Listening to the debut album, "With Signs Following", from East
Tennessee-based CREECH HOLLER, is a bit like being trapped on a long-haul flight with *severe* turbulence. Theoretically, you know you're not going to die, but it's a pretty damn scary experience all the same.
Jeff Zentner (vocals, guitar), Christian Brookes (drums, footstomps), and Joey Campbell (bass, melodica, vocals) have produced a real contemporary take on the traditional style of their locality, that being the Southern Appalachian Mountains.
The album title, "With Signs Following", is a direct reference to The Church of Jesus Christ with Signs Following, or, Snake Handlers. These preachers took literal translation of various passages in the bible, in particular Mark 16: 17-18: "And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shalltake up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt
them." Unsurprisingly, quite a few preachers died from vicious snakebites sustained as they were waving the poor creatures around in their fervour, and the practise was made illegal in the 1940s. Point being, it was a dark and passionate practice, and so totally fitting with what Creech Holler are doing.
Fans of garage blues and hard country set-ups like the Archie Bronson Outfit, and (as always) Hank III, will lap up "With Signs Following". From the dramatic opening of "Pretty Polly", to their creepily disturbing take on "Little Matty Grove" [N.b. note for folksters - in many versions the young tyke is portrayed as a cheeky adulterer - in this version he endures a
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violent and bloody death, and we certainly know about it], their maniacal guitar, bass and drum bashing, more often than not coupled with eerie, hypnotic melodicas floating over the top, sends shivers down the spine.
If "With Signs Following" is enough to terrify the living daylights out of you, and it probably is, then just imagine what these guys would be like live. The London/UK circuit could surely do with more bands that run the risk of making your head explode, so this is a direct hint for Creech Holler to come pay us a visit.
Creech Holler have embraced Southern Gothic in all it's glory, so if you're a fan of Cormac McCarthy, Harper Lee, William Faulkner, death ballads, dark religion, Southern friend chicken, heavy rolling bass-lines, moonshine, cat fish, claw-hammer banging guitars, and unrelenting drums that will probably make your ears bleed, then this trio might be right up your street.
www.myspace.com/creechholler
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