Latest / HEAVY Music Interviews / The Depths Of Oblivion With TOMMY CREEPER From THE WRATH
Transcript
- 0:17Speaker 1: My name's Tommy Creeper. I've seen in a band called
- 0:19Speaker 1: The Rat and we've just released our third album called
- 0:24Speaker 1: Into the Arms of Oblivion.
- 0:26Speaker 2: Fantastic mate, thanks for joining us today.
- 0:29Speaker 3: Thank you my pleasure.
- 0:31Speaker 4: So, as you say, The Rath released your third album,
- 0:33Speaker 4: Into the Albums of Oblivion last week. I made it
- 0:36Speaker 4: thirty it's made like I know, it hasn't been that long.
- 0:38Speaker 4: But how's the only reception been?
- 0:40Speaker 3: Oh, it's been good. It's a whole new world navigating the.
- 0:44Speaker 1: Internet and Spotify and things like this, So yeah, it's
- 0:49Speaker 1: been going great so far. And all the listeners and
- 0:53Speaker 1: all the views and all this stuffing been sort of
- 0:56Speaker 1: it's been going good.
- 0:57Speaker 3: Yeah, Yeah, it's been nice.
- 1:00Speaker 4: That Can you dive into it a bit deeper musically
- 1:02Speaker 4: for us and tell us what you're going forward this one?
- 1:05Speaker 1: I think with all with this one too. I think
- 1:08Speaker 1: all the previous albums and if you have listened to
- 1:10Speaker 1: all our stuff, they're all very different. So I really
- 1:12Speaker 1: try and when I want to write a new album,
- 1:16Speaker 1: I really put effort into doing something different. So really
- 1:21Speaker 1: in this one, we sort of just leaned into trying
- 1:23Speaker 1: to keep it simple, you know, and challenge ourselves to
- 1:26Speaker 1: write it around melody, write it around being catchy and
- 1:30Speaker 1: keeping keeping it simple. But that's simple is probably.
- 1:34Speaker 3: Not the right word.
- 1:35Speaker 1: It's still pretty hard to write something that's you know,
- 1:38Speaker 1: maybe technically not so crazy, but still have all the
- 1:42Speaker 1: parts and still have it sound like us. So that's
- 1:44Speaker 1: where we leaned into in this one, you know, the
- 1:47Speaker 1: back up the melodies and keeping it catching simple, you know,
- 1:52Speaker 1: so that was that was the aim.
- 1:53Speaker 4: Yeah, And you say you'd like to go different, change
- 1:56Speaker 4: things up on every album, so you sit out as
- 1:58Speaker 4: a band before you start the album and decide how
- 2:01Speaker 4: you wanted to be different or does that sort of
- 2:03Speaker 4: more come doing the creative process.
- 2:06Speaker 1: I think when I first kick off, I have that
- 2:10Speaker 1: in my head. I don't want to do something I've
- 2:11Speaker 1: already done, and it's kind of a challenge, and I
- 2:14Speaker 1: think everybody else in the band is on board, you know,
- 2:17Speaker 1: like we do.
- 2:18Speaker 3: It's interesting.
- 2:19Speaker 1: I don't feel like it's interesting for us to keep
- 2:22Speaker 1: bidding out the same stuff or you know, especially having
- 2:24Speaker 1: a double bass in the band, sticking to that what's
- 2:28Speaker 1: expected to come off something like that, you know, which
- 2:30Speaker 1: would be really you know, Yeah, it's just not interesting
- 2:33Speaker 1: to us so we try and see what we can do,
- 2:35Speaker 1: you know, and.
- 2:38Speaker 4: You've released a couple of singles from me you had
- 2:39Speaker 4: Nothings Forever and now that you're gone, So just say
- 2:42Speaker 4: that's all someone's heard of the album. Is that a
- 2:44Speaker 4: good good example of what to expect or is that
- 2:47Speaker 4: just scratching the surface.
