Montreal newcomers Steve Creep and the Wildcards compare enjoying their engaging rock sound to the experience of appreciating the look and sound of a vintage car, summarising it as “catchy, retro and melodic.”
The band first fired up their engines in 2023 when Steve Creep recorded vocals and instruments with producer Tom Shemerr, the guitarist in The Damn Truth. With that completed, Steve assembled the Wildcards from his former tour mates, with Phil Di Sessa on guitar, Scott Mitchell on bass and Will Laurin on drums.
And on the sound they’ve crafted, Steve told us: “If you like crunchy guitars, loud drums, melodic and catchy vocals, short and concise songs then you’ll probably like what we do. We aren’t reinventing the wheel. We’re like an old car. Some people can appreciate the look and sound of a vintage car. That’s pretty much what we’re based around.”
Our latest taste of this is the band’s third single Revolution Radio, which was released last month. It opens up with a stabbing guitar that’s joined by a fun little riff and continues into a catchy opening verse that begins “What’s wrong with these kids today? Does it really matter anyway?” It gradually builds towards a big singalong chorus “There’s a fire in the hole, A Revolution Radio, Hit the deck and hide below, From Revolution Radio.” A second chorus gives way to a wild electronic noise that tees up a delicious guitar chorus, which drops into a final blast of the chorus and a raucous outro.
On the track, Steve said: “After being a hired gun in other bands and having these songs on the backburner it felt good to get them to the public ear and to finally be able to express myself over playing other people’s material. The songs are to the point and people always remember certain songs after seeing us just once, so it’s reflective that we’re on the right path. For those who are curious, the sound is guitar-driven with big catchy choruses and a throwback sound between the 70s, 80s and some 90s. A very raw and organic-sounding approach,h and we reflect that live.”
Revolution Radio follows on from the band’s successful first two singles, the really catchy Bottles and Cans and Wind Me Up, which have amassed close to 200,000 streams on Spotify. Check out their debut single Bottles and Cans in the video here:
Steve’s music was built on an early love for Kiss and influenced by the likes of The Darkness, Queen, Van Halen, Cheap Trick and Green Day, as well as Led Zeppelin, Ramones, Prince, Alice In Chains and more. “I grew up on a lot of styles so I’m open-minded,” Steve explained. “But I know what I’m best at and I execute that in this band.”
And on what inspires him to write music, Steve told us: “I grew up on a lot of stuff, but this band’s sound seems to get compared to Cheap Trick and Green Day a lot, which I find to be pretty accurate. I also like Kiss, Sweet and Thin Lizzy, where I like to take elements of those and squeeze them in. Harmony lead solos, lots of vocal harmonies, crunchy guitars, punchy drums and definitive bass lines that you can recognize if the song’s played on its own.
“The choruses are big with singalong gang vocals. The topics are normally quite relatable observations like being broke or down and out (Bottles And Cans). Wind Me Up is about being frustrated or aggravated with how people can get when they feel deceived. Revolution Radio talks about the change in how the music industry has evolved into artists having more control over their vision and being able to manage their own career (albeit sometimes overwhelming). Our other songs deal with everything from hiding from a stalker (which I lived through), dating someone with substance abuse problems and being two different people etc…”
There’s plenty in the Steve Creep and the Wildcards production line, with the band planning mini-tours and new releases throughout this year. Steve has one more song completed and another three being mixed, and they’re currently mulling over releasing a full-length album, which will require three more songs to be recorded, or sticking with singles.
You can follow Steve Creep and the Wildcards on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and TikTok, and check out their music on Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube.
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