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Music from the other side of the night somewhere between Blues, Psychedelic Rock, 60s Garage and crooked Country. Formed in 1985, The Creeping Candies got off to a truly furious start. Already in 1986 their debut album "Flesh" was released on the renowned Hamburg indie label "What's So Funny About" by Alfred Hilsberg, which made them one of the most well-known guitar bands in the German underground. British Rock 'n' Roll hero Nikki Sudden declared them his favorite German band and produced their first until his death, three records and took them on tour. The paths of the Candies Gang led straight through Germany to places like Hamburg "Markthalle", the Frankfurt "Batschkapp" and also in neighboring European countries. As of 2006, her former mentor died but The Creeping Candies are still alive and kicking, even if they're taking things a little more relaxed these days. The fire in their music has not gone out.
-Interview- (8/19/25)
1. What's new with The Creeping Candies?
2025 is the 40th year of the existence of the Candies Gang. We decided to celebrate that we are still here and rocking. So for the first time in our history there will be two abums coming in one year. One called "Celebration - Tracks & Traces of 40 Years" is a compilation with songs from the last years, which is released online on all streaming plattforms over the year on every first friday of the month. When we listened to the old records, we discovered some forgotten gems.
The second album is called "Invincible" and features ten brand new songs. We recorded it in January and we are really thrilled about the positive feedback we get for it. This album is released on vinyl and CD and will not be released digitally till 2026. The vinyl is the first one since our second album, which was released in 1988. It‘s a limited edition of 300 copies with coloured vinyl. Each record looks different. The were pressed by a friend in Augsburg.
There are two books coming, where The Creeping Candies appear. One about the German guitar underground in the 80s and one about our friend, mentor and producer Nikki Sudden, who always said, that we were his favorite band from Germany apart from Can.
And then there is a documentary in four parts about the history of the band on YouTube. Three parts are ready and Part Four will come in September 2025.
So a lot of things are happening right now. Besides that we are trying to play live as much as possible and we get a lot of positive feedback from promoters and the audience.
2. How does the writing process go with the band?
Pulle or Lippe are the ones that come up with ideas, sometimes together. We are working them out together in our rehersal room and when we think, that the arrangement of the new song is OK, we try it on stage in front of people. This is the moment of truth. You can instantly feel if there is work left to do, or if the new baby is ready.
3. What can you tell us about inspiration for the new music?
Because of this special "birthday: year, there are songs like "Don‘t Look Back", where the intention was to tell people that they always should hope for the best to come. The things in the past belong to your life, but you shouldn‘t stick to them.
"Invincible" - the title track is ironic and tells the story of a guy, who was just left by his girlfriend. She took all the good stuff with her and while he sees the red lights of his car (which she took to leave), he is yelling "I‘m invincible" and it‘s clear that he isn‘t.
"Gone but Not Forgotten" is a song for all those guys, who used to be a part of the last 40 year band history. They might be no longer part of the gang, but they are part of the history of this band. And three of these ex-members are dead now. So this song is dedicated to them.
We put short texts about the inspiration for each song on the inlay of the album.
4. What have you been listening to lately?
We discovered some cool new bands via social media, as there are The Midwich Affair and Ric Gordon from GB and we're fans of Wilco and Alabama Shakes.
5. Do you have any pre-show rituals before performing?
Not really. We know That other bands have, but we don‘t. We try to gather and look in each ones eyes and on the stage it goes. What we have, is an after-show ritual: we talk about the reactions of the audience, funny stories and stuff like that.
6. What's one thing you'd change about the local music scene?
In all those years it’s getting harder and harder to find venues to play and it’s getting harder to get money for what you do on stage. It feels like people don‘t think that music is worth something. This might be a result of Spotify, where you can listen to music without paying. We Are happy that we are not dependent on making our living by playing music.
7. What's your favorite show that you've played and why?
Oh we could mention a show at the legendary "Markthalle" in Hamburg, or the shows at other big venues, but what was very special was a show at our homebase "bombig - Bar & Garage". It was recorded on tape and on video. When we gave it a listen, a few days later we heard, that it wasn‘t just a cool live-show, which we already knew from the feeling on stage, we had catched a magic evening on tape. So we decided to put out a live-album. A plan that was with us, since the late 80s. Since it is out as an album now, this must be our favorite show. (laughing)
8. Any plans for any new music videos?
We did a lot of shorts with 30 sec. length and we have plans for every song of the new album. It‘s a matter of time. If we have the time, there will be more coming.
