Alter Bridge is an American hard rock and heavy metal band formed in Orlando, Florida in 2004, built from the nucleus of post-Creed members Mark Tremonti, Brian Marshall, and Scott Phillips, joined by vocalist Myles Kennedy. Their second album Blackbird (2007) marked a significant critical breakthrough, and subsequent releases including Fortress (2013) and The Last Hero (2016) debuted in the Top 10 on charts in both the UK and US. The band is defined by Tremonti's dual-guitar attack and Kennedy's operatic range, placing them at the heavy end of the mainstream American rock spectrum.

Scott Stapp is an American singer and songwriter from Florida, best known as the co-founder and lead vocalist of Creed, the multi-platinum rock band whose albums My Own Prison (1997) and Human Clay (1999) together sold over seventeen million copies in the United States. After Creed dissolved in 2004, Stapp launched a solo career with The Great Divide (2005), which reached platinum certification, followed by Proof of Life (2013) and The Space Between the Shadows (2019). His fourth solo album Higher Power, released through Napalm Records in March 2024, produced the highest-charting non-Creed single of his career, reaching number 12 on Mainstream Rock Airplay.