Words by Maddy Howell

Few bands commit to reinvention with the same guts and grandeur as Creeper.

For over a decade, England’s favourite goth-punk misfits have carved out a blood-soaked, bombastic space in modern rock. Colliding punk’s fervent energy with horror theatrics, gothic romance, and high-concept storytelling, every chapter of their story has brought countless surprises. From faking their own break-up to an onstage decapitation, they’ve become known to give every era a grand finale, often tearing down their own world just as the spotlight reaches its brightest. This time though, things are a little different.

With 2023’s Sanguivore basking in Jim Steinman-drenched melodrama, a climactic, sold-out show at London’s KOKO seemed set to draw the curtain on their vampiric masterpiece earlier this year. Instead, though, the band unveiled its twisted continuation: Sanguivore II: Mistress of Death.

From duelling Maiden-esque guitar solos to gospel gang vocals, Creeper’s latest chapter doesn’t just raise the bar – it sets it on fire, drinks the ashes, and laughs at the ridiculousness of the whole endeavour. Feral lead single "Headstones" setting the stage for their most gloriously over-the-top era yet, we enter a glam-metal fever dream set in the 1980s, where a vampire rock band ride the highs of rock ’n’ roll debauchery under the looming threat of a new antagonist – the Mistress of Death.

Confirming the perfectly timed October 31st release of the album, KNOTFEST sat down with frontman William Von Ghould to get the lowdown on what it means to make a sequel in a world that thrives on reinvention, why this is the most fun Creeper have had in years, and how embracing excess, absurdity, and theatricality has unlocked a whole new realm of possibilities.

Let’s start with the obvious — Sanguivore II. You’ve always been a band that ends chapters with a bang, so to return with a sequel rather than a reset is a huge twist. What made you want to continue the Sanguivore world instead of torching it and building something new?

Von Ghould - In the past, we always believed in aggressive reinvention, burning things down and rebuilding them in a different shape. I think a lot of that came from my obsession with David Bowie when I was younger. The greats of rock music used to do that a lot, and for us, it often felt like the right thing to do. Coming into this, doing a sequel was the biggest swerve we could pull. Everyone was expecting us to end the era and begin something else. 

We didn't feel like we'd even scratched the surface of what we could achieve with Sanguivore, and a lot of that comes down to Jim Steinman’s influence on the sound of these albums. From Meat Loaf to the Sisters Of Mercy, he’s created so many different things to dive into, and we wanted to explore more. For the first time in a long time, we felt like we didn't need to destroy everything.

We didn't have that much to prove, so we just wanted to carry on with something that we were enjoying. The album really resonated with people, and it felt like continuing the story was the right thing to do. We wanted to see what more we could do with a second record, because if you’ve seen Ghostbusters, you’ll know that the sequel is sometimes better than the original.

The London KOKO show felt like the perfect send-off to the album’s first chapter, but also a fitting introduction to the second. A big part of that was in the Mistress of Death reveal. Given Creeper’s penchant for grand gestures, was there ever any doubt that this was how you’d kick off the next era?

Von Ghould - These big live stunts have always been a hallmark of our band, and I insisted that we did it at KOKO this time around. That venue has a lot of history within the lore of our band. The last time we played there was in 2018, at the end of the Eternity In Your Arms era, and we broke the band up on stage. It’s become implied that when we have one of these standalone shows booked, it’s the end of an era. We don't have to say what they are, and our fans are so brilliant at unravelling it all. It’s fun to do things like that, because after being a band for almost a decade we’re able to reference and lampoon ourselves a little bit. 

So much work goes into those shows though, and we know that people aren’t necessarily paying to see the songs being played. They’re there to see what happens at the end, which is crazy. The last time we did that at the KOKO, the end was mired with people crying and screaming. We got lots of death threats at the time, and it was quite a traumatic time in my life. This time around, there was a relief that washed over people. They were jubilant, and they left the venue with a happy memory.

In the Sanguivore era, we also took onboard a young visual artist named Harry Steel. He started touring with us on this record, and the art that he's contributed to Creeper has been so substantial. It feels like he’s a part of the band now, so we've hired him to make all the music videos and visuals for this campaign. The first part of that was the film that we played at KOKO. He's such a horror nerd and loves practical visual effects, so he loved it. That was so special, and it was another one of these moving parts that came together.

