In 2016 thereÔÇÖs plenty of reasons to be cynical about music, whether itÔÇÖs the impending disaster that is a cash hungry Guns NÔÇÖ Roses reunion or the pseudo-revolutionary hot air of Twenty-One Pilots and company.┬á Revel in that at your peril; itÔÇÖs a fast root to despair and if you dare to dwell on it too long youÔÇÖll have missed the unbridled enthusiasm and honest passion in your peripheral.┬á Enter, Creeper; a band from Southampton that are vying for the opportunity to bring back what has been missing.

First up, let vocalist Will Gould explain exactly what angle Creeper are shooting from: ÔÇ£We all come from hardcore punk, but growing up I listened to David Bowie and a lot of the glam rock stuff my Dad liked, whilst Ian (Miles, guitarist) grew up listening to Metallica.┬á Both of those are very different musicians and very different styles, but the bombastic and grand nature of the ideas is what really excited us at quite a young age.ÔÇØ

ItÔÇÖs the theatrical vision that Will describes in his formative years that is most distinct about the bandÔÇÖs output thus far.┬á So itÔÇÖs almost no surprise when he reels off some more influential and intertextual idiosyncrasies.┬á ÔÇ£ThereÔÇÖs a film by Brian De Palma, ÔÇÿThe Phantom Of The ParadiseÔÇÖ, that I obsess over and the songs from that were a massive aid to our writingÔÇØ, Will divulges before nonchalantly citing Jim Steinman, who wrote songs for the mighty Meatloaf and Bonnie Tyler.┬á He admits that ÔÇ£his records werenÔÇÖt punk records at all, but the ideas, the scope of them and the storytelling, were something that we took a lot of cues from.┬á We try and temper that with punk. ItÔÇÖs kind of weird, it shouldnÔÇÖt work on paper, but we try out best to fuse them.ÔÇØ

Fuse them they do; and seamlessly so.┬á ItÔÇÖs a fusion thatÔÇÖs certainly grabbed the attention of key and influential parts of the music media, but Will refuses to take any attention of the hype.┬á ÔÇ£ItÔÇÖs really odd.┬á We donÔÇÖt think a lot about the way itÔÇÖs all being perceived.┬á WeÔÇÖre more focused on our songs.┬á We try not to take too much notice of what other people are doing or saying.┬á As shitty as that sounds, you tend to lose your focus and you can lose your muse really quickly when you start concerning yourself with what other people are saying.┬á As nice as it is to hear, I donÔÇÖt want to get caught up in that.ÔÇØ

CreeperÔÇÖs refusal to buckle and give in to the superlatives that surround them aids in the feeling of community among their small, but perfectly formed and ever growing fan base.┬á In fact, they refuse to even call them fans; followers of Creeper are known affectionately as a cult.┬á ItÔÇÖs these small aspects, such as the manner in which they choose to address their audience that piece together the larger narrative puzzle of CreeperÔÇÖs universe.┬á ItÔÇÖs a world that is far more complex than anyone outside of its centre to imagine, but its more than overtly hinted at in the way they present themselves.┬á Six members, clad in black denim and leather, each emblazoned with one sole ÔÇÿCallous HeartÔÇÖ patch on their back; and thatÔÇÖs just the start.

ÔÇ£We take great care over every little detail, all the t-shirts designs, everything; IÔÇÖm meticulous with detail.┬á We try and keep it all together, so when people are into our band, itÔÇÖs more than just liking a recordÔÇØ, enthuses Will.

ÔÇ£IÔÇÖve found that a lot of bands are more like small businesses than they are bands; itÔÇÖs all so formulaicÔÇØ, he adds with a sense of disdain.┬á ÔÇ£So for us, visuals are extremely important because we are presenting the whole piece to everybody, every time.┬á When we play on stage, weÔÇÖre in character and are playing those parts, so we do things that we couldnÔÇÖt normally do because we use that to our advantage, as a storytelling technique.┬á ItÔÇÖs all part of the project.ÔÇØ

But itÔÇÖs more than just a gang, or a means of presentation.┬á This isnÔÇÖt just an aesthetic, or a state of mind.┬á Creeper use their music as a means of storytelling in a very traditional sense.┬á Reading their lyric sheets is an experience more akin to reading a novel than a poetic, sycophantic or nihilistic diary.

ÔÇ£IÔÇÖve found over the time weÔÇÖve been doing Creeper that using story mechanisms to express how I feel has been a lot easier.┬á ÔÇÿThe Callous HeartÔÇÖ has a lot of references to Peter Pan, to The Lost Boys and all these things in it because I used that as a storytelling guise.ÔÇØ

In most instances, a cheap reference to an insubstantial concept behind a particular band or album is pretty brittle.┬á It serves as an afterthought to feign at some kind of substantiation and false validation, but Will takes great pains to explain the depth of CreeperÔÇÖs narrative.┬á ÔÇ£I got some books from the library, some J. M. Barrie, a book called ÔÇÿTigerlilyÔÇÖ, which was a book written from the focal point of Tigerlily the character from Peter Pan who was his other love interest.┬á So we kind of used the crux of that, but threaded our own lives through it.┬á So they become songs that bind us all together.┬á The songs are about us as a group.┬á So everything we sing about is from a very real place.

I always try and explain it like when you see a hardcore punk band a lot of the time their telling you itÔÇÖs sincere, but they give you pantomime.┬á I feel like the difference with our band is that we promise you pantomime but we actually give you something quite sincereÔÇØ, Will gestures.

ThatÔÇÖs what sets Creeper apart; a real sense of sincerity in an industry over-run with falsity.┬á They practice what they preach and they deliver something of true substance that theyÔÇÖve crafted as more than just a means to an end.┬á This band have more than just potential to mean so much to so many.

JACK GLASSCOCK