Lock your doors, board up your windows and head for the cellar, because The Creepshow are rolling into Kingston with their frenetic, horror-filled, zombie-fuelled brand of psychobilly.
For those unfamiliar with the world of psychobilly, imagine the rockabilly sounds of The Stray Cats buried in a velvet-lined coffin alongside the horror motif and punk influence of The Misfits. Throw in some ’50s doo-wop and an upright bass and you’ve got yourself a psychobilly band.
Although the psychobilly scene in North America is still establishing itself with the help of bands like Tiger Army and Nekromantix, this energetic style of music has been alive and well in Europe for many years, starting with the scene’s godfathers, The Meteors.
The Creepshow dropped their first album, Sell Your Soul, in 2006, featuring Sickboy on upright bass, Ginty on keyboards, Pomade playing drums and Hellcat on guitars and vocals. Shortly after the record’s release, Hellcat became pregnant, so her sister, Sarah “Sin” Blackwood stepped up to fill her position.
The Creepshow come from the Burlington area, well-known as a fertile ground for young punk bands.
“There’s just nothing to do around there, so everyone just picks up their instruments,” Sickboy told the Journal in a phone interview. “Even when we were young, there were bands like Grade that we had to look up to who were doing well. You get to see that live at the YMCA when you’re a kid and it inspires you.”
Now gearing up for a six-week tour of Europe, The Creepshow have recently been gigging around Ontario and Quebec on weekends. The band, however, can definitely attest to a difference between psychobilly in Europe and in North America.
“In Europe and Southern California, it’s just ridiculous. In Europe, there’s a lot more history to it—there’s bands that have been around for 20 or more years—where it’s kind of a newer thing in most of North America, and definitely more underground,” he said. “It’s just starting to get a whole lot bigger because of bands like Tiger Army. I mean, it’s definitely bigger than two or three years ago, where it was like, ‘psycho-what?’ ”
True to their name, The Creepshow base their material on fictional tales of zombies, monsters and the macabre. “We’re into politics and we’re into music, but we like to keep them completely separate,” Sickboy said. “If I wanna see a political band, I’ll go see Propagandhi or something. We like to write about, like, made-up stories, horror stuff and just personal experiences.” This is aptly demonstrated by catchy rockers like “Zombies Ate Her Brain” or the southwest-flavoured “Creatures of the Night,” where playful horror imagery is stretched across tight rhythms and slick melodies. The songs have serious legs: one minute they’re driving you to the edge with a fast punk beat and the next you’re swivelling your hips to a bouncy swing feel.
The Creepshow try to bring the same easygoing party vibe to their live shows.
“Even if the crowd’s kinda tired and not really into it, we work hard to get everyone singing and dancing and having a good time.”
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