This week on Kaleidoscope, Juliet Fromholt spoke with members of Dayton band The Creepy Crawlers. The band features Rev. Chad Wells on vocals and guitar, Scarika Watson on vocals, P.J. Wells on bass, Danny Grimm on drums, and Cory “Gorey Cory” Ryherd on guitar. In the interview, the bandmates spoke with Juliet about the origins and resurgence of horror rock, which combines overdriven guitars with lyrics about death and the occult. Chad Wells, who writes the band’s songs, discussed his composition process and creative influences. The Crawlers will release their next EP, Full Moon Rituals, on October 21st.
The Creepy Crawlers began playing together last year after Chad Wells was offered a chance to revive a band he played in during the 90s, the Jackalopes, for a one-off performance. While the performance ultimately did not come to fruition, Chad had already assembled a group of musicians and rehearsed for the show. Instead of letting the practice go to waste, the band decided to record a “proof of concept” single together. To their surprise, the recording was quickly picked up by startup UK horror label We Are Horror Records, who offered to release the Creepy Crawler’s first album. “It was one of those things where you kind of quit trying and it happened,” Chad Wells said.
“Growing up in the 80s, television told us that there were these evil forces and devils inside rock and roll and horror movies. And I think it might be true, because I really got repossessed by the spirit of that kind of fun, horror-themed music when we started revisiting old Jackalopes stuff, and the project kind of bubbled out of that.”
He says that a shows like Stranger Things have propelled interest in horror and '80s music, two threads The Creepy Crawlers bring together in their songs. “The Horror music scene that we were a part of in the late 90s and early 2000s sprang back to life, and I felt like I had more to add to it,” he said— though he added that horror remains an “underdog artform".
Stylistically, The Crawlers draw inspiration from metal, punk, and horror bands of the 1980s and '90s, including the Misfits, Mötley Crüe, Alice Cooper, and Rob Zombie. Chad says that writing music for the group has unleashed a torrent of song ideas left dormant while he was playing in other bands, like the psychedelic rock group Cricketbows:
“The riffs come out so fast. It’s almost like, for all of this time in Cricketbows, I had suppressed this caveman side of me that used to be able to sit and play riffs all day. As a 14, 15 year old kid, I mastered Metallica and The Misfits’ catalog and style of playing. I did it a little bit in bands, and I kind of suppressed it when I had kids.”
Chad says he repressed his “horror” side until he realized that his daughter, P.J., now a member of the band, also loved the genre. He also spoke with Juliet about cultivating a frightening stage persona that seems at odds with his easy-going personality.
“Going back to playing heavier music at my age, I might be tempted to play up some ‘tough guy,’ ‘tattoo guy’ stuff. And that’s not who I am at all, but I can sort of still give people that vibe and feeling with a fictionalized, fun aesthetic. And it’s really cool. As an artist, beyond just a musician, it gives me more colors to draw with.”
The Creepy Crawlers will perform at Halloween Freakout at the American Legion Hall in in Troy on October 21st. They will play alongside Strawberry Love Gel, Yirf, the Franks, Bat Thorn, and Waste Band Theory. The same day, they release their EP, Full Moon Rituals, and will appear on a compilation by Horror Shock Records, Shockwaves, Vol. 1. The Creepy Crawlers’ music is available for purchase on Bandcamp, or for digital streaming. More information about the band, including tour dates and releases, is available on Instagram and Facebook.
