Oakland's Kids On a Crime Spree premiere “Creep the Creeps” with more of their trademark classic guitar tone and the proto-punk sound of the rebellion that spilled out of the garages and rec rooms of the 1960s. The analog tape recorded We Love You So Bad from 2011 brought us Mario Hernandez's monaural pop obsessions to life, where he continues with guitarist Bill Evans and drummer Becky Barron to make rock and roll singles in the tradition that pretends the digital music revolution never happened or meant much to begin with. Neither freak beat, nor psychedelic; the East Bay 3 present one of the closest sounds to the genuine early-to-mid-60s article that would shape all the aforementioned and more of trends to come.
From their road tested live set, Mario, Becky, and Bill summon the powers of 60s popstars, iconic studios and the Lieber-Stroller approach to hit songwriting. The heart of the song comes from that familiar surf soundtrack ready guitar tone that wipes out on the gritty, fuzzy distortions sands. Combining the power and might from that era your parents barely remember and your grandparents loathed, the Kids tighten up all the nuggets found in the vintage Vine Street approach to making singles in less than 2 and a half minutes time long before the long-player became all the rage.
Tearing down the Brill Building factory assemblage for a Back to Mono attitude of defiance, the Oakland trio storms the Pyrenees Castle with garage grunged walls of their own sound. Bill takes the Bubblegum From the Sky no-wave into the deep end of the hit parade pop pool with his old bandmate of former Ciao Bella fame, Mario, singing dream echoed vocals of sketchy after dark evening walks. Conveying an episode of heartbreak and an 'aching inside', Hernandez's voice is treated with a space chamber reverb that arcs like the sound whir of cars bending and breaking the audio barriers on the interstate, captured in sincere and slower motions.
Where many artists and bands consume their thoughts of mastering the decided sound of now and today, it is possible that Kids On a Crime Spree have retreated even deeper and further into the recesses of forging the perfect '60s single never made. If “Dead Ripe” was an early indication of the hand clap built bubble gum vignette; “Creep The Creeps” out-toughs the contemporary punk hubris in the name of the kids in revolt that started this whole rebellion thing to begin with. Eschewing the post-modern for the golden radio age's modern vacuum tube glow, the three up the sonic ante to make an authentic post-50s sound gem. Forgetting that the '70s decade ever happened all together, the trifecta of Hernandez's Orbison-ian sung heartbreak and woe, Evan's studious guitar and it's classical cadence with Barron's strong beat hold the powers to rewrite the baby boomers' dreams and fuzzy memories.
Kids On A Crime Spree's Creep The Creeps 7″ will be available April 9 from Slumberland Records.
