Creeping Tide - Weak (Guest Review By Barry Phillips)

    

  A guest review today by a proper, published author as not only was Barry Phillips a member of bands such as Demob, Blitz Boys, Kiss The Blade, The Wheel, Hooligan Crooners etc, he also wrote the book In Search of Tito's Punks: On the Road in a Country That No Longer Exists. He's recommending you check out a debut album by Creeping Tide (https://www.facebook.com/creepingtide) and begins by saying; "Sorry it took so long but I wanted to give it a proper listen or two. It's more odd than I thought at first . . . which makes it kind of interesting. I've never met Ben but he seems like one of the good ones so . . ."

  I like a meandering, non-linear backstory. It bugs me when other people seem to have their lives or careers planned out and it all works. Part of the problem with the world today is that the internet with its Google algorithms and Amazon “other people who bought…” are killing serendipity and chance. So, I was compelled to be attracted by the story of Creeping Tide.

  

  So there’s this drummer who used to be in the Swiss punk outfit Tastes Like Chicken (‘Black Market Crash’, Hannibal Records, 1999), who moved to beautiful Sheffield, started attending the legendary ‘Arches’ club and became smitten with techno. Right. More than smitten, that man — Ben Fraser — says it was an epiphany as he realised “. . . there was a punk equivalent in the dance/electronic world - both musically and in terms of vibe/attitude.” So much so, that he set to learning all about electronic music production and DJing and developing his own Ben Fraser sound (acid techno) and later Sabretooth sound (psytrance). The result has been hundreds of releases and gigs around the world (mainly Europe). But when the C***D lockdowns extinguished the entire techno scene, Ben returned to his first love of punk rock and set about bringing his techno recording skills to producing a one-man studio album. 

  I’ll have to put my own cards on the table at this point. When a mutual Sheffield friend visited our Highland wilderness and told me I really should listen to what Ben was doing I really had to wrestle with my own prejudices. The techno DJs I had encountered in the Netherlands and in Australia had been (almost universally) rich-kid, Elon Musk fanboy, techie-libertarian, anti-5G-bat types who revered the likes of Trump and Johnson. To me, that was not a ‘punk equivalent’ vibe. However, our mutual Sheffield friend is also a rather successful techno DJ, is a very fine fellow, and assured me that Ben’s analysis is accurate. On reflection, this was all a very logical development in that fair and wondrous city, since it was indeed the home of the original techno-punks (at least in UK terms) the Human League. Anyone who has seen the great Made In Sheffield will be all too aware of the (real) League’s punk roots. And the ‘Arches’ club is in the same old ‘mesters’ workshop complex as the equally legendary ‘Yellow Arches’ rehearsal and recording studios - Richard Hawley, Ming City Rockers, Jarvis Cocker, Slow Club etc.

  So it was that I contacted Ben and asked for a pre-release of the album. I admit, on first listen I was a little surprised by the production, and the pleasingly ‘full band’ feel . . . surprised but also impressed. There are fifteen songs on the ‘The Wages of an Ill Spent Life’ LP, rather too many to thumbnail-review all of them. The opening track  is a cracker; ‘The Sinners’ starts with a Carter USM sequencer-hook before exploding into a wall of dirty rhythm guitars and a, rather complementary, Carter-style rhythm track.  The equally excellent ‘Warning Shot’ has a similar feel with a great, soaring Carteresque chorus. A judicious scattering of samples throughout the album enforces the feel. But there is sufficient variety to hold our attention.  ‘Release It’ brings to my mind a number of contemporary bands from ex-Yugoslavia — perhaps the (literally) anthemic chorus? An impertinent critic might suggest ‘Cut To The Chase’ almost crosses into metal territory but just about stays in lane. Elsewhere there are splashes of ska, dub and electro, all of which come together in the frankly genre-busting ‘Pugaree’. I’ll not even attempt to describe this, beyond saying the phrase that came to mind was “ . . . evil bastard child of Eurovision, on acid.” But I warn you, this thing has a spike protein as merciless as any variant and will infect you. The whole album is rounded off with the mighty, fists-in-the-air, ‘Half Life’.

  Overall there is perhaps a little Oi! influence, but in a Lars Frederikson kind of way. Maybe ‘streetpunk’ then? If you are partial to the likes of Rancid you will certainly find plenty to like here. There are other similarities with that Bay Area punk family – mostly I would suggest the production – but it is all imbued with that Carter/ravey hyper-energy, and the overall effect retains an intangible ‘Britishness’. It’s a mighty impressive debut in my book, so much so that I wanted to spread the word amongst the Just Some Punk Songs new-punk cognoscenti. Give it a blast.

  ‘The Wages of an Ill Spent Life’ full album on Bandcamp  https://creepingtide.bandcamp.com/album/the-wages-of-an-ill-spent-life

  This was the single from the album, it's called Weak...