“We’re not drinking any more and we’re not drinking any less either,” declares Los Creepers’ guitarist Alex at the end of our interview. A nice motto to live by and a quote that both Alex and I agree would make for an awesome t-shirt graphic. The foursome from the Los Angeles neighborhoods of Lincoln Heights and Cypress Park, which also includes vocalist/main lyricist Lucky, bassist Frank, and drummer Herman, have been playing their distinct (beer-drenched) brand of punk rock fused with psychobilly, surf, and rock ‘n’ roll elements for an impressive eight years. In fact, March 26th marks their anniversary.
To celebrate this momentous milestone they’ll be playing a show at the Thunderbird. I was a bit caught off guard when he said they’d hire midgets, thinking he was joking, until he added “for the kids or something.” In any event, they’ll have all their friends there to mark the occasion. And this is when it hits me how different these guys are from other bands. Alex declares, “We don’t make fans, we make friends. They all go see us and say, ‘Can you play my birthday party?’ ‘Yeah, sure!’ There’s a bunch of kids running around and everyone’s family hanging out and all the sudden we start playing.” They’ve played a wedding, birthday parties, “we’re pretty much the all-around good-time band. Get us drunk and we’ll play anything.” You won’t find many established bands willing to play backyard parties, which really proves how down-to-earth and pro-unity these guys are. They just want to bring good music to the masses and make friends while they’re at it - a noble cause, indeed.
Their song “United” from their latest LP ‘Punk Rock Since ‘96’ is a perfect example of the band’s mentality. The song pertains to standing and fighting together. But fighting against what? Alex explains, “It’s basically against everything. The whole band’s a big believer in unity. It’s like you don’t make enemies, you make friends and become a family. That’s what I try to do out here with all the bands we know.” Los Creepers will take these bands on tour with them and they all try to help each other out. “For one person to do it, it’s hard, but when you got a hundred strong behind you, it’s a lot easier. And it’s just an old punk rock ethic, you know, unity. Not too many people oblige by it anymore, which is a shame.”
Other subjects discussed on the record are love and loss, as well as more socio-political-leaning fare, as evidenced on songs like “America” and “War”. The former deals with growing up in Lincoln Heights, a neighborhood dominated by Latino gangs, while the latter is, according to Alex, “a story about a guy coming back from ‘Nam, not getting respect.” He says they have some friends who are in the service now and “they all love the song.” This number is actually featured on the illustrious Rebel Noise comp.
The guitarist is quick to note their debut full-length – 1998’s ‘Creepers Stomp’ – pales in comparison to ‘Punk Rock Since ‘96’. “Our first one’s horrible! We were younger, we still hadn’t developed our sound…I was singing and Lucky was playing guitar, and since then we switched around,” claiming it was “all for the best.” However, they still play these early songs live, and interestingly, Alex reveals that the band would like to re-record the material from that album, logically deducing the songs would sound much better if they were redone since they’re better musicians now.
They’re contributing a track to an upcoming Johnny Cash tribute, cleverly titled ‘Doing It for the Cash’. Alex says the whole venture was his friend’s idea and it piqued his interest immediately. “I started putting it together, and I could only take it so far, so I asked my buddy Ryan from Hairball 8 if he’d wanna pretty much take over,…and about four years later, it’s almost coming out.” The release date is set for March 9th, and Los Creepers have covered “Wreck of the Old ‘97” for the album. It’s clear to see this project wasn’t a result of Cash’s untimely death, as the idea was thrown about a while back, and there’s no reason Los Creepers, avid Johnny Cash fans, wouldn’t want to be a part of it. Alex says Cash was a “great influence,” and that he even had a chance to meet the legend once outside his place of employment, explaining, “I took down [a copy of ‘Unchained’] to [his] limo and got it signed by Johnny. June Carter was in the car too. I didn’t think of having her sign it; I was just amazed that I was talking to Johnny Cash.”
Los Creepers have also been busy writing new material. As of late, they’ve been writing rather quickly. Alex confides, “We’ve been together eight years and we only have two albums, but the last couple years, we’ve really come into our own – writing and just playing and getting the whole thing going.” At the time of our conversation, Alex divulged they had about seven songs they’ve been playing at shows and want to create about seven more, then “start shopping around to any label that’s interested.” He’s hoping their next record can be released this year, perhaps in the summer, but it’s too early to say for sure.
The band still haven’t been over to the East Coast to spread the insanity – and I’m not just referring to the frantic, speediness of their punk rock, but the actual environment of their shows. Alex’s incentive to see Los Creepers live is that “you’ll get drunk and you’ll have a great time,” adding, “People come to our shows ‘cause they know they’re gonna get drunk, they know they’re gonna get stoned, they know they’re gonna have a great time.” Anyway, the band are friends with the great NYC act Turbo A.C.’s, who have invited Los Creepers to come out here, but it hasn’t materialized yet. Whenever they do get out East, they’d also be into hitting Boston. As of the time being, the guitarist claims, “We’re saving up our money, so hopefully we can do a tour out there in the fall or something.” They’d even be up for “a nice little weekend” playing these two cities.
In the meantime, Los Creepers will participate in the Macabre Fest, a psychobilly showcase in Southern California, featuring such bands as Demented Are Go, Barnyard Ballers, and probably Nekromantix – about 40 bands in all, most likely in May. And surely, they’ll be playing a bunch of California dates throughout the year, so I advise seeing these guys live if you want to have a good time.