Bad news for any diehard Creed fans waiting for a reunion: According to former Creed guitarist Mark Tremonti, it’s never, ever, ever going to happen. In an upcoming issue of Guitar One, Tremonti put the rumors to rest — permanently — and says he wants fans and journalists alike to know Alter Bridge isn’t something he’s doing just to pass the time. It’s his band, now and forever. “There have been a lot of rumors and misconceptions in the press, where they say, ‘Yeah, we just had an interview with [ex-Creed frontman] Scott [Stapp], and he said you guys are definitely getting back together, that it’s just a matter of time,’ ” he said. “It waters down what we’re trying to do with Alter Bridge. Alter Bridge is not a side project by any means. There is no way in the world that Creed would get back together — unless it was for world peace.” Creed were arguably the biggest rock band of the late ’90s, selling more than 24 million records and stringing together one chart-topping hit after another. But last year, after months of trying to write songs for a fourth album, Tremonti announced Creed were finished, citing Stapp’s lack of commitment as the main reason for the split (see “Creed Calls It Quits”). Stapp denied Tremonti’s charges, instead blaming the breakup on his health issues — stemming from anti-inflammatory medication he took for injuries from a 2002 car crash — and a desire to spend more time with his young son. But whether he’s committed to it or not, it’s been Stapp’s decision to perform material he and Tremonti had written in Creed that has angered Tremonti the most (and even further scuttled any hopes of a reunion). “He’s still out there playing Creed songs with a pieced-together pawnshop band. Scott [Stapp] and I discussed that during the breakup,” Tremonti said. “Since we wrote the songs together, we decided that if we were no longer together, playing them would be unfair to Creed fans and all the guys in the band. It’s made me angry, because I thought we had an agreement.” Since the Creed breakup, Stapp has not been playing shows, but he did perform a version of Creed’s “Higher” at the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series Awards Ceremony, held in New York last December. A spokesperson for Stapp’s — and Alter Bridge’s — label, Wind-Up Records, said Stapp was unavailable to comment on the Guitar One piece, since he’s in the studio working on a solo record, though “in the near future, Scott will share his feelings — about the past, present and future.” According to Wind-Up, there is no release date set for his solo debut. Alter Bridge continue to tour behind last year’s One Day Remains and are working on material for a follow-up.