing and company. After calling the new band Alter Bridge, Tremonti contacted Myles Kennedy, formerly of The Mayfield Four and the current touring vocalist for Slash's band, and asked him to be the band's singer. Alter Bridge was officially formed in January 2004 and released their debut, One Day Remains, in August of that year, followed by their second album, Blackbird, in October 2007. A third Alter Bridge album titled AB III was released in October 2010 and their fourth album titled Fortress was released in September 2013. Their fifth studio album The Last Hero, was released on 7 October 2016.

Other projects

After leaving Creed in 2000, Marshall stated that he had taken some time off before he later got back into music. In 2001, he began writing and recording music with a band he formed called Grand Luxx, featuring his former Mattox Creed band mates, guitarist Dan Bartley and drummer Hardy Mattox. Singer Matt Knabe, who had previously performed in a band called Project Simon, later joined and the newly formed quartet began recording songs. Marshall stated, "I'd say our music is rock, but it's very eclectic, and I think it can reach a wide audience. We have a little bit of alternative and some hard-rocking guitar riffs too. And Matt brings in some pop flair because his influences were bands in that genre." He also stated that with Grand Luxx, he had "kind of moved to a different role" and did more work on the production side. By July 2001, the band, having played a few shows, had six songs written with initial plans to record an album that fall. Some of Grand Luxx's original songs include "Stagnant" and "Insomniac's Dream." Also during this time, Marshall was in a band called Head Heavy with vocalist Maceo Morris, Dan Bartley and James Thatcher. The band completed a full length recording at Marshall's home studio but it was never formally released to the public.

In 2012, Marshall joined Mark Tremonti's solo band Tremonti but due to personal reasons he left the project and was replaced by Wolfgang Van Halen in September 2012.

Personal life

Marshall attended Choctawhatchee Senior High School (1988–1991), Tallahassee Community College (1991–1993), and Florida State University (1993–1995), where he graduated with a bachelor's degree in interior design. He currently lives in Fort Walton Beach, Florida, with his wife Melanie and their son Cooper. Outside his music career, he works as a real estate agent in the Fort Walton Beach and Destin Florida area.

Discography