- 2:48Speaker 1: That's just scratching the surface. I think we've I think
- 2:51Speaker 1: each song is pretty different. And that was a conscious
- 2:55Speaker 1: effort too, you know, But those were the two songs
- 2:58Speaker 1: we sort of sat down and thought, well, these are
- 3:00Speaker 1: these might grab people, you know, as singles, you know,
- 3:03Speaker 1: to come and have a listen to the album, but
- 3:05Speaker 1: certainly not an indicative of the whole album.
- 3:07Speaker 3: There's some different songs on there for sure.
- 3:11Speaker 4: Yeah.
- 3:12Speaker 2: As the music video for Nothing's Forever Finishes Sorry features
- 3:15Speaker 2: live footage from your Halloween residency. A movie world made
- 3:18Speaker 2: like that looks like a lot of fun. Looked like
- 3:20Speaker 2: a lot of fun.
- 3:21Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a different type of gig. We've done it
- 3:24Speaker 1: a few times now, and we're not a band that's
- 3:27Speaker 1: played in the corporate world, you know, and it's not
- 3:29Speaker 1: something that we are set out to do or whatever.
- 3:31Speaker 1: We got an opportunity and I thought it was a
- 3:33Speaker 1: bit of it.
- 3:34Speaker 3: At the time. I thought someone having a.
- 3:36Speaker 1: End on me, you know, you know, when we get
- 3:39Speaker 1: you know, it was like all right, okay, but they
- 3:42Speaker 1: just they give us total freedom. There's no like, you know,
- 3:45Speaker 1: they just want the band. It's not like they approached
- 3:47Speaker 1: us and said, hey, can you dress up or can
- 3:49Speaker 1: you can you play some coookie songs or something though,
- 3:51Speaker 1: and we wouldn't do it if that was the case,
- 3:54Speaker 1: you know. So it's total freedom on us to be ourselves.
- 3:57Speaker 1: If we play original stuff, we're just being ourselves. So
- 4:01Speaker 1: that's kind of rare for a band like us in
- 4:03Speaker 1: the corporate space, you know. So you know, is that a.
- 4:06Speaker 4: Long standard thing now, like you're doing that every year
- 4:08Speaker 4: or it?
- 4:10Speaker 1: Uh, well, we I think they have asked this again
- 4:14Speaker 1: this year, so we're gonna work it out. But you know,
- 4:18Speaker 1: I kind of feel like it was just a it
- 4:20Speaker 1: was just a you know, this thing's not gonna last forever,
- 4:22Speaker 1: you know, it's just an opportunity. But because of the
- 4:26Speaker 1: I think we stand out in that thing because we
- 4:28Speaker 1: are a real band. We're not like some sort of
- 4:30Speaker 1: you know, dance going on or whatever. So the response
- 4:33Speaker 1: that we get from sticking us in front of crowds
- 4:37Speaker 1: is something that they're just like, oh, well, we got
- 4:40Speaker 1: to have your back. You're kind of like part of
- 4:41Speaker 1: the fabric of this event now, you know. So it's
- 4:43Speaker 1: just we're in that stage now where we're kind of
- 4:46Speaker 1: we have a good relationship with them. But because of
- 4:48Speaker 1: that response, you know, there's a lot of people there
- 4:50Speaker 1: that aren't going there to see us, and maybe for
- 4:53Speaker 1: some people under at or a lot of people that
- 4:56Speaker 1: they've not experienced a band like us before, you know,
- 4:58Speaker 1: like and a real band. You know.
- 5:00Speaker 3: Like, so we do get it.
- 5:01Speaker 1: We get a lot of good feedback because people are
- 5:04Speaker 1: just like what the fucking this? You know, like you know,
- 5:08Speaker 1: they're not people that usually buy tickets to our shows,
- 5:10Speaker 1: but you know, we win them over because we are
- 5:12Speaker 1: an authentic What you see is what you get.
- 5:15Speaker 3: You know, it's not a show. This is what we do,
- 5:17Speaker 3: you know.
- 5:18Speaker 1: So the relationship continues, but who knows how long that
- 5:22Speaker 1: will last anyway, So it's it's very different to a
- 5:25Speaker 1: gig and a pub you know, yeah, but it's still
- 5:30Speaker 1: fun all the way.
