The Southampton punk quintet packed out their first ever London show. Here's five things we learned watching them.
For such a new band Creeper have an impressive fan-base
There’s probably a fair few people reading this unfamiliar with Creeper, which is understandable. By their own admission on stage they have only been a band for a few months, they have one EP to their name and this is their second ever gig, although to the casual observer you wouldn’t expect that from the crowd gathered tonight. The room is rammed to capacity, anyone expecting a quiet drink and to watch a little known band is in for a shock as any plans to even get to the bar have to be swiftly aborted as it means trying to fight your way through a jam packed blockade of snapbacks and tote bags.
The crowd’s reaction is equally bonkers.
The many people here are far from curios bystanders, as soon as the band take to the stage to Jeepers Creepers playing over the PA and launch into We Had A Pact the room explodes. Those gathered spare little time in making their presence felt, the big sing-a-longs come along with plenty of impassioned finger points, and there are stage dives galore.
The big reaction is more than justified by the band’s performance.
While the band’s goth punk influences, the likes of AFI and Alkaline Trio might be being worn quite brazenly on their sleeves, it’s nonetheless a refreshing change from the majority of bands in the current rock and punk scene peddling the same ideas. They may only have five songs to their name, but they are five very good songs indeed. Delivered in what is pretty much a perfect punk performance, packed with raw energy while remaining damn near note perfect, they sound superb.
Frontman Will Gould is a star in the making.
Will Gould may not have Davey Havok’s mysterious side or Matt Skiba’s sinister edge, yet he is a unique star in his own right. Cutting a figure of the school outcast who spent time alone in the library reading Edgar Alone Poe and has now come back for revenge in a leather jacket armed with a microphone. On set closer Novena he displays a fragile, yet unhinged vulnerability that has been present in the best rock stars from Kurt Cobain to Gerard Way.
Creeper are going to be big…
…and they deserve to be. There are bands who are three or four albums deep that would struggle to pull off a performance like this, or attract such a fanatic response. The excitement present in this room is the sort of organic buzz that the best PR campaign in the world couldn’t create. It simply comes from a fantastic band capturing people’s imaginations. If there is one complaint tonight it’s just that it’s all over too quick. At just the five songs from the EP and an AFI cover, it’s a short and sweet affair. You get the feeling that everyone present would quite happily watch them tear through the EP two or three times over. Prepare to get very excited over one of the UK’s most exciting new bands.
