Creeper on their 'ambitious' debut, treasure hunts and calling out sexism

Not many bands can claim to have teased their debut album via a fictional paranormal investigation.

In the vein of Blair Witch, Creeper built a series of websites and laid clues around their home city of Southampton.

It all led to the announcement of Eternity, In Your Arms - which has finally been released.

"It's been more work than I've ever done in my life," says lead singer Will Gould.

He says the group came up with the treasure hunt because they wanted "a new way of doing things".

They got fans to investigate the fictional disappearance of a man called James Scythe, encouraging people to travel to Southampton.

They hinted at clues on Instagram, including this one of a Hangman puzzle.

"In 2017 when you can't make people listen to a record for more than 30 seconds, how exciting is it that people are getting in a car to come down to a weird maritime city on the southern coast to solve a mystery that's not even real."

It was novel and one of the many things Creeper do themselves - from the artwork, to the promotion to the visuals.

Will and Hannah from Creeper came in to play the Radio 1 piano sessions

Keyboardist Hannah Greenwood recently criticised sexism in parts of the music industry when she was stopped backstage at one of her own gigs.

In a Facebook post, she wrote: "Sexism is not on. No woman should ever be made to feel that she cannot do something, because of her gender. No woman should ever be treated the way I have been this evening."

Will says it's important to call that behaviour out.

"Hannah gets into situations all the time when she's in the dressing room and a promoter will come in and say, 'You're going to have to leave, it's only bands in the dressing room.' She's in the headlining band.

"A lot of the time it's subconscious sexism. You're brought up as a white man and you've inherited the world and a lot of people don't realise they're doing it.

"It's about working to correct some of those bad habits."

Watch Creeper perform Hiding With Boys as part of Radio 1's Piano Sessions.

Fans have been waiting for their debut album since the band's first EP back in 2014.

"It's a very ambitious record," says Will. "A comparison I like to make is the Hollywood studio system in the 1930s and 1940s.

"They'd have a studio lot with writers, directors, editors, prop makers and actors who are contracted to work there. They'd do everything. We're the same - we do everything at once."

Will from Creeper is a massive fan of 80s nostalgia - as seen in his choice of T-shirt

The band have gained a reputation for their epic live performances and Will's voice is powerful - although he admits he's not too good at looking after it.

"I come from a punk rock scene that when you play a gig you get really drunk. I've got better as time's gone on.

"Me and Hannah have a warm-up that we now do and she's a lot better than I am.

"As for performance, it's more about feeling the moment and the conviction of what we're playing. I fly by the seat of my pants."

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