Ian was very open about his difficulties with his mental health in last year’s cover feature. How’s he doing at the moment?
“He’s doing brilliantly. We were communicating a lot over the Christmas period, and it was my birthday at the weekend and he sent me a massive message then, which was very sweet. We’ve been working on the record, so we’ve been organising a lot of things. He came up with the idea for the [UK] tour poster, which he suggested should be a riff on the one for the film Labyrinth. It feels like he’s completely back in the room and back kicking arse again. I’m really proud of him; he’s done amazingly.”
You’ve also just released an excellent new song, Annabelle. Which of the three headings did that one appear under on your whiteboard?
“I’m such a fan of that song! Annabelle’s place in the narrative of the record is about Roe, our character, meeting Annabelle for the first time. In the real world it was in reference to our experiences of America on the Warped Tour 2017 and our interactions with the Westboro Baptist Church. What we were trying to do with it was create the most upbeat satanic song you’ve ever heard. Satanism is nothing to do with Satan at all, but if you’re familiar with [founder of the Church of Satan] Anton LaVey’s Satanic Bible, it’s about living for yourself. It’s kicking back against all of those traditions that oppress us, telling us who to love and how to live. It’s a song for the outsider that feels like it’s required now more than ever, as our politics regress back to tradition. In terms of where it fits on the board, I guess it’s under the ‘death’ category, as it’s the death of tradition. But there’s a sex element, too, as Roe is meeting the most beautiful woman he’s ever seen in his life. I’m hoping it’s a song people sing with their friends on a night out.”
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Given the hardships the band came up against on the campaign for your debut album, is there any trepidation going into a new cycle this time around?
“What we’ve done is recharge so much from last time that, I hope, we and other bands can learn from. It used to be much more common back in the ’90s and early 2000s for bands to take more of a break. Because of the way the industry is now, to remain relevant you feel you have to constantly be throwing material out, so no-one has a break. When I think about our career since we started, we just didn’t stop. We were so lucky, and I’m not going to play that down, but we made mistakes. We had a spotlight on us before even had our first EP out, which was really wild. Every mistake we made was in front of a lot of people, and without a safety net. What’s interesting about defying convention and tradition, as I discussed regarding Annabelle, is that in some ways we followed a tradition ourselves. That’s why the new record’s artwork looks weathered and old – it’s supposed to reference those records of the past that our parents had. We took time out like our heroes did back in the day, so we’ve had time to heal, to reassess and make ourselves hungry to get back on the road. We’re ready to go again and we’re excited, which isn’t something I’d have been able to say when we finished up last time around. I hope other bands will see what we’ve done and maybe consider it for themselves.”
Even though you’ve only dipped a toe back into your return so far, there are many fans already embracing the iconography of the new record and getting the cover’s Fallen Angel logo tattooed. That must feel pretty special?
“It’s always an amazing thing to see that kind of dedication, though it never surprises me because our audience has always been this way, expecting and demanding the new and the challenging from us. You very rarely meet a casual Creeper fan; they either completely get it or completely hate it. I feel their incredible dedication to an ideal is what makes us different from other bands. The fact that they trust us so much already with this record is an amazing thing, and we won’t let them down. We’ve got a really eclectic, exciting, three-dimensional world coming their way.”
Sex, Death & The Infinite Void is out on May 22 via Roadrunner Records. Check Creeper out at 2000trees on July 9-11, or at one of the dates below. Get your tickets here.
BABYMETAL tour 2020
February
19 Glasgow, Barrowland
20 Cardiff, The Great Hall
22 Manchester, O2 Apollo
23 London, Hammersmith Eventim Apollo
Creeper tour 2020
April
12 Leeds, The Wardrobe
13 Glasgow, St. Luke’s
14 Manchester, Academy 2
15 London, Brixton Electric
17 Brighton, Concorde 2
18 Birmingham, O2 Institute