- 5:30Speaker 3: And this is this.
- 5:31Speaker 1: Is another reason why the band's been going for so long.
- 5:34Speaker 1: You know, we have these experiences and they are experiences
- 5:37Speaker 1: of life experiences, you know, through music and stuff.
- 5:40Speaker 3: And it's so we take it, you know what I mean?
- 5:43Speaker 2: Why should this year?
- 5:45Speaker 4: And I come down and do a review of it
- 5:47Speaker 4: this year, And if you get something in print, they
- 5:48Speaker 4: might keep you got a bit longer.
- 5:51Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, we'll see we go. So yeah, if you've
- 5:54Speaker 1: not been before, it's pretty wild, you know, like to
- 5:56Speaker 1: be a part of something with that much money involved
- 5:59Speaker 1: and you know, goes all out. There's no way we
- 6:01Speaker 1: could afford all those fire fire and fireworks and all
- 6:06Speaker 1: that sort of stuff that's out of our budget. That's
- 6:08Speaker 1: so cool to even play with that sort of production,
- 6:11Speaker 1: you know, like that. It's not many people I get
- 6:13Speaker 1: a chance to do that too, you.
- 6:14Speaker 4: Know, shouldn't They go back back to the album so
- 6:18Speaker 4: dramatically into the arms of oblivion. It covers areas like
- 6:21Speaker 4: grief and loss, like it's a pretty did depth album
- 6:24Speaker 4: for you in some respects. So so overall it's an
- 6:26Speaker 4: album of despair or an album of hope.
- 6:30Speaker 1: I think there's elements of both. I think there's definitely
- 6:32Speaker 1: elements of most. When I was writing it, I was
- 6:35Speaker 1: definitely going through despair and all those things, but actually
- 6:39Speaker 1: having a space to you know, having the band and
- 6:42Speaker 1: having this to put it somewhere, gave an opening for
- 6:47Speaker 1: new things and for rising up out of it, you know,
- 6:50Speaker 1: and that's that's definitely what happened, you know.
- 6:53Speaker 3: I think there's a bit of both in there.
- 6:56Speaker 4: And you also do a cover of a Brisbane band
- 6:59Speaker 4: called band the Fun Made like that bield.
- 7:03Speaker 3: Yeah.
- 7:05Speaker 1: I thought it was a good idea to just go
- 7:07Speaker 1: on and give a bit of a tip of the
- 7:09Speaker 1: hat to where we come from, you know, like there's
- 7:12Speaker 1: so many songs and I love that band, you know,
- 7:15Speaker 1: like when we first started playing in bands, when you know,
- 7:17Speaker 1: like you're underage or you just turn eighteen and you
- 7:20Speaker 1: and you're finding all these cool local bands. Well that
- 7:22Speaker 1: was one of them, you know, and I was like, yeah,
- 7:25Speaker 1: we'd chase those guys around and became friends with them.
- 7:27Speaker 1: But really loved that band, and I still think some
- 7:29Speaker 1: of the songs they wrote were a still you know,
- 7:32Speaker 1: they still carry over today, you know. So that was
- 7:34Speaker 1: like we put it in the steplist a little. I
- 7:37Speaker 1: think we did a tour somewhere and I thought this
- 7:38Speaker 1: would be fun. Let's end with this one, you know,
- 7:40Speaker 1: and then it sort.
- 7:40Speaker 3: Of just it never left.
- 7:42Speaker 1: So when we went to this and I think, I
- 7:44Speaker 1: think we yeah, this this album was like I think
- 7:47Speaker 1: that's kind of cool to maybe expose people to, you know, fans,
- 7:52Speaker 1: local bands that that was before their time or you
- 7:54Speaker 1: know that not heard of and gives a little insight
- 7:57Speaker 1: to what we were listening to, you know, and you know,
- 8:00Speaker 1: so that's that was the reason behind.
- 8:01Speaker 3: I think it's kind of cool. You know, it is
- 8:03Speaker 3: cool indeed, and it's a crack of tile it is.
- 8:06Speaker 5: It is.
