Music
The best kept secret in music
Press
"Blissful indie rock" - The Guardian
"Melodic, Keane-style Popstars" - Time Out
"Muscular and mature, but whimsically literate in the traditional English school of songwriting. Reminds me of early Ooberman stuff, if more organic. Some very nifty guitar work on the title track and the demo of “Remedy” shows that they rock out as well anyone. Good stuff. They live at www.creelcommission.com pay a visit."
www.unpeeled.co.uk - Unpeeled
"I was blown away by the quality of the six songs I heard after a demo was handed to me.. this is the real deal."
David McHugh programme manager / owner Nottinghillartsclub.
"Following in the footsteps of the last two bands to play at Beachclub - Do Me Bad things who are now supporting The Darkness on their next tour and Fibes oh Fibes who signed a promotions deal with major label Universal following their october gig - are the Creel Commission. Their demo stood out miles above the rest, as the guys can actually write genuine, propper guitar based songs and perform them in the same enthusiastic way."
nottinghillartsclub website
www.nottinghillartsclub.com - Nottinghillartsclub
"These buggers have a neat manifesto; play pianos like gentlemen and play guitars like punks. They drink, they rock. This is top stuff."
- The Windmill, Brixton
"Like an old worn woolly cardie, this is not particularly fashionable, but sort of snug and cosy nonetheless. “Cigarette” is a quite gorgeous piano driven piece of melodic pop whimsy, while “Natures Game” blends some splendid bluesy guitar work with an atmospheric stormy soundtrack and some tip top quality production."
www.tastyfanzine.org.uk - Tasty Fanzine
"quite gorgeus.... sits somewhere inbetween radiohead, the doors and keane." - Rough Trade
Discography
Promotional EP, Nature's Game, has been released, but not through shops, with 3 tracks: Cigarette, Nature's Game and Remedy. Limited edition of 1,000. Now sold out.
Second EP, Digging In, currently on sale at gigs and online via bands website.
Photos
Feeling a bit camera shy
Bio
‘Playing pianos like gentlemen and guitars like punks.’
The year was 1999 and the propaganda machine that was to become the creel commission rolled into action with the writing of a song ‘Nature’s Game’ with its resonant cry of ‘There’s more to life than this’. There was no ‘Commission’ to speak of at this stage, only two brothers Ed and Jamie Croft, two guitars, and a shared sense that there surely had to be more to life than the crushing boredom of the corporate treadmill. For Jamie and Ed, Nature’s Game was a profoundly personal song, which they first recorded as a tribute to their mother who had died after a long battle with cancer. After two days in a studio in Dundee, Nature’s Game was born, as was a burning desire in Ed & Jamie to make something of worth and of truth.
“The songs took on a life of their own… their desire to be heard to the full demanded a band and a stage… and they took us on this journey we have yet to complete…”
Ed’s best friend John had heard an acoustic version of ‘Shadows’ at the end of 2001 which convinced him to push Ed into making something more of his songs, and convinced him to manage their band. In January 2002, he played ‘Nature’s Game’ to his brother James whilst travelling. James heard the song and figured that they needed a bassist… so, in a typically spontaneous move he got home, sold his car and called Ed to let him know he was buying a bass guitar and amp. Thus it was that in the early part of 2002, Ed, James and the original drummer from the ‘Nature’s Game’ sessions, Chris, started to jam together in a Brixton cellar. The cellar stank, was no bigger than a prison cell, and was rotten with damp and fungus. Tuesday and Thursday nights turned into therapy… Chris would turn up in a suit and beat the shit out of his kit in frustration, James would damage his bass, and Ed’s ears would bleed in the recognition that they were making progress. Ed would present a song, and the rhythm section would demolish it like demented fools in an asylum…
By the summer of 2002, the three original members rented a run down cottage in the dark depths of Scotland, and Jamie emerged to add a primal howl and let the rhythm section realise that all the grooves they had been damaging were potentially incredible songs. The ‘band’, working under the name of Zeno had its first demos and returned to London with a vital sense of ambition and worth.
Spotted by a promoter in the King’s Head they somehow talked him into booking them for their first gig on 10th September 2002. The turnout on the night was fantastic and the band delivered a set that was as loose as a Bangkok whore yet instilled with an energy and belief that sent the crowd mental. This, more than anything musical, was enough to sustain them through the night.
Somehow they stumbled upon the lost writings of the Creel Commission and changed their name with a new sense of identity. By February 2003 the band embarked upon their first UK tour. They were blown off stage by quality Mancunian bands, heckled in Velvet suits in Sheffield, and managed to blow their sound system in Bath. The tour took the Commission to the point of destruction… internal confrontations, shouting matches, the occasional breakdown and the realisation that they stood on the brink of having to face broken dreams. But at the last of their tour dates back in London a talented young guitarist heard them play a highly contagious set at the Garage and forced them to let him join… Ben had spotted a rough diamond and knew that it could be polished…
Christian jacked in his job; James went part time. They went back to the rehearsal room, and decided that they needed to give a thousand per cent more. Ben’s guitar brought a new dynamic to the group, with his classic rock virtuosity… and Ed moved onto his keyboards taking the band to the now familiar line up. Creel Commission was once again reincarnated to a higher plane of existence. There was only a week to go until they played their biggest gig to date: headlining the Garage. It was at this gig that, for the first time, the band had a real sense of the fact that they were now playing music and not just creating sound.
The song-writing and arranging took off to a higher level and the guys started getting genuine praise from music bigwigs around the city. In January 2004, Richie Wilkinson a producer and engineer at Metropolis Studios heard a demo, and got in touch with the band. After coming down and seeing them play live, Richie liked what he heard so much that he persuaded Metropolis to offer the band some recording time. With the backing of a major studio, the band was able to show what they were capable of and Creel Commission had finally arrived.
Currently the commission are working hard on building up their fan base. In early July they sold out the 350 capacity Bush Hall within a week of the tickets going on sale. They played to a packed house at the Water Rats in August. September sees them head
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