Creepshow's Sinful New Album

08/28/08 5:31pm

by Kate Harper (CHARTattack)

The Creepshow are on their way from Saskatoon to Red Deer as frontwoman Sarah "Sin" Blackwood talks excitedly about their upcoming stint opening for Anti-Flag across Canada. She's stoked at the prospect of opening for the Pittsburgh punk band to begin with, but it turns out there's another reason for her enthusiasm. She and Creepshow bassist/vocalist Sean "Sickboy" McNab and Anti-Flag go way back.

"Sean's old band [defunct Burlington punks Jersey, which counted Sin's brother Ian Blackwood among their members at one point] went on tour with them eight years ago, and I was the merch girl," Sin says. "It was Anti-Flag, The Unseen and Jersey, so we know them from back then."

A lot has changed over those eight years, and not just in terms of bands breaking up. The Creepshow have gone through some big changes in the last year or so as well. Their Run For Your Life sophomore disc came out on Tuesday through their new label, Stomp Records, but the big difference this time around is that Sin is on the record. The Creepshow originally formed with Sin's sister, Jen "Hellcat" Blackwood on vocals. But when Hellcat got pregnant, she left the band and her sister took over. Sin was no stranger to music, since she's also a solo artist, but playing in a band took some getting used to.

"My solo stuff is kind of like Johnny Cash country stuff and it's not anything really vocally that challenging for me," says Sin.

"With the band, however, it was a lot of belting and yelling and being loud. So it was definitely a challenge at first, but I think over the course of the last year-and-a-half, vocally I've gotten a lot stronger and there's actually a few parts on the record that I can't even sing live because I had to strain my voice so much to do it on the album. Just a couple of harmonies, but my goal is to get those."

The Creepshow got a chance to perfect their new lineup during a six-week European tour earlier this year. After they returned home, they started cutting demos in March and quickly turned Run For Your Life around within a very short period of time. While Sin and Sickboy contributed some of their own songs to the record, most of Run For Your Life was written in the studio with collaboration from all band members.

"Because of the calibre of touring we do, we found it really hard to write a lot while you're on the road, and that basically was our option: write a lot on the road or write our asses off when we got home," says Sin. "We had a few demos, we had a few other ideas, but basically everything really came together pretty much as we were recording it."

Recording an album in such a short span is difficult to begin with, but Sin was also working on Way Back Home, her new solo album that will be released on Oct. 21 by Stomp. She often spent her days between two studios, but says it was worth it.

"I was doing my solo stuff from the morning to the afternoon every day, and then going in and doing Creepshow stuff in the afternoon to midnight. It was really, really exhausting. Now I know never to put two albums out at the same time. But I'm super-excited about both of them.

"I know that we've already sold a bunch of new Creepshow CDs and people have already given us a ton of wicked feedback, so we're happy that people are being really positive about it, 'cause a second album is kind of like the hit or miss one. Everybody seems to love it so far, so that's wicked."

Here are The Creepshow's Canadian dates:

Aug. 28 Vernon, BC @ Moe Joe's
Aug. 29 Victoria, BC @ Sopranos Karaoke And Sports Bar w/The Brains
Aug. 30 Whistler, BC @ Garibaldi Lift Co. Bar & Grill
Aug. 31 Vancouver, BC @ Croatian Cultural Centre w/Anti-Flag, The A.K.A.s and One Second 2 Late
Sept. 1 Jasper, AB @ Pete's w/The Brains
Sept. 3 Edmonton, AB @ The Starlite Room w/The A.K.A.s and One Second 2 Late
Sept. 4 Calgary, AB @ The Warehouse w/Anti-Flag, The A.K.A.s and One Second 2 Late
Sept. 5 Regina, SK @ Riddell Centre (University Of Regina) w/Anti-Flag, The A.K.A.s and One Second 2 Late
Sept. 6 Winnipeg, MB @ Garrick Centre w/Anti-Flag, The A.K.A.s and One Second 2 Late
Sept. 7 Thunder Bay, ON @ The Outpost (Lakehead University) w/Anti-Flag, The A.K.A.s and One Second 2 Late
Sept. 10 London, ON @ Call The Office w/Anti-Flag, Black Lungs and The A.K.A.s
Sept. 11 Ottawa, ON @ Babylon w/Anti-Flag, Black Lungs and The A.K.A.s
Sept. 12 Quebec City, QC @ L'Imperial De Quebec w/Anti-Flag, Black Lungs and The A.K.A.s
Sept. 13 Montreal, QC @ Club Soda w/Anti-Flag, Black Lungs and The A.K.A.s
Sept. 14 Toronto, ON @ The Opera House w/Anti-Flag, Black Lungs and The A.K.A.s