| CD REVIEW The Creepshow |
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Band : The Creepshow Hailing from Burbank in the Ontario district, this Canadian act was formed in 2005 when scene vetarans Sean "Sickboy" McNab (upright bass player, backing vocals; was the singer/ guitarist for local legends Outspan), The Reverend McGinty (organ/ backing vocals; songwriter & trombone player for Ska band two-face, trombone player for Outspan as well) and Matt "Pomade" Gee (drummer; still spits his time between the Creepshow and punk outfit Rehab For Quitters) got together with Jen "Hellcat" Blackwood to start a "Hellbilly" band (writing the majority of their fast-paced songs about horror films with the music fitting into the Horror Punk genre). They recorded "Shake" as a contribution to the Stumble Records (2-disc) compilation Zombie Night In Canada Vol.2 (released in early January 2006), and then got signed to the Stereo Dynamite label after its owner Adam Sewell heard the band's 2005 demos. Debut album Sell Your Soul was swiftly recorded in a production by Steve Rizun (of Protest The Hero, The Flatliners, and Ill Scarlett repute) and released in May 2006. Two months earlier the label had signed an exclusive distribution deal with EMI Music Canada, which of course helped hugely in the increasement of the band's area of influence and subsequent popularity. Shortly after, Canada's Crazy Love Records also released a vinyl version of the album. Then Hellcat got pregnant, and handed over her duties within the band to her younger sister Sarah "Sin". First on a temporary basis, then permanently...Hellcat making her final appearance with The Creepshow in their video for "The Garden". The band has done several tours across Canada, as well as two in Europe. With Sarah as the lead singer, the band did a tour with The Unseen and Tiger Army in Spring, then did a Canadian tour with Anti-Flag in late Summer, and they'll be coming back to Europe in support of their new album in October. The new album, released in Canada through Stomp Records on August 22 (and licenced by Germany's People Like You for the European territories), was again recorded/ produced by Rizun, and as with the debut it opens with McGinty bringing a spoken word "sermon" in a Vincent Price-inspired voice. Only containg 10 tracks including the sermon, the album only lasts a good 28 minutes, but each second of that small half hour is quite delectably chilling. Thanks to a good portion of backing vocals (actually, and most specifically so in the riveting "Rue Morgue Radio",the lead vocals are occasionally alternated between Sarah and one of the boys) the songs have a high sing-along factor. Sarah's screaming guitar parts bring in the Punk factor while McGinty's organ tunes and McNab's explicite upright bass thumping bring in that B-movie soundtrack and Rockabilly feel. After the opening riff of "Take My Hand" the band came up with the great idea of letting that instrument shut up for a moody passage which is so deliciously remeniscent of the late '50s vocal bands era, before kicking off the track in its initial gear again. At this point I would like to give you some shards from the label's promo talk (because it's just too nice to have you miss out on it): "Lock your doors, turn out the lights and say your prayers cuz The Creepshow is back with a fiendishly fresh new joint that'll leave you breathless and begging for more...Run For Your Life delivers 10 blood-drenched country-tinged Punk Rock shockers straight from the unholy underworld. From sweet, mournful ballads to horrorbilly boot stompers to raging Punk fueled anthems, this record has it all...Gasp in terror as the stunning and deceptively disarming Sarah Sin lures you into her tangled web of heartbreak, revenge and betrayal with her sultry and seductive vocals. Dance to the diabolically primal rhythms of the nefarious Sick Boi on upright beater-bass and the develish Matt Pomade on demon skins. Kneel at the altar of the Reverend McGinty as he converts the masses with his hypnotic and dastardly hellspawned keys...dare to delve into the dark and disturbing world that is The Creepshow..."! For your audio introduction to the band, surf to myspace.com/thecreepshow, where you'll find the two earlier mentioned songs posted alongside a cover of The Ramones' "Pet Sematary" (not on any album). For a shit-load of videos (I've counted some 40!!!), check out the band's page on last.fm (go to google and enter "the creepshow last.fm"; click on the first site listed)...the quality may not always quite up to standard as a lot of it is live footage, but it gives you a fair idea of the band's live show. Apparently there's some controversy between fans about prefering either Hellcat or Sarah Sin, which seems silly to me, and something which would alway happen in the "mainstream" scene the band was thrown in when a major label distributed their first album!!! I'm sure réal fans of the band were glad enough of the fact that the act continued and didn't cease to exist when Hellcat chose to lead a family life! If you wanna see the band's live show with your own eyes, you wíll have that possibility in October and November when the band is touring Europe. Well, not àll of it! Concentrated on Germany (where no less than 15 shows will be played, the band will play in France, the Czech Republic, Switzerland, Austria, The UK (for which dates in Spain and Portugal were apparently cancelled), and Finland. No Belgium, no Holland...so there you are! 88/100 Tony. |