Music can sometimes turn into a hydra, a mythical creature with many heads that is powerful and colossal. The name has its origins on the Greek word Hudra meaning “water snake” and the term was coined by Carl Linnaeus, a Swedish botanist, zoologist and physician. The hydra has its name because if cut into pieces, each one of those can turn into a whole different animal. There is endless reconstruction, and nothing ever stagnates or dies out. There are some bands that like the hydra, never fail to regenerate and recreate inside the genres that supposedly inspired them, but yet create a whole new breed of animal, a new kind of sound that is bold and unexpected, two qualities that music lovers are certainly fascinated by.
Since the musical explorations of bands like Solefald in the avant-garde metal genre, or Mr. Bungle that managed to mesh a lot of divergent music genres creating their own sound, that music fans all over the world have been craving for bands that are unique and hold no barriers in their creations. From Saskatchewan in Canada hails a young band called Dream Creeps who have released their debut album called Astral Vampires in September this year.
The record, like the Hydra has as many heads as songs, and each have their own existence, but it’s a work of a somewhat hallucinogen sonic daze that will stick to your heads and minds for a long time. The songs are as catchy as they are unpredictable and their charm resides on the variety of vocals (different tones and signatures) as well as an elegant mesh of different sonic moods.
Astral Vampires lives on the promise of being as captivating as it is experimental and progressive, and it will appeal to music lovers that always seek the irresistible coolness of the “weird”.
- You come from Regina, Saskatchewan in Canada and have released your debut album, Astral Vampires this year. How long have you guys been playing together?
- We've been together since early 2018, and have been playing shows since August 2018. Anthony (guitar, lead vox) and Matt (bass, backing vox) met Kurt (drums, lead vox) because we played in separate local bands prior to Dream Creeps.
- Astral Vampires is a criss-cross between styles and genres and creates a special and unique hybrid. Kind of wild and unexpected. Do you share similar musical tastes and backgrounds?
- Our backgrounds are slightly different, but not drastically so. We share a lot of similar musical tastes, but there are also a lot of musical tastes that we hold individually. We try to embrace both sides of that coin when it comes to songwriting. Each individual’s style bleeds through into the music, but the base of it all is probably formed more from the musical ideologies we share.
"Our local scene is pretty vibrant and we have so many talented people around us that were willing to help us out. Also being that it's our debut, it just made sense to us. For us and a lot of people in this musical climate it's basically DIY or die."
- The name for the album has a certain b-movie quality. Are you fans of that kind of movies?
- Though we definitely are, the title Astral Vampires is actually more of a play on the supernatural/occult sense of the phrase. Also known as energy or psychic vampires.
We realized as the lyrical content was coming together that we were focusing a lot on the effects of human behavior, and the energy draining people that can and have ended up in our lives, and that it's possible to sometimes become ourselves. It's more of a rebuke of becoming a vampire of any sort.
- You released the album yourself, is that an affirmation in favor of the DIY aesthetics, or it’s just the way that you feel more comfortable about that whole process?
- I think we would say both. The process was great for us. We recorded it ourselves. The music was recorded live off the floor, and we were able to take our time with the vocals. Our local scene is pretty vibrant and we have so many talented people around us that were willing to help us out. Also being that it's our debut, it just made sense to us. For us and a lot of people in this musical climate it's basically DIY or die.
- Your lyrics have an unpredictable quality and some surreal elements, what comes first in the composition process? The music or the lyrics? Or is it a simultaneous process?
- It's mostly simultaneous. It usually starts with the all important riff, then anything could come next. Sometimes a new musical section inspires some lyrics, sometimes a lyrical verse inspires the music as it moves forward. Sometimes we can have a good body of music already started and then add lyrics. It's really all over the map.
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| Astral Vampires, Art by Blair Colwell |
"We approached the project with an idea that we would want to have both main vocalists present on all the songs. Whether someone was taking the lead and the other was backing them up/doing harmonies, or we were taking turns doing different parts of the song, or just stomping all over each other with call and response type things. Basically just whatever worked and was interesting to us."
"We approached the project with an idea that we would want to have both main vocalists present on all the songs. Whether someone was taking the lead and the other was backing them up/doing harmonies, or we were taking turns doing different parts of the song, or just stomping all over each other with call and response type things. Basically just whatever worked and was interesting to us."
- As with the lyrics, we find the cover to be quite beautiful and otherworldly. Did you have any concept in your minds beforehand or was it completely left to the imagination of the artist, Blair Colwell?
- Blair is really a one in a million artist. He's also one hell of a musician and sings and plays drums in progressive mathy trash punk band The Faps (Saskatoon SK). We basically told him the title and concept of the album and let him go. We had complete faith, and we weren't disappointed.
- Even though, you don’t quite follow the classical style of verse bridge chorus, the song “Surf Themed Casino” has one hell of a main chorus that stuck in our heads. What was the object you envisioned from the recent beachcomb?
- The “object” from the recent beachcomb is actually the protagonist washed up on the shore. Their taxidermied last squirm represents the culmination of all bad decisions and negative influences finally catching up to them and how that can form what feels like a permanent opinion that others will hold towards them.
- We liked how each song has its own story and identity. The use of different vocals may help some of it too. “Egg on my Face” has a different mood because of the vocals than for example “Blood Mist”, but the different vocals come together and create a nice “duet” on “Gurgling Repeats”. Like in some screamo bands, the joining of two different types of vocals helps to create a fiercer approach to the melody, was this a pre-established notion or did it become spontaneous during rehearsals?
- It was fairly pre-established. We approached the project with an idea that we would want to have both main vocalists present on all the songs. Whether someone was taking the lead and the other was backing them up/doing harmonies, or we were taking turns doing different parts of the song, or just stomping all over eachother with call and response type things. Basically just whatever worked and was interesting to us.
- You seem to have a new fresh approach to music, judging by the aesthetics on the already mentioned album art, and your own style in creating music. How do you feel you fit in the Canadian music scene and in Regina in particular?
- Like we said earlier, the local scene here in Saskatchewan is pretty vibrant. There is a lot of room for weird and interesting music to thrive here. Though we are still outliers in the general musical landscape of the country, so far the people we've played for and other bands have been very supportive.
- Astral Vampires is quite a young album, but how has it been received in the gigs you have played in Canada?
- Pretty well actually. Some people are a bit confused and some people really get a kick out of it. We really wouldn't have it any other way.
- Are you involved in other music projects besides Dream Creeps? Any other side bands or artistic projects not entirely related to music?
- Kurtis plays drums in another band called Pop Pop Vernac. They’re releasing their third album on Nov. 8th. And he is also involved with a sketch comedy group called Art On fire. Matt plays guitar in another band called Lunar Lander Dance Commander. Tony is working on making artisanal Juul pods in his spare time.
Text and interview: Cláudia Zafre
Band: Dream Creeps
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