The Creepers were an English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 rock music

Rock music

Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...

 group, formed in Manchester

Manchester

Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...

 in 1982, originally as Marc Riley & The Creepers. After being dismissed from The Fall by Mark E. Smith

Mark E. Smith

Mark Edward Smith is the lead singer, lyricist, frontman, and only constant member of the English post-punk band The Fall.-Early life:...

, Marc Riley

Marc Riley

Marc Riley is a British musician, alternative rock critic and radio DJ on BBC 6 Music. Formerly a member of The Fall, he had his own record label, In-Tape, and also worked as a record plugger...

 formed his own record label (In-Tape) with Jim Khambatta, and his own band. The first single "Favourite Sister" was followed up with "Jumper Clown", which poked fun at his previous band's leader. A Peel Session was the source of the next release in 1984, with a compilation of these early releases, Cull, following the same year. First album proper, Gross Out, appeared in June 1984. 1985 saw the release of second album Fancy Meeting God as well as a swansong live album Warts 'n' All towards the end of the year.

Riley then recruited ex-Membranes

The Membranes

The Membranes were a post-punk band formed in Blackpool, Lancashire in 1977, the initial line-up being John Robb , Mark Tilton , Martin Critchley and Martin Kelly . Critchley soon left, with Robb and Tilton taking on vocals, and Kelly moving to keyboards, with "Coofy Sid" taking over on drums...

 Mark Tilton

Mark Tilton

Mark Tilton is a UK screenwriter, filmmaker and musician, born 1962 in Blackpool, England.Tilton is a frequent collaborator with director George Milton: Milton & Tilton’s screenplay The Truth, a darkly comic murder-mystery satirising new age therapy, was produced by European indie 2 Many Executives...

 and Phil Roberts

Phil Roberts

Phillip Stanley "Phil" Roberts is a Welsh former professional footballer whose four club career spanned three decades. Born in Cardiff, Roberts won six Wales Under 23 caps whilst with his first club Bristol Rovers...

 of Shrubs

Shrubs (band)

The Shrubs were an English rock music group, formed in Watford in 1985, releasing three albums before splitting up in 1989.-History:Future Shrubs singer Nick Hobbs had previously managed Henry Cow and after living in Stockholm for a year joined Swedish band Kraeldjursanstalten. When that band split...

, and carried on as simply "The Creepers". With a more sophisticated sound, the first release under this name was a cover of Brian Eno

Brian Eno

Brian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno , commonly known as Brian Eno or simply as Eno , is an English musician, composer, record producer, singer and visual artist, known as one of the principal innovators of ambient music.Eno studied at Colchester Institute art school in Essex,...

's "Baby's On Fire", with the album Miserable Sinners following later the same year. After signing to Red Rhino, a further single, Brute and album Rock 'n' Roll Liquorice Flavour appeared in 1987 and 1988 respectively. Sleeper: a retrospective, followed in 1989.

The band briefly became The Lost Soul Crusaders before splitting up.

Singles

Marc Riley and The Creepers

• Favourite Sister (Jul 1983, In-Tape, IT001 [7"])
• Jumper Clown (Oct 1983, In-Tape, IT002 [7"])
• Creeping at Maida Vale (Feb 1984, In-Tape, IT004 [7"]/IT004 [12"]) #5
• Pollystiffs (May 1984, IT006, In-Tape, IT006 [7"]) #11
• Shadow Figure (Sep 1984, In-Tape, IT009 [12"]) #5
• 4 A's From Maida Vale (Oct 1985, In-Tape, IT025 [2 x 7"]/ITT025 [12"]) #7

The Creepers

• Baby's On Fire (May 1986, In-Tape, IT033 [7"]/ITT033 [12"]) #8
• Brute (Jun 1987, Red Rhino, RED079 [7"]/REDT079 [12"]) #29

Albums

Marc Riley and The Creepers

• Cull (Apr 1984, In-Tape, IT005 [LP]) #9
• Gross Out (Jun 1984, In-Tape, IT007 [LP]) #11
• Fancy Meeting God (Mar 1985, In-Tape, IT015 [LP]) #23
• Live - Warts 'n' All (Nov 1985, In-Tape, IT026 [LP]) #5

The Creepers

• Miserable Sinners (Nov 1986, In-Tape, IT039 [LP]/IT039C [C]) #14
• Rock 'N' Roll Liquorice Flavour (Jan 1988, Red Rhino, REDLP082 [LP]/REDC082 [C]/REDCD082 [CD])
• Sleeper : a retrospective (1989, Bleed Records, DRY001 [double LP])