The Explosive Rapture of Creak

The Explosive Rapture of Creak

Creak is an inspiring collective from the UK whose sonic artistry is absolutely devastating to behold.  Where metalcore, nu-metal and deathcore crash and ignite into a rapturous fury, one is certain to find the music of Creak bursting through as a soundtrack to scorching auditory wreckage.  Bitter Picture is the name of their just unleashed EP, produced by Connor Sweeney from the gloruously innovative Loathe – and with Creak and Loathe in dead on collision, this is surely a match made in ultrasonic infamy.  Highwire Daze recently interviewed Creak’s vocalist Jack Dunn to find out a whole lot more about this explosive new band on the rise.  Read on…

Introduce yourself, tell me what you do in Creak, and how long the band has been together.
Hi, my name’s Jack, and I do vocals for the band. We’ve been together for about a year and half now publicly, but there was planning behind the scenes for about a year before we dropped.

Where is the band based out of and what is the local music scene like there?
We’re all scattered around the areas surrounding Newcastle and Durham, but there aren’t any shows in Durham so we class ourselves as a Newcastle band. The scene in Newcastle is great though, and especially recently it seems to have come back with a bang. Lots of sick new bands, and promoters putting on more shows than ever. ‘Mosh on the Tyne’ in particular have been the main driving force in getting a load of new heads down. Also, big shout-out to the lads in GroundCulture, and Starved. Both bands from the local area that are smashing it to bits recently. GroundCulture in particular just released a new album out that’s definitely worth checking out.

Is there any overall story or concept behind the EP title Bitter Picture?
The EP loosely follows a family after a traumatic event, and each song is taken from a different character’s perspective as they go through their own personal problems while dealing with it.

The name comes from someone or something becoming a shadow of what you thought they were and leaving you with nothing but a ‘bitter picture’.

Select two songs for Bitter Picture and what inspired the lyrics.
The inspiration behind the main single ‘Eyes Without a Face’ came from grief, and how it’s not only death that you face it. Anything that’s taken away from you that you weren’t ready to lose can leave you with some sort of grief or adjustment period, whether it’s a relationship or a time period. The song explores how the presence of these things can stalk you or follow you around until you’re ready to fully let go of them.

The name came from an old French movie I found online that stuck out to me during the writing period. In context of the song, I took it to be a metaphor for having to watch something happen without having any say in it.

‘At Fault’ is probably the most personal song on the EP for me though. That song talks about my own personal experiences with OCD, and how as much as I hate it, it’s a big part of who I am, and I feel like without it I might not have certain traits that I think are positive. For example, I get very stuck on repetition sometimes, which is awful when you’re trying to go to bed and you have to check the doors twenty times, but when it comes to music I’m less likely to overlook small mistakes, because I’ll end up going over the project multiple times before I can close the laptop down.

What was it like working with Connor Sweeney of Loathe on your upcoming EP and how did Connor become involved with the recording process?
Working with Connor is always great! He’s become a really good friend of the band, and he works harder than anyone I’ve ever met, so the atmosphere is always really positive whenever we go in to record with him. He really listened and understood what we were after too, so there wasn’t any uphill battles with trying to get across what was in our heads, and more just the lot of us in a room throwing ideas around and trying to get the best possible outcome for each song.

We first heard of Connor as fans of bands and projects he’d been a part of, and a local band called Starve to Survive had recorded their first EP with him at the point we were looking into working with him, so we reached out to him online and it all went from there really.

As a whole though we honestly wouldn’t be the band we are without Connor, and we’re all incredibly grateful for everything he’s done for us since meeting him. I can’t recommend him enough to any bands looking to record music.

What has it been like to release new music right in the middle of a pandemic? Have you had any shows or tours cancelled because of it?
It was a weird one. I think it’s new territory for everyone really in any sort of industry, so obviously whatever you do there’s kind of that risk that you don’t know how the outcomes going to turn out. Our thinking was that there hasn’t really been that much new music released lately, so we could maybe try and fill-in that gap in the market for people at home who were bored and craving something new. I know I have personally spent more time than ever looking for new bands with all the free-time, so it was just a case of putting it out there and being hopeful that some other people were doing the same. I think we’ve been really lucky with the single release though, and we’re still a really new band, so I think it would have been an uphill battle to try and get people to listen to our music regardless of the situation.

Show-wise though yeah we had everything cancelled that we had planned for the rest of the year in the space of a few days when everything went into lockdown. We’ve been lucky enough to have a few shows re-organised though, so hopefully if things ease up we can start playing shows again in the near future. We’re all just happy to be healthy at the moment though. I miss shows more than anything, but I’d hate to think anyone was risking their health.

What could one expect from a live Creak show?
In the same way a horror movie would keep you on the edge of your seat by constantly throwing things at you, we want our live-shows to be an onslaught of energy and aggression. The atmosphere in the room is a very important part of the performance to us, and we want to keep the tension high throughout by cancelling out any respite the audience might usually get by filling the moments of silence with eerie soundscapes, and distorted production.

How did you tour with God Complex go and what were some of the highlights?
That whole tour was one of the best experiences of my life. All those guys are insanely talented, and the nicest people ever! Harry managed us and helped us out a lot when we first started, and we were really grateful that him and the rest of the guys took us out and gave us the chance to support them. It was incredible for us as a newer band to get to see how one at their level operates on the road, and they all had a lot of time for us. I’m really grateful for how many friends I made on that tour.

Major love to MTXS as well who were also on the line-up. They’re another band that I’m really grateful to be friends with, and they’re incredible on every level. We couldn’t have asked for a better group of people to go out on our first proper run with.

As far as memories go though, our guitar player Patrick and I especially had been really big fans of both bands on the lineup, and travelled a lot to see their shows before Creak was even a thing, so when we played the first night of the tour, which was a hometown show, and we got to support them and have all our friends there, it was a really proud moment that I’ll never forget. Apart from that though having a Mortal Kombat competition in Leicester and trying all the food stalls in Camden were definitely standout moments, as well as just getting to watch both bands every night.

If Creak could open for any band either now or from the past, who would it be and why?
For me it’d probably be Nine-Inch Nails, just for the chance to meet Trent Reznor and chat to him about anything. I don’t think anyone thinks of music in the same way he does, and I don’t think Creak would be what it is if I’d never heard their music.

As a band though I think we’d probably say Slipknot. The whole vibe, and energy from their earlier days especially had a big influence on all of us.

What’s up next Creak?
Time will tell.

Any final words of wisdom?
Look after yourself and stay safe while things are a bit mad at the moment.

Thank you for taking the time to answer these questions! Hope to see your band play in the States sometime when this pandemic comes to an end. Take care and be safe in these crazy times!
Thank you very much for having me, and we’d absolutely love to! All the best to yourself and the rest of the guys at Highwire Daze!

Band Members:
Jack Dunn – Vocals
Patrick Morton – Guitar
Josh Wanless – Bass
Robert Wilkinson – Drums

(Interview by Ken Morton)

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