MUSIC
Gaslight My Fire THE CREEPY JINGLES TAKE A HIGH DIVE ON DEBUT ALBUM By Nick Spacek Three years ago, Kansas City garage rockers The Creepy Jingles released its self-titled debut EP with local label High Dive Records. In the intervening time, the band has become a staple of live shows around the region, playing on bills with artists as disparate as rapper Cuee and country singer-songwriter Jenna Rae. They even opened the release show for Frogpond’s comeback album, TimeThief. Now, The Creepy Jingles have put out its debut full-length album, entitled Take Me at My Wordplay, also on High Dive, and it’s a massive step forward from the band’s first recordings. Both the band—Nick Robertson on drums, Travis McKenzie on guitar, and Andrew Woody on bass guitar—and frontwoman singer-songwriter Jocelyn Olivia Nixon’s music and lyrics sound bigger and more confident. It’s a fascinating release, and as suits such a big step forward, dipping into full-blown psychedelia and country-tinged songs when the mood suits them. We reached out to Nixon to do a track-by-track breakdown of Take Me at My Wordplay.
The Pitch: Your song titles show off your love of portmanteaus. Is also making the album title a portmanteau your way of letting people know what they’re in for right from the start? Jocelyn Olivia Nixon: It’s a meta joke about how people get hung up on my song titles and sometimes miss the actual words in the songs. I’m poking fun at perspective and perception in general by arguing that, depending on where you are standing, you might only see things from one particular angle. Sometimes it’s sincerity and sometimes it’s satire. I’d hate to really define anything because that doesn’t leave much room for someone else’s opinion—or even my own to change. If we are being honest about the nature of truth, it has a very fluid quality to it. We all have our own definitions for these words, but they are constantly shifting, evolving, and becoming. What was pain in my past is now comedy. What was once weakness is now strength. People, places, and things I once thought true now look like immature bullshit to me. The album, in general, is an effort to evolve, show more of what we can do, and keep people guessing. The album starts with pop songs and grows progressively darker, weirder, and more eclectic as you go on.
Conundrum and Bass Using this as the album opener really
shows that The Creepy Jingles have grown since the release of the selftitled EP, but it’s catchy and loaded with harmonies, just like always. Have you been frustrated with the perception of your band? Don’t judge a book by its cover lest ye be
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THE PITCH | April 2022 | THEPITCHKC.COM
judged. It’s only frustrating in the sense of being limited or confined as just a rock/punk band. I’ve always thought of us as a pop band who can be a little noisy from time to time. People have to classify things in order to explain them and when we have limited information, we use association. However someone defines it, I just hope they dig it. The first EP was intended to be lo-fi and very from the hip. We did it in 3-4 days. It was always a plan to start smaller to give us someplace to go in time. I definitely am wanting to build towards a bigger story with the band as a whole. I’m a songwriter first and foremost, and I’ve been honing my craft for nearly two decades—writing whatever strikes my fancy, genre and/or theme-wise. My creative process is left to whimsy, so I’m not consciously trying to do one particular sound. This song kicking off the record is a proclamation of what’s to come, and a nice bridge from the rock and roll of the verses into something a bit grander and nuanced.
Trojan Horse Girl Putting this out as the first single seems very appropriate. It feels as though the lyrical content is intensely personal, but also accompanied by a monster-movie video. What made you want “Trojan Horse Girl” to be the first thing folks heard off Take Me at My Wordplay? Is it a kind of Trojan horse in and of itself?
Yes, very much so—get you in the house and lock the door. The video mirrored that theme, as in what appears sweet and innocent is actually pretty sinister. Lyrically, it definitely came from a personal experience about being deeply hurt by someone I loved and trusted. It was an agonizing and eye-opening experience—having the carpet pulled right out from underneath you.
LISTEN UP
The Creepy Jingles’ debut fulllength, Take Me at My Wordplay, is out now on vinyl and available digitally from High Dive Records.
