Australian band Huxton Creepers formed while the members were still at High School in Melbourne, taking their name from a character in an obscure Basil Rathbone Sherlock Holmes film called Pearl Of Death (1944) – although they actually got the name wrong, as the character was called the “Hoxton Creeper” (Hoxton being a suburb of London).
The band gave their debut limited-edition single, Wishing Well, away at their gigs in 1985, before signing with the local Big Time label – home of the Hoodoo Gurus (with whom the Creepers shared a penchant for paisley shirts, long hair and winklepicker boots). Their first “official” single was The Murderess, released in April 1985.
Their debut album, 12 Days To Paris (June 1986), was produced by Los Lobos member Steve Berlin and yielded the singles My Cherie Amour, I Will Persuade You and Autumn Leaves.
Despite favourable reviews, the album failed to make a dent in the mainstream charts. Their next single – a cover of Manfred Mann‘s Pretty Flamingo was released in August 1987 and made it into the Australian Top 30.
A second album – So This Is Paris – was released in March 1988 (adding brass and keyboards to the band’s retro guitar-based sound), generating the singles Skin Of My Teeth (November 1987) and Rack My Brains (March 1988).
The Creepers then went into hibernation for a while with Rob Craw and Paul Thomas working as an acoustic duo named ‘Rob Knows Paul’ and issuing a mini-album in 1990.
The band finally called it a day with the release of the six-track mini-album Small Mercies in April 1990. They reunited for gigs in 1996.
Rob Craw
Vocals, guitar
Paul Thomas
Guitar, vocals
Mathew Eddy
Bass, vocals
Arch Law
Drums
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