Imagine if Joy Division and Arcade Fire started a band together. Okay, now imagine that band without Ian Curtis and Win Butler and instead add some 20-something Brisbane bohemians. Boom! You got The Creases!
Like a Disney remake of The Jesus And Mary Chain, The Creases get all the fun of the drugged-out-washed-out dazed reverb sounds of underground British rock and roll and the potential future fan base as big as the Jonas Brothers.
Recently having inked a worldwide record deal with Liberation Records and securing some pretty sweet partnerships in Village Sounds and X-Ray Touring (not to mention having released their debut singles ‘I Wont Wait’ and ‘Fun To Lose’ on Rough Trade Records in the UK) the shoegazers from Brisbane are just under two weeks away from releasing their debut EP, ‘Gradient’.
Anyone already on The Creases bandwagon will tell you, it’s been a long time waiting. “We recorded all of the songs in November last year so we have been sitting on it for ages,” The Creases’ guitarist Jarrod Mahon says “When we were in the UK getting ready for the Rough Trade release we only really had those two songs, but then we got an offer to go on tour with The Jungle Giants about a month after we got back... We had to form a band and write a whole set list in two weeks and then go on tour. That's what started all of our momentum; we’ve had these songs ready for about a year now.”
On their inception into the Brisbane music scene the momentum that gathered behind The Creases quickly spread and it wasn’t long before they were playing SXSW, Laneway Festival and Great Escape Festival. Though they stayed true to the city that birthed them when it came time to record ‘Gradient’. “We recorded it live at the Plutonium in Brisbane with Simon Berckelman from Philadelphia Grand Jury and we kind of just rocked up,” Mahon says.
“We had never recorded at a studio before and when we walked in Simon just said, 'I've seen you guys play live when you were out on tour, and I want you to play live on this EP'. We did a few takes of each song and then for the rest of the week we overdubbed individual parts like vocals or guitar melodies.”
Over the last decade Brisbane has returned to its former glory days as a breeding ground for successful independent musicians. On the back of bands like Ball Park Music, Last Dinosaurs, The John Steele Singers and Jeremy Neale (just to name a few), The Creases are the latest band to not only ride the wave of the burgeoning Brisbane music scene but change the game completely with the release, recording and overall process and result of ‘Gradient. “We did two days of live sessions and then the rest of the week was sitting in the studio, listening to it, adding whatever we needed to,” Mahon adds.
“We didn't really have much time to second look anything, you know. We didn't have much time to chop and change anything, we just had to get it done and we are happy with the way everything turned out.”
What turned out was a debut with all the elements of shoegaze, Brit rock and groovy pop sounds against flowing harmonies. It's everything between Nirvana and the Arctic Monkeys: simple, radio-friendly pop music. A sub-pop, sub-rock underground species of music that fuses Oasis-like, power fuelled pop ballads with an eight ball of coke and some good old-fashioned distortion.
The band have been taking some well earned down time before they play two shows alongside Irish bluesy-rock band The Strypes and the sold out Splendour In The Grass before launching their EP to the world. “At the moment we have two weeks off where we are all to ourselves. We’re hoping The Strypes shows will be a good chance to practice,” Mahon says laughing. For a band that’s releasing their debut EP this Friday Mahon is way too chilled — it must come with the territory of playing nonchalant shoegaze pop music. “After we play Sydney and Melbourne we are flying back to Brisbane and driving to Splendour straight away,” he says like there isn't a doubt in the world that The Creases are going to nail it.
It must be a Brisbane thing; this attitude that no matter how good you get or how many stages you play, you never forget where it all started and what and who and how helped make everything a reality in the name of nothing but love, creativity and damn good rock and roll. “In Brisbane everyone hangs out with each other and everyone in the scene is so supportive of you. I just love it, man. I love everyone in Brisbane, everyone has helped us out so much — everyone really helps everyone out and it’s great. It's such a supportive and collaborative community.”
‘Gradient’ is released Friday July 25.
The Creases Tour Dates
Tue Jul 22 - Northcote Social Club (Melbourne, supporting The Strypes)Wed Jul 23 - Newtown Social Club (Sydney, supporting The Strypes)
Sun Jul 27 - Splendour In The Grass