9. What do you wish to accomplish for the rest of the year?
There are some gigs to play and we will do a lot of special shows with other bands and at least two of them in a mixed programm with the author of the book about the German Guitar Underground of the 80s. And we are going to the studio in September to record some stuff. One song is for a Roky Erickson (13th Floor Elevators) compilation, where we were asked to be part of and maybe we will record the first Candies Christmas song ever? Let‘s see.
-Interview- (8/27/23)
1. How did you get started with music and how did you develop your sound? Who thought of the name "Creeping Candies" and is there any meaning behind it?
The Creeping Candies started in 1985 with four guys playing guitar, bass, organ and drums. Before we played for two years in New Wave and Punk inspired Bands. In the Mid-80's, the 60s Revival became a big thing in Germany and we fell in love with older music like Blues, Rock & Roll, Beat and Psychedelic. We were also influenced by all this cool acts which were around that time: Cramps and Gun Club, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Nikki Sudden and many more. The Independent scene in the 80' was fantastic. Our sound changed in nearly 40 years a little (depending on the different musicians, which played in the band) but not very much. We still put things together which we like and try to play a song in our way, so that it will become a Creeping Candies number, no matter if it is a coverversion or our own creation.
The band name came up as a remiscense to the music of the 50s and 60s, we loved. For us it sounded like a 50's or 60's band. We liked the meaning. A piece of candy which is a little bit spooky.
2. What do you want people to take away from your music?
We want them to feel the fun and emotions that we put into our songs when we create them. For us the Creeping Candies are more likely a gang and not a band.
3. How would you describe your sound to the average listener?
Since we are out there since 1985 there have been so many different influences. We started as a 60s orientated band and on our long way there was so much more good music crossing our rough trails. So today we are still based on the old 60s guitar-based vibe, but reach out for Psychodelic influences, desperate Blues, some noisy way of Rock and sometimes try our way of some warped Country.
4. Who are three bands you’d like to tour with?
Neil Young & Crazy Horse, The Fleshtones, and Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds.
5. How has Covid affected what you do?
Our last gig before the shutdown was on the 4th of January of 2020, when we released our last album. A fews weeks later everything was closed and in the next two years we had a hard time to keep the band alive and lost our former drummer. To be honest this was maybe the hardest quest in the (long) history of The Creeping Candies. We are still recovering.
6. What’s your take on the current state of Rock?
Do we have one? We do what we did since we started our thing.
7. What's the current music scene like there in Germany?
After Covid a lot of clubs are still suffering. It was hard before the pandemic for live bands to perform. But now it is even harder. So the actual scene is changing a lot. The younger musicians are working at home to put out tracks song by song and a a lot of them are not prepared to play them live.
8. What’s your take on the royalties that streaming services pay out to artists?
Royalties? (laughing out loud) You mean the pennies you get. The music industry destroyed itself because they were greedy. So nearly no musician can make a living by releasing music anymore. The all need to play. We didn`t believe in the system even in the 80s. We never earned our living with our music. This is our take on the independence: don't you ever trust this industry. Earn your livig somewhere else and keep your music as your big love. That's why we are still out there and keep the thing going. We love to be together, we play the music which we like, we share a laugh and do things we are interested in. The Candies are not a band – we are a gang. No one is left behind.
9. What's next for Creeping Candies?
After the last album and before the pandemic, we started to write new songs. The idea is to record new stuff and keep on working on new ideas or - sometimes – look at our very old stuff and find a take on refreshing this material, so that it fits to our actual state of mind. No pressure. First we wanna play and are looking for new adventures … Maybe we will do our first music-video ever? We have some people who want us to do one.
10. Any shoutouts?
Always remember: keep the good spirits. If you are in a band a lot of things will go wrong and if you keep the good spirits you can cope with these things without breaking up and believe us: there is a lot of shit happening, when you leave your practice room. If you are a good team, than the quests will let you grow.
