Birmingham’s hardcore scene just got a fresh jolt of adrenaline, courtesy of FLESH CREEP’s debut monster, “We Need You To Bleed.” This LP is a clarion call to arms, a soundtrack to the revolt against a world that’s seen the haves tightening their grip on the have-nots’ throats.
Released under No Time Records, this album is a blend of raw energy and unapologetic fury, a cocktail of tunes ready to set the stage ablaze. Fans of SPY, Destiny Bond, and BIB, you’re in for a treat.
The “We Need You To Bleed” LP release party at Centrala in Birmingham, with doors opening at 6:30 PM for a mere £10 OTD, promises to be an explosive evening, listing CORRUPT VISION, GOLDEN DEATHMASK, NERVE AGENT, and TRANSISTRR on the bill. See the details and RSVP here.
“The record as a whole is by no means a concept album but thematically I feel there’s a pattern within the subject matter. The ruling class are not just happy with our time and resources, not satisfied with the total dominance of our lives. They need to feel our necks snap from under their boot. Conversely, when the sun finally sets on their fading empire, the oppressed shall not be satiated with a mere apology. We need you to pay for your crimes. We need you to bleed. ” – comments the band.
See the full track by track commentary below.
Gold – Very much written with the intention of opening the record with a sucker punch. Lyrically it’s probably best summarised with this quote from Lenin (let’s get those eyes rolling!) “All over the world, wherever there are capitalists, freedom of the press means freedom to buy up newspapers, to buy writers, to bribe, buy and fake “public opinion” for the benefit of the bourgeoisie.”
Heads Will Roll – The first song we wrote for the record, written by our Bass player, Jack. No doubt the most stripped down, to the point arrangement we’d tried at the time, I think it stands as a testament to not overthinking it in the song writing process. It’s about billionaire philanthropists having their cake and eating it via charitable (*cough* tax deductible *cough*) donations to environmental causes. They are the cause, not solution, to what ails us and we don’t want their hush money; we want their heads.
Like Dogs – A personal favourite. Probably my most direct lyrics delivered in the most performative, theatrical manner. I feel like it encapsulates something undefinable about our band. We always play from the heart, but if you dig deep enough, you can usually find a tongue in that cheek somewhere…
Bleed Out – I wrote the lyrics to this in an evening after witnessing a mid level manager scream at an agency worker for some minor mistake at my job. It’s not enough that in order to survive we have to break our backs performing menial labour for someone else’s benefit, we also have to except that someone who earns £2 extra an hour is allowed to humiliate and dehumanise us.
False Flag – I’d had almost all of the parts of this song floating around my ‘mental riff index’ for close to a decade. I’ve learned that sometimes you have to let an idea simmer until the right moment. I like to describe this one as ‘Cursed meets Sacrilege’ which I think might be giving us too much credit. It posits that we should perhaps take the loudest voices in the culture war at face value and recognise that when they try to how you who they really are (fascists), we should believe them.
Insect Politics – An incredibly special song to us that our guitarist Matt wrote as it features our friends Evie and Erin (aka shortstraw.) whose musical contribution we really cherish as well as their friendship. When our gang is together, no one can stop us. We’ll crush you like a bug.
Turf War – Our guitarist Sam’s first writing credit (not including the inimitable sauce he added to every other track on the record) that in typical Flesh Creep fashion, was started two weeks before we hit the studio. This one goes out to our Trans friends. I’m utterly perplexed by the current cult of celebrity transphobes (I think one of them wrote a book or something…) who have known untold commercial and critical success and yet can’t seem to help themselves punching down on the most vulnerable in our society.
Yellow Tape – On a record where I detail my personal ideological beliefs, it would’ve felt wrong not to give credit to the great Michael Parenti, who helped shaped many of them.
Video Nasty – “This one goes out to Pasolini, This one goes out to the Hollywood Ten” is about right wing censorship of the arts, which they do often in a brutal and malicious way than what ever might be considered ‘cancel culture’ these days. It marks the only time anyone else within the band has suggested lyrics (our guitarist Sam and drummer Danny coined the “we can grow without you” line) and for that reason it’s very close to my heart.
Wetwork – We’d had the idea to use ‘wetwork’ as a title maybe even as far back as it being a contender for the name of the band. When this song came along for whatever reason the migrant crisis was weighing heavy on my mind, and the idea of border bureaucracy as mercenary work seemed to lend itself to the name. Musically I like to think the ending nods (perhaps unintentionally) to ‘Black Sails…’ era AFI, which might come as a surprise to some, but is none the less an influence we stand behind.
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