SEE Magazine
Copyright © 1998. All Rights Reserved.
ROCK
BY STEW SLATERPREVIEW
Cadillac Bill and the Creeping Bent
Sidetrack Café
July 12, 19Judging by the way in which he allegedly reacted, it didn't faze Bill Boyd-Wilson much when a 1974 Fleetwood limousine burst into flames on a Malibu, Calif. highway 10 minutes after he bought it in 1987. The then film-maker, soon to become known as Cadillac Bill for his fascination with the gargantuan American motor vehicle, supposedly grabbed his six-pack of beer and retreated to a nearby hill to watch the flames against the sunset.
To hear Boyd-Wilson tell it, that's about the same reaction a very good rock band might elicit in him. That's why Cadillac Bill, now leader of the Toronto rockabilly/punk outfit The Creeping Bent, will offer more than just music when his current tour hits the Sidetrack (10333-112 St.) Sunday, July 12 and Sunday, July 19.
"For me, personally, I get very bored with most bands," said the 20-year Canadian resident, his English accent still clearly evident. "Even if they're great musicians who play great music, after half an hour, that's about it."
The same can't be said of a Creeping Bent concert, which includes three machines blowing bubbles six feet into the usually-dancing audience. "We've got the bubbles, we've got smoke bombs, we've got smoke, glittery backdrop, a nine-foot chrome Cadillac emblem. Basically, it's exactly the kind of show I would like to see if I went to see a band."
Cadillac Bill claims to be led in this rock 'n' roll quest by his film-making past. He took film courses at UCLA in Los Angeles for a couple of summers, as well as animation courses at a college near Toronto.
"Music, to me, is very visual. I'm not talking about just the stage show; I'm talking about music as a sound is actually a visual medium, because to me great music actually drums up visual images in your brain. And the show is, of course, all part of that. It's like a movie."
Even without seeing a Cadillac Bill show, visual images flash across the mind when you see or hear any information about this band and its past. Cadillac Bill's first band, called The Edna Mona Housewife Death Band, only played two bona fide live gigs, concentrating instead on playing music for independent film soundtracks. Late last year, The Creeping Bent (another visually-inspiring name) toured Canada promoting a limited-edition, four-song CD entitled Eating Out. With guys named Dave the Cat on lead guitar, Mike Millions on double bass and Paul Pryce on drums, they seem contrived to evoke some image or another. And that's before you even consider some of the song titles.
"If you like songs about the exhumation of intact human remains, we've got some songs like that, too, for those kind of people that dig that sort of thing," Cadillac Bill said. "We've got Ice Man and Bog Man. It's really a weird show because one minute we're doing a song about dead, intact human remains and then we're doing Suzie Q."
A weird show, but one which probably fulfills Cadillac Bill's dreams. "From day one, I wanted to do something that people will remember, like either with my films or music. I don't want to just blend in. It's gotta be something that's different and hasn't been done."
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