https://www.facebook.com/thecreepingcandies
From: Germany
Sounds like: Rock
Photo credit: Oliver Wolf
1. What's new with The Creeping Candies?
Hoelle (singer, founder of the band): Hm. What do you mean with new? After more than 40 years some things seem to be „new“ and then you think about it … and while you do, you recognise: SHIT that was three years ago. *laughs*
Brille (drums): Ha got you. You mean when I joined the band?
Hoelle (singer, guitar & founder of the band): *laughs* Right.
Pulle (bass): To be serious. We are planing the songs for the next album and released one track for an international compilation called „Alien I Creator - A Tribute to Roky Erickson“ for the label „Gruselthon“ and met Enko again, who saw us in 1988 in Essen. That was big fun after all this time. It’s good to see that not all the old guys are gone.
Lippe (lead guitar, vocals): And we found our way back on the stage and play much more these days. Seems like we are having a very good time right now.
2. What do you want listeners to take away from the "Invincible" album?
Pulle: It is very personal - maybe more than every other album we did before. We decided to release an album with new songs for our 40th birthday and in the process of doing so, all these stories came up.
Lippe: Yea that’s right and those stories are mostly positive. People tell us that they dig the positive vibes. When we wrote the songs we just thought of things we would love to hear and now we feel that the honesty and all the experience of writing and recording fell together and the album still feels like a present to us. Hoelle: The last album was called „summer is over“, because we felt that maybe our summer as a band is over. There was much more pessimism, but now we feel like we have a great fall … more an Indian Summer.
3. Out of all of the years you've been together, what are the top three moments with the band that blew you away?
Brille: Being in the studio to record „Invincible“ and playing on the same stage in the same club, where I saw Pete York, when I was 18. Lippe: Hearing Brille talk about that Pete York thing all night long after the gig, while he got drunk! Boy we had fun that night! I have warm feelings about our bicycle tours in summer.
Pulle: The performances in the ’80s on major stages such as the Markthalle and Große Freiheit in Hamburg, the Theaterfabrik in Munich, the Batschkapp in Frankfurt, ...The formation of the current band lineup. The albums *Sugarlumps* and *Invincible*.
Hölle: I love the moments in studio when most of the recordings are done and you listen to the first mixes that blow you away.
Brille: Oh shit these a much more „top three moments“ *laughs*
4. What's been the inspiration behind your music artwork?
Hoelle: You mean the artwork of the album covers? We love to have it plain because of the disaster of our first record, where we hired an artist and the record company hired another artist and afterwards there was a lot of hustle.
Pulle: *laughs* That’s why we „recycled“ the cover which lost the battle for our first album „Flesh“ for the compilation „Celebration - Tracks & Traces of 40 Years“ last year.
Lippe: We rely on good band-pictures and try to stickt to the old DIY-thing. No more „arty-farty“ stuff.
5. What advice would you give to an up and coming band?
Hoelle: Stay calm.
Pulle: Stick together.
Brille: Have fun and practice together as often as you can.
Lippe: I like to quote Charlie Watts when he was asked how it feels being 25 years part of The Rolling Stones, he answered: „20 years of waiting and 5 years of Rock’n Roll.“ And now read the answers of the others again.
6. What's your favorite track of yours to play live and why?
Hoelle: I can’t tell, because this is changing all the time. There are tracks we love very much, but we don’t play very often to keep the love fresh and others that we know the people love, so we play them more frequently.
Pulle: If we feel, that we lost the love for a song, we put it apart and after a while we try to change it, so that we think we can find new love for it.
Brille: I love to play „Sunset“ and „Down to the Bar“. I like to see the people dancing.
Lippe: And the really do dance much more, since you joined the band *smiles*. I love the silent songs.
7. What's your thoughts on AI in music?
All together: BULLSHIT! It’s a big scam of the people.
8. Out of all of the physical formats that are creeping back up in popularity like cassettes, CDs and of course vinyl, which one do you prefer as an artist and also as a fan?
Hoelle: No question: vinyl.
Pulle: As a listener I love CDs, but as a musician I love vinyl.
Brille: I used to prefer cassettes, but now I prefer CDs.
Lippe: I was astonished how much warmer „Invincible“ sounds on vinyl than on CD. I have forgotten that fact over the years. I love vinyl. The artwork is much bigger and you can read all the liner notes without classes *laughs*
9. What do you want to accomplish before the end of 2026?
All together: Start the recording process of songs for our new album!
