Creel Commission

The Commission was first set up in 1918 by John Creel to brainwash the American public into supporting a war against the Axis. By blood and initiation the rites of the original commission were passed down through several generations into the hands of several young men who found that the sands of time had destroyed their link with government. As free thinking agents, there could be only one conclusion: to start a band and take on all comers in the battlefield of London rock venues; to scream and yell for justice and fight for the freedom of people everywhere; to bear the standard for truth and democracy and fight the heathen attitudes of modern indulgent apathy with the ultimate indulgence of rock 'n roll. Well, at least they started with good intentions. Soon enough though they were playing indie-rock/ska/metal/whatever-the-crowd-wanted and forgetting all the truths that had first spurred them on. But brother were they loving it. Soon values mattered no longer; now 'more-uptempo-setlists' and 'moving-around-more-on-stage-to-give-the-impression-that-you-rock' became the Utter Creed. The crowds were wild for the Creel Deal. The legendary Creel-Mobile rolled into existence and the band took their newfound zeal to the masses. Hitting the area known as 'North of the Watford Gap' proved a campaign too far: the band being astonished at its size had to flee southwards to familiar London womb of geeza promoters and sticky feet, where their zeal was appreciated by those in the know. Distorted and bloodied by the campaign trail the Commission dissolved into the abyss of its own super-uncommercial commerciality and with wild eyes and daggers in hand were then to be found screaming rabid and spraying A&R men with banned musical pesticides whilst simultaneously summoning ancient gods. Creel Commission were five modern insider outsider don't-have-a-hope-any-more maniacs, joined out of compulsion and habit to deafen one another. The Commission was always doomed, but was all the more beautiful because of this. They never agreed with one another and they certainly didn't agree with you. All they knew was that Armageddon was coming and they vowed to contribute to the roar. In 2005 Creel Commission recorded some singles, got half-way towards an album, gigged like hell, rolled out a series of media onslaught interviews with the best and the worst minds in the world. Then, as predicted, they self-combusted owing to the sheer unsustainability of the band's dynamism. Their last decree: 'we shall fight them on the beaches and under the streets no matter how loud the sound system and how bad our ear protection. May God help us all.' Creel Commission were: Ed - vocals, guitar, keyboard. Jim Kroft - vocals, acoustic guitar, guitar. James Lentaigne - bass guitar. Christian Lock-Necrews – drums. They were joined by Ben Barritt on lead guitar & Ed Lowther on lead guitar. After the dissolution of the band, a number of their songs were left on the web, scraped by various algos and have subsequently gained a large cult following around the globe, in particular the song Cigarette.