Creepy Band's debut album The Curse of the Cloak

 

STREAM: Select tracks from The Curse of the Cloak (2012)

RIYL: Ghost; Danzig; Murder City Devils

The term "gothic" is tossed around fairly easy nowadays, incorrectly describing anything from teenagers just obsessed with black t-shirts to heavy metal that owes no debt to horror or literature. What's missing from these tags is the drama, a sense of theatrical danger and a reverence to the past - even several centuries ago. Making their debut performance on Halloween night two years ago, Chicago area quintet - and the aptly-described - Creepy Band are shredding misconceptions, and stages, in their quest to bring true fun to a genre needing an injection of grandeur and, well, life.

The group's debut album The Curse of the Cloak - recorded by former Rise Against member Dan Precision at Bomb Shelter Studios - plays like a unmanned roller-coaster ride through campy haunted houses, with blaring church organ, fuzzy guitars and inventive songwriting around every turn. But for as much fun as the band's having with all the ghostly imagery and noir subject matter, there are true vocal heroics (the harmonious coos on "Chromatic Descent") and pummeling anthems ("Damn The Old Man") throughout, allowing the band's sound to not be confined to their own box. The epic dirge "Ballad," one of the album's many high points, could easily appear on Joe Strummer's late-period masterpiece Streetcore. Choppy guitar riffs fade in and meet up with marching drums and stoic organ before launching into a memorable, crushing tale of remorse, as if spun by Johnny Cash. Having performed with several heavyweights in their genre - Calabrese, Koffin Kats, Goddamn Gallows - and others outside of it - such as Howl - Creepy Band is in their element with their own handmade props, satanic Latin intros and the like. It's all part of a crowd-pleasing live show that, when partnered with the outstanding songwriting of The Curse of the Cloak, makes for a buzzworthy legend for those who live to tell about it!

The group has studio time booked this summer and a ton of new material to lay down, which they are planning on releasing on vinyl this fall. Between an April skateboard video release for Beerics.com and a performance for Killer Moon's album release in June, Creepy Band will headline the Burlington later this month. Details below:

 

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SUN 5/19 @ The Burlington, 3425 W. Fullerton (Chicago, IL)

Creepy Band with The Funeral And The Twilight,

Dusty Santamaria And The Singing Knives, Nino Divino

$7 // Doors 9pm // 21+==========