It feels a bit like a circus sometimes, but it’s almost like a family business now. My girlfriend does our makeup, Beth who plays Darcia is basically my sister-in-law, and we've worked with some of the same people for years now. We’ve got this whole team of amazing creatives trying to make this thing happen, and at nights like that one in London… It all comes together.

Let’s talk about ‘Headstones’, the first taste we got of this record. It’s one of the fastest, heaviest tracks Creeper has released in a long time, which makes it a bold lead single. What made you want to come out of the gates with that kind of energy?

Von Ghould - This time around, we were thinking a lot about how we were going to make this record different to the last. We knew that it couldn't just be a complete follow-up, because it's difficult to best the exact same concept as before. We've written all these hard rock songs, but at the end we wanted a fast Motörhead-inspired song. We hadn’t done that thrashy thing before. We played fast punk rock early on in our career, then there wasn’t much of it on our second record, but we came back around to it on Sanguivore. The two fast songs on that album were ‘Sacred Blasphemy’, which was like a Famous Monsters era Misfits track, and ‘Chapel Gates’ which was influenced by bands like The Cramps, The Damned, and The Ramones. 

This time, we were trying to reimagine those moments with different types of punk rock, and ‘Headstones’ was born out of that. We wanted to write a punk song, and then I ended up saying, ‘How about we add a gospel choir on the chorus?’ Before you know it, it expanded into this larger thing. When it came to releasing singles, it was actually our manager who suggested it as the first. It's been a really fun one to play live, and we're enjoying seeing all of the reactions to it.

This era seems to be about pushing every dial up to eleven - thrash riffs, glam-metal bravado, gospel vocals, dual guitar solos… You dealt out a lot of that with Sanguivore’s first part, but how freeing was it to just throw out the rulebook and create something unashamedly dramatic?

Von Ghould - Over the years, we've grown a thick callous for these things. Every time we change something, there's always detractors, even amongst our audience. Sometimes, people don't want us to change things, but you’ve got to follow your gut. We've become good at just going, ‘What do we like? What do we think is cool? What sounds exciting to us?’ That’s what allows us to keep progressing, and that’s what keeps it fun.

There are so many bands that we loved when we were kids who are still playing their first record which they wrote 25 years ago. It’s not a negative thing, but personally, I think I would find that quite disheartening after a while. With us, it’s always a case of, ‘How much further can it go?’ One of the main things we love about Jim Steinman was his inspiration from Phil Spector. The excess of the production, and the excessiveness of everything else. How much more over the top can it be? When do you reach a point where someone says stop?’ Luckily, no one has said stop yet.

Everyone has been encouraging, and the fans don't want it to be toned down. They want it to be more bombastic. Stuff like this has been missing from rock music for some time, and that’s what this era is for us. It’s ridiculously over the top, and the emotions are heightened. It’s hornier, sexier, stupider, and self-aware at the same time. We're in an era where that's being applauded again, and that’s a comfortable place for our band. We’re ready to make records like the ones we grew up listening to, and that's what motivates us.

There's no rule book, because that’s how someone like Jim Steinman would have approached it. Luckily, we’re working with Tom Dalgety, who's like this generation’s Jim Steinman. He's made so many records that have broken so much ground, and he just doesn't stop. It feels like we're firing on all cylinders creatively at the moment, so it's a lovely moment for our band.

Diving into the record’s lore, we’re now in a blood-soaked 1980s following a vampire rock band on tour. What inspired that setting, and what drew you to this particular moment in time for the story?

Von Ghould - It was important for us to flesh out the Sanguivore universe and progress it in some way. We decided that it would be fun to do a time warp and emerge in a different place to tell a different story about the strain of vampires that we introduced with Spook and Mercy. We thought it was funny to include the band ourselves in it too, and we introduced ‘the Ghost Brigade’ on the first single we put out after the Roundhouse show. Framing the band as the protagonists, it allows each one of us to play a role onstage. Plus, the medium in which we're telling these stories is through records. It's allowed us to make the record of that vampire band, and the story being set in the 1980s allows the music to be full of excess. That was the time for this type of rock music, especially things like glam metal. It’s nice to be able to put a timestamp on it and keep it locked in there.

