The Creature Preachers, a surf rock band straight out of Warner Robins, could be called many things. A local success story. Incredibly talented. A “creepy surf rock” band that plays smooth riffs and doesn’t need vocals to be great. These are just a few. However, most appropriate would likely be hardworking, patient and years-in-the-making, because The Creature Preachers, a brotherly duo made up of Greg Burger, and his younger brother Garrick, are two adult men, but have been playing music, perfecting their craft, since they were teenagers.
At first glance, one may think that The Creature Preachers gained success quickly. This particular band’s journey began in earnest last summer, when the COVID-19 pandemic really hit the U.S. hard for the first time. Since then, they’ve put out two EPs and a single, and they’ve just recently been signed by Washington D.C. based label, Altered State of Reverb. However, this is neither Greg’s nor Garrick’s first attempt at reaching success.
“It was through a buddy in school who was a musician,” Greg said, explaining his start in music. “His parents were formerly professional touring musicians, and his dad had a Ph.D. in music, so he became my hero, and he was my best friend. He could play everything, so he was my inspiration to learn. Then me and him did a couple different bands together until he moved away because his dad got a new job in Nebraska. We still keep in touch; he’s still in Nebraska. Really all through middle school and high school, I just played in different bands with different guys.” Greg then went into the Marine Corps, and his music career had to be placed on pause.
Meanwhile, Garrick was hard at work. “The seed was planted early with me in watching Greg and his friends; they would come in the house and do band practice and jam out. I’m sure, from Greg’s point of view and his friends’, I was a clinger on brother just trying to hang out, but I was amazed; I was star struck. I wanted to be in a band. I thought they were rock stars no matter how good or bad they sounded, because I think they were probably in eighth grade; I thought they were awesome. Greg would periodically sit down and show me a bass line, or show me this drum part,” Garrick reminisced, fondly recounting the memories of his youth. “So over the years, independent of having my band with Greg, I was trying to do solo project stuff,” Garrick went on. “I opened for a few guys, who, they themselves, opened for John Mayer.” But then Garrick, too, went into the military. For him though, it was the Air Force.
Being apart didn’t stop them. Why would it? In a world where e-mail, texting and file sharing are so readily available, they were able to keep practicing, honing their craft together, even while they were apart. And so they did, for years.
When they were able to get together finally, “Creepy Surf Rock” was not the initial idea. In 2016, “We had our false starts,” Garrick explained. “We had a metal bands that lasted a couple of months, but it seems like Surf was the secret sauce, and somehow, we’re here now.”
“Secret sauce” is putting it lightly. The Creatures Preachers have reached undeniable success. After two months of recording and two published EPs, they were signed by Altered State of Reverb, and are currently working on an album.
The success is not, however, unwarranted. The years of work put into their craft plays a major part. The skill that each of these musicians has is undeniable, as each them play all three of the different elements in their music: bass, drums and guitar.
Another key to their success has to be their ideas for the band’s sense of self. The band is not just a Surf Rock band; they are a “Creepy Surf Rock” band. Greg explains, “Surf Rock has always sounded creepy to me. I guess just all the reverb, even with a happy Surf song, there was always a creepiness and a darkness to it.” This distinction shows itself in every Creature Preacher song, such as, “Creep from the Deep,” “Waking the Krampus,” and “The Mortician’s Intermission,” just to name-drop their Spotify top three.
It even shows in their media presence. Looking at photos taken of the band, you’ll find that they are in a cemetery and wearing the masks of ancient and well-known cryptids, the Swamp Monster (Greg) and the Wolf Man (Garrick).
Garrick expounds on this. “We had a pretty fleshed out idea of our sense of style, or our sense of self, because, we’ve come to find that, Surf Rock bands are almost like bowling teams. There are so many different teams in the Surf Rock genre. You have the classic people that you see wearing sweaters and you bring them to your grandma’s house, or you just got out of church. They have a very proper, The Beetles type of look. Then there’s the punky type, who are leather and pin-up girls; that kind of thing. We knew we were neither. For us, we wanted to lean into the spookiness, but also we’re such big horror movie fans, we really labored on what it was we wanted to project in terms of our image.”
As for next steps, they are currently working on their next album, digging through backlogs, painstakingly picking the best out of the multitudes of greats they have. But they’ve got their sights set farther down the horizon too.
“We have a ton of album ideas. We want to do a covers album, surf version of our favorite songs. We want to do a western album, so surf rock, but with a western theme. We have a 70s Italian Giallo horror movie album concept. We have a lot of avenues and ideas we want to explore,” Greg said.
Garrick also revealed his desire to create a synth wave/surf rock combo EP.
Oh, and Greg says he wants to be a better guitar player.
“We have a lot of pride in the fact that Otis Redding, REM, Cat Power, B-52’s, Georgia’s got a musical history. Even our high school, Warner Robins High School, was home to Rehab,” Garrick said. “I know we’re not there yet, but I cannot wait until we get out name next to theirs.”
“We want people to be excited about music from the middle Georgia area. We’ve been doing it so long in this area, and most of what you get is cover bands playing the Q106 playlist that you can hear on the radio. You don’t have to go to a bar; you can just turn the radio on. We want people to be proud of that again and be happy and to be excited to go to shows in their hometown again,” Greg said.
To listen to The Creatures, find them on Spotify, Apple Music, or any other platform for streaming music. They can also be found on Instagram by typing ‘The Creature Preachers’ in the search bar.
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