- 8:07Speaker 2: They're a good band. I run remember listening to it myself.
- 8:09Speaker 2: They are fucking fellas great coman.
- 8:11Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, so yeah, that's why. That's why I got
- 8:14Speaker 3: in there.
- 8:14Speaker 4: You know, for those who aren't too familiar with your
- 8:17Speaker 4: work mate, like give music mixes a ton of genres.
- 8:20Speaker 4: You've got there's rock, there's park, there's rockabilly, there's metal,
- 8:24Speaker 4: you've got gothic undertones.
- 8:25Speaker 2: There's so much going on there.
- 8:26Speaker 4: But how difficult is it to get the balance of
- 8:29Speaker 4: those genres right in the creative process?
- 8:31Speaker 2: Like how do you know when you're going too far
- 8:32Speaker 2: one way and not far another?
- 8:35Speaker 1: I think it's something with like it's not it's not
- 8:38Speaker 1: a problem for us because we just do our thing.
- 8:40Speaker 1: But I think it becomes a problem when people try
- 8:42Speaker 1: and explain or write or describe who what we sound like.
- 8:46Speaker 1: So we don't write that stuff. We don't write hater
- 8:50Speaker 1: there's a rockabilly band or there, like, you know, we don't.
- 8:53Speaker 3: We don't.
- 8:53Speaker 1: We don't put a label on ourselves. But I guess
- 8:56Speaker 1: we know what our influencers are and they come out,
- 8:58Speaker 1: you know, like but just for it, you know, as
- 9:02Speaker 1: sitting down and saying all right, we're gonna you know,
- 9:04Speaker 1: be industrial on this one, or we're going to be
- 9:06Speaker 1: you know, like.
- 9:07Speaker 3: It's just not something. Yeah, it's actually been.
- 9:09Speaker 1: It's been a battle actually to just like I mean,
- 9:12Speaker 1: I think it kind of annoys you when you're a
- 9:14Speaker 1: bit younger because you're just like, ah, you know what
- 9:16Speaker 1: you know. But now I just I don't give a ship.
- 9:18Speaker 1: You know, people are going to describe it however they
- 9:21Speaker 1: do it. But for me, I think it's all just
- 9:23Speaker 1: rock and roll. You know, we're just a rock and
- 9:25Speaker 1: band and then and you know, our likes and our
- 9:29Speaker 1: influences will pop out and if you can hear them,
- 9:31Speaker 1: you can hear them, you know. But it's definitely not
- 9:33Speaker 1: something that we sit down and sort of go all right,
- 9:36Speaker 1: well let's be such and such band or whatever. And
- 9:39Speaker 1: we're a bit of a mixing hot tess a lot
- 9:41Speaker 1: going on, you know. Like yeah, and I think we
- 9:44Speaker 1: get labeled with that rockabilly thing just because.
- 9:47Speaker 3: Of the double bass. I don't actually think we use
- 9:50Speaker 3: it like a like.
- 9:51Speaker 1: A traditional rockabilly band at all, you know, even though
- 9:55Speaker 1: we love that music, and you know, we played with
- 9:57Speaker 1: each the psychobilly bands and rockabilly bands with mate, those
- 10:01Speaker 1: people don't like us because we don't sound.
- 10:02Speaker 3: Rockabille at all.
- 10:07Speaker 1: We're ruined it for them, you know. So yeah, I
- 10:09Speaker 1: think the label get put on us.
- 10:11Speaker 3: We don't do it. We don't put them on ourselves.
- 10:15Speaker 2: About the way you like to change things up on
- 10:17Speaker 2: every album.
- 10:17Speaker 4: So from your perspectives as someone in the band, like,
- 10:21Speaker 4: how would you say your music has changed and developed
- 10:24Speaker 4: from your twenty twelve debut Tales of Deadly Nightshade into
- 10:28Speaker 4: the Arms of Obivion.
