Night Creatures

The Night Creatures hail from that special corner of the Earth where the Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania Dutch Country, and suburban Philadelphia converge. I have a long history of viewing and hearing bands from this general locale, and traditionally such bands bring a tough, blue collar approach to the punk rock form. The Night Creatures are no different. I know I'm not the most objective critic, but I do think this trio has turned out a pretty decent demo. The great Rich Kroneiss (who amusingly stated, "These songs are definitely not fit for human consumption") compared the group to Electric Frankenstein. And although I don't think the Creatures were going for an EF sound at all (the band cites Ramones, Dead Boys, Heartbreakers, etc. as primary influences), I can definitely hear the parallels. Especially on the first couple of tracks, the band dishes out really aggressive punk n' roll with a pronouncedly "rock" tinge and throaty macho man vocals. But I also hear driving '77 punk guitars and elements of early '80s California punk. It sounds to me like the Night Creatures are still a work-in-progress. The songwriting is mostly unremarkable, Ted Moehring's lead vocals are a little generic, and lyrics like "All I wanna do/Is get high and fuck you/Nothing else to do/So let's get stoned and screw" are pretty hard to defend. But the playing is tight and powerful, and really packs the sort of wallop that's often lacking in today's punk. These songs hit really hard, and Moehring is a fucking beast on guitar! And although there's a lot more rock than roll to be had here, the material is not without its merits. The straight-up pounder "It's All Good" really grabs me with its simple sing-along chorus. And the best track is "Get Lost", a stylistic departure featuring Getzoff on lead vox. Here the band kicks into Thunders/Joneses/Teenage Head swaggering rock n' roll mode, with vocals uncannily reminiscent of Belvy K. from late '90s Now Wave faves Libertine. "This Is It" is as close as the disc gets to matching the horror-themed imagery of the packaging with some dark-hued punk sounds. Shades of TSOL, maybe? Yeah, a little.So like I said, pretty decent. Not great, not terrible. Decent. I don't think the Night Creatures are quite there yet, but I see them having the potential to grow into a really solid no-frills punk band. They already know how to rock. Now it's just a matter of picking up the slack in the songwriting department.---Lord Rutledge (Now Wave Magazine)