Interview by Rachael Dowd
Hailing from Southampton, a port town on the southern coast of England, is Creeper, a band who has taken the music scene by a storm with their theatrical interpretation of punk. Releasing their latest album, Eternity, In Your Arms, earlier this year, Creeper is one of the most buzzed about bands playing the Vans Warped Tour this summer. Calling the Full Stage University stage their home, we caught up with vocalist Will Gould to chat about the process behind Eternity, In Your Arms, how he is preparing for his first summer on Warped Tour, and more.
There are a lot of concepts and themes weaved throughout Creeper’s new album, Eternity, In Your Arms. How did you approach this album while in the studio?
We kind of had the narrative sorted out before we went into the studio so the record was built into the concept. We had a structure for these concepts because it worked through a lot of multi-platforms – artwork, social media, and such. We had a white board with a structure on how the songs related to each other. We approached the album like we were in art school and it honestly felt more like a college project than putting together an album.
Were there any goals you had set out to achieve while making the album and do you feel like you accomplished everything in the end?
Just making an album with Creeper was a goal because all of my favorite records are always albums and not EPs. I like the idea of having narratives in albums – a beginning, middle, and end – just continuity throughout which is something we were conscious of. We wanted to create something unique, but not jarring. Having a country song [“Crickets”] in the middle of a pop punk album is a gamble, but we worked to make it fluid.
We wanted to make something that was surprising and we started to develop another type of song we liked to write during the process of this album. We write hardcore songs that are fast, more conventional pop punk songs, and we just started writing songs that are kind of 80s Blondie songs like “Down Below.” That was something that, in my time, we explored, and we got to accomplish with this album. Each time we do these things, we kind of learn a new trick and that’s something we want to continue to do in the future.
This summer is Creeper’s first time on the Warped Tour! What are you most looking forward to about the summer?
Warped Tour is a romantic place in my mind because when I was growing up bands like Rancid and AFI played. It’s an honor for us because it definitely has a sort of heritage to it and is something that you never think you’ll get to do. Especially being from the UK, we have a romanticized view of a lot of things about America because it’s so grey and gloomy here. We like the people, we like making friends, and we like playing so it’s all of those things at once.
Friends of ours have had a lot of great experiences on the tour and Neck Deep are out this summer so we are going to hang with them a lot. Our friend Andy Biersack is also playing and so is Boston Manor so a lot of bands we have become friends with are out there so it’s going to be a lot of fun. I am excited to see other parts of the states and we are just very humbled to have been asked to play.
Have you attended any Warped Tour dates in past years?
We went to Indiana [last summer]when Neck Deep had a one-off date and we wanted to see Old Wounds. It was really cool and a lot of bands that were playing knew about Creeper so that was also really cool. It seems like everything was ridiculously hot though. We are not going to be able to wear our jackets all summer, I guess.
One of my first memories of Warped Tour was when Napster was a thing and I downloaded videos of AFI who were playing. It must be so cool to go every year to Warped Tour, I wish there was something like it over here in the UK.
As a group of musicians from gloomy Southampton, how are you all preparing for a hot and sunny summer on Warped Tour?
I bought some heart-shaped sunglasses in preparation for the tour and they are pretty feminine, but I feel like they are going to be perfect for Warped Tour.
We are very particular about a lot of things so we are going to play like we always do. We played in Texas with no air conditioning and we did okay, but I am just worried about getting a tan. We are not the first goth band to play the tour so I think we will do okay. We know it’s essential to have air conditioning in the states so hopefully our bus will have that. Like when we are touring in the UK, we definitely don’t need it!
Ian [Miles] recently sent me a link for Warped Roadies which is that reality show for the tour which I found really interesting.
Creeper is known for having a very cinematic stage performance especially on your recent UK headliner earlier this year. Are you hoping to translate that in any way to Creeper’s Warped Tour set?
It’s difficult because we are playing in the daylight and the thing about America at this point is that we are well known enough in the UK that our headlining shows just keep getting bigger. We are going to play like every day is our last show whether there are five people or five thousand, we always play our shows the same. Regardless of the day or how hot, we play the same show and we will translate the songs as best we can.
For fans out there that are heading out to the tour this summer and have never seen Creeper before, what can they expect from your performance?
I like to think that Creeper represents some of the qualities from bands of days gone by and maybe we are a little influenced by what the roots of Warped Tour were originally rather than what they are now, but it’s great to see the festival do something new. Young people may see something that they have never seen before, but old people may recognize the nostalgia that is something very dramatic, but fast-paced and vulnerable at the same time. Think of us as a pop punk band if the members of the band were all in school theater.
Will Creeper’s set have a balance of new and old songs or are you focused on playing songs from Eternity, In Your Arms?
I think we are going to have to play the songs a bit faster [laughs]. My old band could have played all of our songs in the Warped Tour time frame. We are playing Download Festival before Warped Tour and are going to try out different songs from the album and cherry pick. We may change our set every day so we don’t play the same set and get bored. We want to keep it fun and interesting for us and those that come to see us. Most people coming to Warped Tour haven’t seen us, but we will play it by ear and will most likely play the songs we like to play because we are just selfish like that [laughs]. We can be a really selfish band with that kind of thing. We have a song called “Stranger” that was an intro and we only played it once live because it was so awkward so we are going to play what we feel is right.
Creeper’s told some pretty interesting tour stories while traveling in America. Is there a particular part of the states you enjoy touring through the most?
We went to a place in California, we didn’t play a show there, but we had drank a lot of gin and I had just woken up when we stopped there. It was a place that looked like Twin Peaks and it had this motel and supermarket and everyone in the town knew each other. It was really charming and everyone is a lot quainter there and our version of that [in the UK] is like a little post office with old people.
We love playing in New York City, Chicago, and we had a good show in California when we were last there. People are starting to get to know us a bit more which is really cool. It will be interesting to see what Warped Tour is like for the first time because we are going to be seen by a lot of people.
Are there any bands you are looking forward to watching over the summer?
We just did a tour with Too Close To Touch so it will be cool to watch them, Boston Manor, and we are really looking forward to seeing New Year’s Day. We are excited to see some of the pop punk bands, I just like all of the old punk stuff. I want this summer to be like my 2003 Warped Tour experience I never got to have so maybe I will make it my mission to see every band this summer.
Catch Creeper all summer long on the Full Sail University stage. Their new album, Eternity, In Your Arms, is available now!
