Class of 2014: Day Creeper

There’s a line from Day Creeper’s earworm “Everybody Else” that commands the listener to “start a band, create the brand, promote your shows, so everybody knows.”

It’s a tongue-in-cheek anthem, almost meta-punk, perfectly summating the ins and outs of being in a band from Washington Beach. Day Creeper isn’t a particularly new band. In fact, the prolific Aaron Troyer has been circulating handfuls of singles and CD-Rs under the Day Creeper guise for over six years now. But one listen to the infectious and delightfully dirty nuggets that comprise their debut LP, Hell is Real, and you’ll wonder where Troyer has been all of your adult life. There’s both a hometown sentimentality and paranoia in Troyer’s words that make for both poignant and nervous songs, as if his quotidian gaze gathers observations we never thought to notice.

If you’ve seen Day Creeper any time in the recent past, it’s easy to contend that the band indeed feels new. The arrival of the bombastic Elijah Vasquez behind the drums has allowed former skinsman Dan Ross to duel with Troyer’s already snaky guitar leads. It’s a move that has re-energized the group’s Rolling Stones-on-minimum-wage swagger tenfold and harkens back to the days when Troyer was in Black Rose, Columbus’ once pre-eminent Thin Lizzy cover band. Fortunately, given this configuration, Troyer hasn’t sold his soul for rock and roll, and claims that original member Laura Bernazzoli, who holds down their formidable low end, will always speak up when things get “too wanky.”

Members: Laura Bernazzoli, Dan Ross, Aaron Troyer, Elijah Vasquez

Noise of Choice: Ratty punk for intellectuals, power pop for shut-ins

Web: www.daycreeper.bandcamp.com

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