CREEPER PLAY GLASGOW’S NEWEST INTIMATE MUSIC VENUES ‘CLYDE ROOMS’ WITH SELL-OUT SHOW.

★★★★☆ (4/5)

CREEPER PERFORMING AT GLASGOW’S CLYDE ROOMS
PHOTOCREDIT: CATCHING LIGHT PHOTOGRAPHY

My first experience of Creeper was when they opened for Bayside in Audio back in 2015. Apparently some things have changed since then, so The Modern Record checked them out eight years later at The Clyde Rooms to see if they’ve aged as gracefully as we have.

The Clyde Rooms isn’t the usual venue for such a band, but the turn out pre doors is huge. This might have something to do with a K Pop band called StayC making an appearance at the same venue after a mix up which resulted in them wearing a Glasgow Ranger’s football top to an American sports event. It’s quite the blend of goth punk fans and kawaii K poppers – neither of which are commonly seen around Ibrox Stadium.

I’m familiar with both supports tonight. The first being The Nightmares who opened for Kids In Glass Houses recently. I wasn’t impressed first time round… I thought the name and image of vampires on stage (the bass player looks exactly like Matt Berry in What We Do In The Shadows) didn’t match the 90s alt indie rock that I was hearing. Tonight they left a better impression. Tonight, I could hear Alkaline Trio in the songs with vocals that approached Tim Wheeler from Ash. I think a venue of this size allows the energy to translate a bit better. In the huge space of SWG3 last time, the bite and edge had dissipated by the time it reached us at the back. Tonight’s performance got me curious again though.

The main support is Save Face – a band hailing from New Jersey who I last saw supporting The Wonder Years. When I first saw them I remember thinking “wow, every song sounds like Give Em Hell Kid by My Chemical Romance “. In truth… not every song sounds like Give Em Hell… but if you miss MCR then this is the band to go see. They have the energy, sound (especially vocals) and melodies of the emo giants. Could this hold them back as being accused of just being a clone? Possibly, but I’m not holding it against them. The music has you unable to not bounce along and if I knew the words I’d be singing. These guys are a definite highlight of the night before the headliners even get close to coming on stage.

In-between Save Face and Creeper we get a Disneyland sounding tape warning us that the show is going to begin in so many minutes and it’s alluding to a creature coming to eat us or something. It is a bit corny, but fun theming. I personally, love the haunted mansion. What isn’t great is having to wait so long for the band to come on with no music. Instead, we get creepy atmospheric sounds while the road crew get the stage together. It gets a tad tiresome once the novelty wears off. Roadies light incense on the stage at 15 minutes out, and there’s more announcements from out haunted narrator. By the time the 5 minute warning comes on to the sound of thunder and flashing audience blinders, I’ve warmed up to the theming. The incense appeared to have set off one girl’s migraine in the front rows, but other than that it’s a good atmosphere. There’s a comedic announcement on stage before the band come one which we could have done without. It took the sinister edge from the atmosphere.

As soon as Creeper start, even if you didn’t get it before… you get it now.

This isn’t a band playing a gig. This is like a Broadway show without the set changes. This is the band The Misfits wanted to be. A smokey stage with band members wearing vampiric make up, singing songs about the dramatic evils we only see in horror movies. Front man Will Gould is clearly at home performing and if anything, I’d say he needs a bigger stage and audience. In his voice we get Bruce Dickinson, Danzig, Nick Cave, and the whole cast of Rocky Horror. The music is tight and performed by amazing musicians with fantastic stage presence, but Will steals the show every second of every song with the presence of an over confident Meat Loaf.

The crowd, although not a sell out, are waiting for each song like sharks who have smelled blood. Although not the most active crowd, every song is sung back with ten times the energy it’s sent to them. There’s the occasional crowd surfer and bit of moshing but the room doesn’t spin - but it kinda doesn’t have to. This isn’t as punk as AFI or The Misfits thanks to it’s the polish and rehearsed dramatics so it would be unfair to expect a crowd to be as punk. It is more Horror though… probably the most Horror act in the world right now and that’s more important than being punk rock to these fans.

Creeper aren’t the same band I saw back in 2015… they’re bigger, better and scarier.