- 10:31Speaker 1: I think back then we were playing with a lot
- 10:33Speaker 1: of hardcore bands. We didn't have a double base in
- 10:36Speaker 1: the band as yet, So there's things you can and
- 10:39Speaker 1: can't do with those two different instruments. But I think
- 10:41Speaker 1: at that time we just we were just going riff
- 10:45Speaker 1: for riff, like a song couldn't have enough risks in it,
- 10:48Speaker 1: you know, like I think, you know, like we could.
- 10:51Speaker 1: I listened, if I listened back to that, now, I reckon.
- 10:53Speaker 3: I could probably pull three songs.
- 10:55Speaker 1: Out or one, you know, like there was just we
- 10:57Speaker 1: just couldn't get enough riff, you know, like every.
- 10:59Speaker 3: Song was we need more parts.
- 11:01Speaker 1: Whereas this now, it's like I think we're understanding songwriting
- 11:05Speaker 1: a little bit better and understanding melodies and you know,
- 11:09Speaker 1: what goes into and I think that's where we lean
- 11:12Speaker 1: into that.
- 11:13Speaker 3: That's what we're good at.
- 11:14Speaker 1: We're actually we're not good at being pan terror, you know,
- 11:18Speaker 1: like we're not good at that's not our that's not
- 11:20Speaker 1: our lane, you know. No, And I think we were
- 11:22Speaker 1: we were trying to do that a lot when we
- 11:24Speaker 1: were younger, just.
- 11:25Speaker 3: Rifts and risks and that's cool.
- 11:27Speaker 1: We were young, you know, like you change, and but yeah,
- 11:31Speaker 1: I think for me as well, I think less risk. Now,
- 11:34Speaker 1: I think less risk And how is this going to flow?
- 11:37Speaker 1: And how are we going to make people move? And
- 11:39Speaker 1: how are we going to you know, make people sing
- 11:42Speaker 1: to it? And stuff like that, whereas before I was yeah,
- 11:45Speaker 1: I was more just like riff, okay, another riff. Yeah,
- 11:47Speaker 1: we need more rift, Okay, let's get yeah.
- 11:49Speaker 3: Yeah.
- 11:49Speaker 2: You know, like, so have you got any shows coming
- 11:52Speaker 2: up other than Halloween? Which is a fairweale.
- 11:56Speaker 1: We're in the midst now of just booking a bunch
- 11:58Speaker 1: of stuff, so we will be out and a up
- 12:00Speaker 1: to log this one off, but we're just all locking
- 12:03Speaker 1: it down at the moment.
- 12:05Speaker 3: But all those all.
- 12:07Speaker 1: Those press releases will go out and we'll be letting
- 12:09Speaker 1: people know when it happens that. Yeah, even even like
- 12:14Speaker 1: navigating booking shows, now you know so many venues that
- 12:17Speaker 1: are just not there anymore. And you know, like from
- 12:20Speaker 1: from the last sort of extensive tour we've done it,
- 12:23Speaker 1: it's actually been pretty crazy for me to actually, you
- 12:26Speaker 1: reach out to all the people I know and all
- 12:28Speaker 1: these great venues that no longer exist anymore.
- 12:33Speaker 3: Very crazy.
- 12:35Speaker 4: And now before I you go, Bra, We've got a
- 12:37Speaker 4: new segment that was started just last time I spoke
- 12:39Speaker 4: to you called photo Bomb. So basically, I've traveled through
- 12:44Speaker 4: your social media before we got a change, and I've
- 12:46Speaker 4: come up with a couple of photos I want.
- 12:47Speaker 2: To know a bit more about so every got I
- 12:50Speaker 2: know this one, like you know, sort of beer change
- 12:53Speaker 2: or something.
- 12:53Speaker 3: This one, okay, I can tell you what this show was.
- 12:58Speaker 3: This is This was our first show.
- 13:02Speaker 1: Back up through Japan tour and we played with Dark
- 13:05Speaker 1: Self at a place in Surface called Elsewhere, which is
- 13:09Speaker 1: really not a rock and roll venue. It's more like
- 13:11Speaker 1: a fucking you know, it's a nightclub. And it was
- 13:15Speaker 1: like they were adamant that we had to be out
- 13:18Speaker 1: of there by eleven because all the people that want
- 13:20Speaker 1: to get on the on the disco bickies and stuff,
- 13:23Speaker 1: you know, it had to stop being the rock and
- 13:25Speaker 1: roll golf club.
