Self-released – 15 Oct 2021
Snotty Chicago punks rage on debut EP
I spent A night with The Creepers and all I got was six tracks of pop punk goodness. These tracks are fast, the vocals are snotty, and the guitars are a three chord delight. If you’re a fan of 90’s era punk, you will definitely be a fan of The Creepers.
Fish’s vocals on these tracks are reminiscent of Fat Mike. I mean that as a compliment. They’re filled with more snot than a first grader’s birthday party, and they match the musical styling of the band perfectly. The backing vocals on “Nothing is Alright” provide a heavier compliment to the lead vocals.
Karl on lead guitar has some excellent picking parts throughout the EP. The end of “Not My Kind” has excellent layering between the lead guitar screechy punk goodness and the rhythm guitar tearing through chords. The lead guitar plays a quick picking part up to the minute mark and then immediately drops off becoming more slow and resonant while the rhythm guitar stays the same. It’s honestly one of my favorite parts of the release..
The Drums, played by Ponyboy, set the blistering tempo for the EP. I’m a sucker for fast drums with quick, tight fills and Ponyboy delivers on every track. “Nothing is Alright” Is Ponyboy’s shining moment of the e.p. where he plays almost a surf rock style beat in between breakneck paced fills. Stay gold, Ponyboy.
“Dead Party” starts with a killer bass intro by Snatch. It’s fast, it’s frantic, it’s excellent. The best way I could describe the sound is psycho circus punk. Instrumentally, It makes me feel like I’m in a house of mirrors that’s burning down and I’m trying to get out. “Dead Party” ends with 10 seconds of dead air feedback like guitar sound before picking it right back up for the final track “45”. It’s as if I finally found the exit to the house of mirrors only to run into a reflection of myself on the way out and break my nose. How fitting that the song is about DJT because that’s exactly how I felt on election night in November of 2016.
The only bone I could pick with the album is that the lyrics seem a little trite. I don’t feel like The Creepers are saying anything that any punk band hasn’t said before. The band may have been worried more about fitting together a rhyme and less about the other aspects of lyric writing. That’s almost to be expected from a debut EP though. At the end of the day, it’s a minor hindrance in an excellent album.
It’s more than good enough for me and I can’t wait to see what The Creepers do next!
