Creeper Tour Overview
Creeper are an English rock band from Southampton. Formed in 2014, the group originally featured vocalist Will Gould, guitarists Ian Miles and Sina Nemati, bassist Sean Scott, and drummer Dan Bratton. The band independently released their self-titled debut EP in 2014, before signing with Roadrunner Records and issuing follow-up The Callous Heart the next year. At the end of 2015, Nemati was replaced by Oliver Burdett and touring keyboardist/second vocalist Hannah Greenwood became an official band member. A third EP, The Stranger, was released in 2016 and reached the UK Rock & Metal Albums Chart top ten.
The group's full-length debut album Eternity, in Your Arms reached number 18 on the UK Albums Chart in 2017. After an extensive touring cycle, Creeper took a year-long break and returned in 2020 with their second album Sex, Death & the Infinite Void, which reached number 5 in the UK. Bratton and Burdett left shortly thereafter and the group released American Noir in 2021. Jake Fogarty took over from Bratton around the time of the EP's release. After completing the touring cycle for Sex, Death & the Infinite Void and American Noir, Creeper signed with Spinefarm Records in 2022 for their third album, 2023's Sanguivore.
Formed through their mutual involvement in hardcore punk and post-hardcore groups in the Southampton area, Creeper are musically and stylistically influenced by fellow "goth punk" groups including AFI and Alkaline Trio, as well as more traditional punk rock acts like the Bouncing Souls and glam rock artists such as David Bowie. The band's songwriting is typically led by Gould and Miles, although Nemati also co-wrote many of their early songs. Creeper were hailed by critics as one of the best new rock bands shortly after their formation, winning awards from magazines Metal Hammer, Kerrang! and Rock Sound in 2016.
About Creeper
Creeper were formed in Southampton in 2014 by lead vocalist Will Gould and guitarist and backing vocalist Ian Miles - who had previously worked together as members of punk rock band Our Time Down Here - along with second guitarist Sina Nemati, bassist and backing vocalist Sean Scott, and drummer Dan Bratton. When Miles and Gould originally conceived the idea for the band, they intended for it to be a New Romantic-influenced take on dark wave, before it eventually developed into a much more punk-influenced sound. It was Gould's idea to name the band Creeper, pleased by how it sounded like the name of a Stephen King novel and there wasn't any genre implied by it, two other names thrown around early on were Coven and Witch Cat. The quintet independently released their self-titled debut EP on 19 June 2014, which was later issued as a limited edition 12" vinyl by Palm Reader Records on 18 December. The band played their first headline show at the Joiners Arms on 1 August, followed by their first performance in London at The Old Blue Last on 13 September and a stint supporting Welsh group Funeral for a Friend. In June 2015 the group signed with Roadrunner Records and played at Download Festival for the first time. The band's second EP, The Callous Heart, was released on 18 September 2015 and launched at a special show three days before. Later in the year, the group toured with Misfits and later Moose Blood, as well as performing at the UK Warped Tour.
In December 2015, it was announced that Nemati had left Creeper in order to "concentrate on his sound engineering career in London", while touring keyboardist Hannah Greenwood was upgraded to a full-time member. The group's third EP, The Stranger, was released on 19 February 2016 and entered the UK Albums Chart at number 130. The EP was promoted on a headline tour with Scottish support band Grader, as well as dates supporting Neck Deep and WSTR. In May 2016, Creeper supported Black Veil Brides vocalist Andy Biersack on his Homecoming Tour, as well as performing second on the bill for Funeral for a Friend at their final show on 21 May at the O2 Forum. In June, the group contributed a cover of Iron Maiden's "The Evil That Men Do" to Kerrang! magazine's Maiden Heaven Volume 2: An All-Star Tribute To Iron Maiden album, and in August they contributed a recording of My Chemical Romance's "This Is How I Disappear" to the Rock Sound free release Rock Sound Presents... The Black Parade, a tribute album to The Black Parade.
Creeper Facts
- After Creeper performed at the Reading and Leeds Festivals in August 2016, the band's Twitter account began posting images of white noise, before their personal accounts were hidden or removed.
- A Southampton phone number used to promote The Stranger then featured a new voicemail message, which provided a link to a website detailing "the disappearance of James Scythe", featuring references to the band's EPs.
- "Hiding with Boys" was released as the second track from Eternity, in Your Arms on 11 December 2016 when it was premiered on the BBC Radio 1 Rock Show, with a music video released for the track the following day.
- Upon its release, Eternity, in Your Arms debuted in the top 20 of the UK Albums Chart, at number 18. It also debuted at number 1 on the UK Rock & Metal Albums Chart, and at number 17 on the Scottish Albums Chart.