- 13:26Speaker 3: Right on eleven.
- 13:27Speaker 1: We were just smucking around just to you know, kind
- 13:30Speaker 1: of piss them off because we didn't want to go
- 13:32Speaker 1: at eleven.
- 13:34Speaker 3: So that was that was that one.
- 13:39Speaker 2: This one looks like a bit of a.
- 13:41Speaker 1: World say, so this is Dead of Winter, one of
- 13:48Speaker 1: the Dead Winters that we played.
- 13:50Speaker 3: And if you've.
- 13:51Speaker 1: Seen us play, I think you'll you'll know that Dino
- 13:55Speaker 1: likes to hang off stuff.
- 13:57Speaker 3: So he this is one off.
- 14:00Speaker 1: Usually when we play or you know what, when we
- 14:04Speaker 1: when we play at a venue or somewhere and you know,
- 14:06Speaker 1: we're all sound checking and setting up and stuff, and
- 14:09Speaker 1: we're playing around with gear and that Dino is usually
- 14:11Speaker 1: walking around the room and.
- 14:12Speaker 3: Testing out what he can hang on. That's what. That's what,
- 14:16Speaker 3: that's what.
- 14:17Speaker 1: His soundcheck kind of usually looks like he's he scanning
- 14:20Speaker 1: the room for like, OK, I can jump up there,
- 14:22Speaker 1: I can jump up here. And yeah, I don't know
- 14:26Speaker 1: how he fuss at his knees and I don't know.
- 14:29Speaker 1: It's not unusual for him to do suba shit like that.
- 14:33Speaker 2: Panshake. Does he have like lost strips.
- 14:36Speaker 3: I think he's.
- 14:37Speaker 1: Kind of I definitely think he's probably you know who
- 14:40Speaker 1: his ankle will needs. But like in you know, thinking
- 14:43Speaker 1: about it, he's been pretty lucky actually, and he's just
- 14:47Speaker 1: done some pretty big jumps or some dumb stuff. And yeah,
- 14:50Speaker 1: I don't know how he I don't know how he
- 14:52Speaker 1: does it. You know, he jumped off the top of
- 14:54Speaker 1: the stack at the Tivoli.
- 14:56Speaker 3: He jumped off the stack.
- 14:57Speaker 1: Can you remember the arena there? It was high and
- 14:59Speaker 1: he jump off them and if you know what I'm
- 15:02Speaker 1: looking now, I'm like, this is not gonna end well,
- 15:05Speaker 1: you know, like yeah, any and he pops up and
- 15:09Speaker 1: not you go, but Yeah, that's that's a pretty usual
- 15:12Speaker 1: for me. Bro.
- 15:14Speaker 2: All right, Well, thanks for your time with the pleasure
- 15:15Speaker 2: as usual.
- 15:16Speaker 4: The album Into the Arms of Oblivion is out now
- 15:19Speaker 4: and it's another typical album from the rat It's solid,
- 15:22Speaker 4: it's tough as fucking it's a great album.
- 15:24Speaker 2: So best of luck, Rudder.
- 15:26Speaker 3: Oh, thanks so much.
- 15:27Speaker 1: I really appreciate your time and plugging out on new music.
- 15:29Speaker 1: I appreciate it a lot.
- 15:51Speaker 2: This is my one.
- 15:55Speaker 6: We all know.
- 15:58Speaker 2: What us figure.
- 16:00Speaker 6: Oh when you want to be it's a good.
- 16:05Speaker 5: Sometimes I can't try to work outside. Why did you
- 16:44Speaker 5: kill a little too much?
- 16:46Speaker 1: Nothing was ever alive?
- 16:48Speaker 2: Drilling in your muskery a killing?
- 16:51Speaker 6: But inside do you want to be a not going brown?
- 16:58Speaker 6: You know what? You gotta trying to work? So sis.
- 18:21Speaker 3: S S
- 18:45Speaker 6: S S