Interview with The Creeping Ivies

Critical Mass: Thanks for taking the time to talk with Critical Mass. For those new to The Creeping Ivies, can you give us some history on the band and how you got started?

The Creeping Ivies: We are Becca Bomb (vox.guitar) and Duncan Destruction (drums) and we formed the band late 2010.  We are friends and met a couple of years before at a gig Becca was playing at with another band.  Duncan briefly joined this previous band just before we split up but shortly that after we formed the Creeping Ivies.

We spent a lot of time initially in the rehearsal studio just playing and practicing and started doing gigs later in 2011.  We released one of our tracks 'Shake It Up' on a couple of cool compilation records (GRG PNK Records and Dead By Mono) and then recorded our debut 3 track EP Rock N Roll Party which was released in November 2011.

CM: Your newest release, "Rock N Roll Party EP", came out this past November, as you stated, and is really well done. Anyone into garage rock will really dig this EP! Are there any plans on releasing new material this year?

TCI: Thanks! This was our first recording together so it was quite exciting for us to get something out there.  We've also been finding our feet and we're growing as a band all the time so there's a lot of new songs being written.  So, yeah, we're pretty keen to get new stuff recorded, we're already planning a second EP for later this year. Details of this are to be confirmed soon!

CM: Who are some of the bands musical influences?

TCI: Artists we love are Bo Diddley, The Cramps, Link Wray, The Ramones,  Velvet Underground, The Clash, Elvis, New York Dolls, The Sonics, Hasil Adkins, Iggy Pop, the list goes on and on, we have a lot of varied personal influences but as a band we're inspired by wild rock n roll and music you can bop to.

CM: The band is still somewhat new, since you formed recently. Have you guys played together in any other bands in the past?

TCI: Becca had a couple of bands before (Trash Superstar and The Leatherettes).  The latter was a duo and we used a drum machine but Duncan briefly joined us on drums near the end although we never played a gig as a three piece.  We also have a club night together called FEVER where we play our favourite Rock n Roll Vinyl records so we share a mutual love for the music.

CM: When it comes to the whole songwriting process is it a group effort or is there a primary songwriter?

TCI: Becca writes all the songs then brings them to rehearsals where we just take it from there.  Sometimes we just have a loose jam and improvise and Becca will maybe work on that later and sort out the lyrics.  Sometimes lyrics don't get written until the night before a gig!

CM: Being a duo and not having a bass player is somewhat unheard of. Originally, was it planned out to just be a guitar and drums only band? And will there be a bass player added later on?

TCI: No, we never seen this as an issue at all.  We always planned to be stripped back and raw.  We wouldn't rule out working with other musicians in the future but its not something we're thinking about at the moment. Its less people to have to worry about and less people to piss you off. We're primitive. We're basically the rock n roll Flintstones.

CM: Does the band play out a lot in your area?

TCI: We only started playing live last year so we're beginning to get a few gigs under our belt.  Our first show we put on as a party of our Rock N Roll night FEVER.  We played a show with Viv Albertine of The Slits last year and will be playing with Vic Godard & Subway Sect next Month.  We're getting involved with some other local bands and will be putting on a few gigs here and there.

CM: Are there any plans on hitting the road for some shows this year? Maybe a possible tour of the United States at some point?

TCI: We will travel further a field this year and hopefully we'll get some opportunities to play bigger audiences.  We want to spread the rock n roll germ and Tear it up everywhere.  We would love to do a tour of the US, that's the dream.

CM: How can fans and labels get in touch with the band? Is there a website you guys wanna plug?

TCI: Our official website is www.thecreepingivies.com but we're always updating our Facebook and twitter with news or random crap so follow us on those!  You can buy our CD from Bandcamp and download from Itunes/amazon etc.

CM: Thanks again for taking the time to talk with Critical Mass. I like what you're doing and I hope to get more music out and into our hands this year. All the best to you both. Thanks again guys.

 TCI: Cheers Chris, thanks for the support, hope to see you on our travels!