Following the success of their 5/5-rated Sanguivore album, Creeper aren't planning on leaving their 'Jim Steinman era' behind anytime soon.
Speaking on the new episode of Kerrang! In Conversation, powered by KILLSTAR, frontman Will Gould and guitarist Ian Miles discuss whether the next phase of the band will continue this more grandiose route, or they'll try their hands at something else entirely.
Will admits that it is "very tempting to do what we always do which is burn everything down and start completely anew", but with the "creative roll" that the pair are on, neither can see them deviating from this current theatrical path.
"Sometimes it’s hard for us to look that far ahead, but right now we’re super happy with what we’re doing on this record and I feel like we’ve got so much more to explore in this realm," says Ian. "If you take Steinman apart and take Meat Loaf apart, and all the other records that Steinman’s done, there’s lots of rock, lots of metal, lots of Motown, there’s lot of R&B. It’s not just one genre in and of itself, and it’s so exciting to delve into that musically, and tear it apart and see what works and play around with it.
"Our band is the best we’ve ever sounded at doing what we do, at least," adds Will, before revealing that OG fans will have noticed these Steinman tendencies in Creeper's music since the beginning.
"It’s a very fulfilling place we’re in right now and it’s great to be writing these sort of songs. Me and Ian have been hinting at the Steinman stuff for years, we’d hide it in a bridge maybe. Back in the day we used to this thing, the Suspicious Minds middle eight, and we did it so many times because we thought it was the cleverest thing ever (laughs). It goes from 4/4 to 6/8 and it’s in Black Mass, Ghost Brigade, Black Cloud… I think there’s more.
"When we get to a moment like that, where we can be a bit more musical with the arrangement, it's great. All that’s happened is we’ve got more confident in our abilities and we can make a whole record of that bridge."
Elsewhere in the episode, Will and Ian discuss their upcoming co-headline show at Wembley Arena with Black Veil Brides, the UK's fascination with fantasy, the pair's DIY punk days, and why they kind of regret the Christmas record...
Listen to the Creeper episode of Kerrang! In Conversation now.