We've got rose-tinted glasses for that time in history, and people kept telling us how 80s inspired the first half of the record sounded. This time around, we thought we’d just lean into it. One of the biggest constants in my life has been The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, and the way that Bowie played that character onstage. Doing something similar has been really fun, and it involves the whole group of us. All the music videos have been such a joy to make, and when you come and see the band live… You see those characters on the stage in front of you. It ties it all up into a nice package, and it feels like we're paying homage to rock ‘n’ roll tropes from the past.

That feeling of debauchery, danger, and excess runs through the Sanguivore era, and this time you’ve also played around with the Church of Satan and the rock ‘n’ roll fearmongering of the Satanic Panic…

Von Ghould - The Satanic Panic, Anton LaVey, and the Church of Satan has always been fascinating to me. I've been interested in it since I was a kid, but I got given a book by my girlfriend about Jayne Mansfield and Anton LaVey. It was a picture book called ‘California Infernal’ and it’s all about their relationship. I put up on my Instagram story, and the singer from The 69 Eyes messaged me saying, ‘That sounds like it should be a song’. So, we made it into a song. 

There's a song called 'The Black House' on the record, which is specifically about the Anton LaVey Black House. When we were last out in America, we went to the site of the Black House. It's so cool, and it's such a point of interest for me. We went to a museum that had lots of the robes and things like that, and you see all of these little themes crop up on the record.

We've ended up using a lot of the Church of Satan stuff, but in our story, it's a bit more fantastical. We're using it as a storytelling device, where the parents of the kids that are coming to see this vampire band don't approve of it. It's all tied in together, and it's all done in a playful way. A lot of the concerns had by parents during the Satanic Panic are fun ones to play with, especially in silly, sexy vampire songs about blood, sex, and violence. A lot of the music I got into when I was younger would have fallen under the parameters of being ‘dangerous’, and I find the idea of playing songs backwards to try and find evil messages so interesting. 

It feels like everyone in the band is more connected than ever right now.  You’re all on the same wavelength, and you're all having so much fun whilst playing to your strengths…

Von Ghould - It's all so much fun, and that's another one of the reasons we wanted to keep the Sanguivore moniker a little longer. It's almost like a new era for the band, because the first part was the first record Jake [Fogarty, drums] played on, and this one's the first that Lawrie [Pattison, guitar] has played on. The older records were inherited by Jake and Lawrie, but this time around it feels like a complete unit. It’s theirs as well now.

You’ve often said that you always imagined three Creeper records, and this was never meant to go on forever. Now that you’re here, well beyond that, what’s kept the spark alive?

Von Ghould - We hadn't considered that doing our Bat Out Of Hell record would be something we'd fall so in love with. This era of the band, writing and working with Tom Dalgety… It's become the dawn of a new era. We're noticing something very special happening with the audience now, too. They've always been incredible, and we’ve always had a unique bond with them. But, with the themes and sound of these records, we’ve noticed a lot of parents of fans noticing our reference points. They grew up with some of the bands that we're referencing, and their kids might not even know that. Now, mums and dads are coming with their kids to the shows, and they’re all dressing up as vampires.

The audience has kept the band alive, more than anything else. They play as much of a part in every show as the band does. That's kept it all feeling cohesive, and that's made us want to keep going. Sometimes you have to listen to that feeling in your stomach, and if it’s telling you that it doesn't feel complete, there's probably more to give. It feels like Creeper still has unfinished business, just like Casper. 

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Sanguivore II: Mistress of Death arrives via Spinefarm October 31st. The album is available for pre-order - HERE

Creeper will be featured at Bloodstock this month and to close out the year will take on a run od dates in December with Ice Nine Kills. See current dates and cities below. 

CREEPER TOUR DATES

8/9 — Derbyshire, UK — Bloodstock

WITH ICE NINE KILLS

12/8 — Manchester, UK — O2 Victoria Warehouse
12/9 — Glasgow, SCT — OVO Hydro
12/10 — Nottingham, UK — Motorpoint Arena
12/12 — London, UK — Ovo Arena Wembley