When rock group Creed finished its last tour in 2002, nobody knew it would be nearly two years before three of the four members would be back on the road with a new band called Alter Bridge. But according to guitarist Mark Tremonti, the new band got its foot in the door a lot easier this time around.

"I think Creed opened a lot of doors for us from our past success but once those doors are open I don't think we want to look back and keep using the Creed name," Tremonti says in a Toronto hotel with his three band mates beside him. "I think it's going to help get people to come to concerts but hopefully six months from now that won't be an issue anymore."

The band -- consisting of Tremonti, drummer Scott Phillips, bassist Brian Marshall and lead singer and guitarist Myles Kennedy -- came together late last year after Tremonti and Phillips started jamming together. Marshall, who left prior to Creed's demise, joined the duo who were looking for a vocalist. It was then that they hooked up with Myles Kennedy, former lead singer of the Mayfield Four, who opened for Creed.

"I didn't know what to expect," Kennedy says. "I was pleasantly surprised when I got down and found that they are just very down-to-earth. Once I flew down to meet these guys it was just obvious. It felt like it was where I was supposed to be."

The band is also quite happy with its debut effort One Day Remains. The album, which hits stores Tuesday, contains the first single Open Your Eyes. The group recorded 15 songs with 11 making the cut and others put aside for possible future release.

The song titles also have a theme of closure or a new beginning, especially Shed This Skin, The End Is Near and Down To My Last. Tremonti says it was a good way of dealing with the tension and turmoil between themselves and former Creed lead singer Scott Stapp.

"During the Creed days Scott and I would sit around on acoustic guitar and play records together," Tremonti says. "Since (1999 album) Human Clay we didn't write together, we didn't do sound checks together. We didn't even write together when we were trying to do a fourth Creed record.

"So me and Scott Phillips became so close onstage doing sound checks every day that we would feed off each other. I had songs worked out and ideas about how exactly I wanted them to be. I didn't want to sit down with Scott and have to compromise those ideas."

Phillips agrees.

"We got back together and started working on a fourth record after about eight or nine months," he says. "We immediately knew that this record wasn't going to be as heartfelt or as passionate as things we had done in the past. Mark and I thought 'Why torture ourselves with having to go through that and then tour behind that.' It was time to make a new beginning."

Although the members of Alter Bridge have different favourites on the album, Tremonti says that Watch Your Words was the hardest to finish.

"Watch Your Words must have six different parts that we had to fit into one song. We didn't have to but without any one of those parts it didn't seem half as good so that's why it's a six-and-a-half- minute song. We almost didn't take it to the studio, but now that we did people are hearing the record and saying it's their favourite song."

While some people might view Alter Bridge simply as Creed with a new singer, Kennedy isn't exactly a slouch. He was one of the singers asked to audition for Velvet Revolver, born out of the remnants of Guns N' Roses. Kennedy says he thought he wasn't right for the group and declined to audition.

But Alter Bridge says they are taking some pointers from the way Velvet Revolver has begun as a new group through playing small clubs and shunning some obvious publicity stunts.

Alter Bridge will play a few dates overseas in September before beginning a North American tour. An October 4 date at Toronto's The Guvernment has also been announced.