Interview with CREEPER

Automatic translation. Improvements are constantly being worked on.

“The idea of living forever and in the shadows is very romantic for me.”

2 Facts:
– The British Punk Rock band was founded in Southampton in 2014.
– Formative albums include Jim Steinman – “Bad for Good”, The Sisters of Mercy – “Floodland” and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – “Murder Ballads”.

“Sanguivore” is about the brutal vampire Mercy and her relationship with Spook, who comes under her control … a wonderfully bloody work peppered with horror elements. We talk to frontman William Ghould about bloodthirst and an album that was partly made in churches and recorded in the same studio as Queen’s“Bohemian Rhapsody”. Only good signs, right?

Bloodthirsty?
Orkus: “Sanguivore” starts incredibly strong with the nine-minute monster song “Further than Forever”, which shows a wide range of your music. How did this song come about?
William von Ghould: I think this song was something we’ve wanted to do for quite a while! We’ve tried something similar a few times in the past, but it didn’t really work. This time Ian and I already had parts of different songs before we went into the studio and with the help of our producer Tom Dalgety we finally put them together. For us, this is something completely new, based on our love for Jim Steinman and his overflowing, ambitious imagination. In the end we decided to open the record with that, as a statement of intent and to let the listener know that the journey will probably take a few twists and turns.

Eighties flair?
O: The video clip for “Cry to Heaven” conveys a cool eighties flair. What do you personally associate with the eighties?
WG: I think the version of the eighties that exists in my head is one of tremendous excess and extravagance. A lot of the fashion and music that emerged during this time has always inspired me. With the song “Cry to Heaven” we felt that the video should reflect the influences of the song, so The Sisters of Mercy and Billy Idol were important influences.

Vampiristic
O: What fascinates you most about vampires? And how do you feel about slipping into this role?
WG: Of all the characters I’ve portrayed over the course of my career, this is certainly the one I’ve felt most comfortable with so far. Vampires have always fascinated me. The idea of living forever and in the shadows is very romantic for me.

Victims?
O: I also love the video clip for “Teenage Sacrifice”. How did you experience the filming?
WG: Thank you very much! The video shoot was a lot of fun and the shoot took place in Gloucester Prison, which is now derelict and haunted. It was especially fun working with Billy Price, one of the filmmakers, as we’ve known each other for many years and I’ve always wanted him to make a full video for us. Our brief was “What if Brian De Palma (e.g. “Carrie”, 1976 or “The Black Dahlia”, 2006 – editor’s note) directed ‘Jennifer’s Body’?” and I think he did a fantastic job!

O: Of course, there is also a slight reminiscence of “Carrie”. Do you like horror movies of this kind?
WG: Oh yeah, definitely horror movies from that era or a massive influence on the video, for sure! These films have a very strong influence on us.

Mysterious?
O: We haven’t talked about the album title yet. How did you come up with the idea of calling the album “Sanguivore”?
WG: We came up with the name of the album during the recordings at Rockfield Studios. What I liked about it was that many people might not know the meaning of “sanguivore”. I thought that the audience would have to look up the term, that they would have to deal with it. I like the idea that there’s already a secret that you’re drawn into before you’ve even turned on the record.

Queen’s vibrations?
O: How can we imagine working on the album? Was there a common thread right from the start, or did it only emerge afterwards?
WG: We’d had this idea of doing a vampire concert album for a few years and when we first met Tom Dalgety it was like we’d found the missing piece. Both he and I live in converted churches, Ian and I wrote parts in my house and then also wrote parts with Tom in his house, which means a lot of the work for this album was done in very old English churches. When it came time to record the instruments, Tom rented Rockfield Studios, known as the studio where Queen recorded the song “Bohemian Rhapsody”. Recording a Gothic Rock’n’Roll record that was written in two churches and recorded in a room like this really adds to the feel of the album in my opinion. It all felt very authentic.

Optics
O: The artwork of Welder Wings is amazing. What criteria were used to select it?
WG: We actually discovered Welder Wings through the Internet. We wanted the album cover to look timeless, as if it had been around for a long time. Welder Wings were given a briefing of our character Mercy and an overview of the story they used to create something so beautiful and perfect for our album.

Short and sweet: William on “Sanguivore”:
01 “Further than Forever ” – This is a great opener that takes the listener into the world of our characters and to the gates of their kingdom for the first time.
02 “Cry to Heaven ” – A bombastic dance number that shows influences that the band had not shown before.
03 “Sacred Blasphemy ” – A fast Punk Rock song in the style of The Misfits and The Damned. In doing so, we are paying homage to our early roots.
04 “The Ballad of Spook & Mercy ” – This ballad takes the listener on a violent journey into the blood-soaked world of the album’s main characters.
05 “Lovers Led Astray” – Danzig meets The Sisters of Mercy in a sexy stadium Rock number.
06 “Teenage Sacrifice” – The biggest riff on the album, Judas Priest meets Alice Cooper with some outrageous lyrics.
07 “Chapel Gates” – A fast-paced Horror-Punk song with echoes of The Cramps, brought to life by the story of Mary Shelley losing her virginity on her mother’s grave.
08 “The Abyss” – The only interlude on the album, a “Mr. Crowley”-like piece that gives the listener a little sigh of relief as they approach the end.
09 “Black Heaven” – This song shows the widest range of the band’s previous influences and introduces electronic elements for the first time.
10. “More than Death” – Finally reaching the climax, a tragic piano ballad as the sun rises and consumes what’s left of Spook and Mercy’s lives.

Claudia Zinn-Zinnenburg

Line-up:
William von Ghould – Vocals
Ian Miles – Guitars, background Vocals
Sean Scott – Bass, background Vocals
Hannah Greenwood – Keyboards, Violin, background Vocals
Jake Fogarty – Drums, Percussion

Watch the clip “Cry to Heaven”: