Winter 2025
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Opener
The Smartest Guy in the Dumbest Band
Jaan Uhelszki
Ace is gone. He was supposed to survive every pratfall, every explosion, every chemical snowstorm. He’d made it through the shocks, the falls, the car crash, the highspeed chase in his DeLorean—so none of us thought this could be the last act.
Opener
WHEN DAN MET ACE
Dan Morrissey
I had always heard whispers about Ace Frehley’s foray into creating '90s computer art and brought it up to him during our interview for CREEM #6.
Hired Guns
HIRED GUNS
Grace Scott, Ryan Leas, Maxwell Cann, Joe Gross, Kristin Sollecito, Dalton Frizzell
Please send letters to: Mail Department 1525 N Alvarado St #261009 Los Angeles, CA 90026 Or, if you’re lazy like Jacky Hazan: mail@creem.com
Stars Cars
CHRIS ROBINSON
Jesse Lirola
Chris Robinson and his 2023 Audi SQ8.
Creem Profiles
RUSSIAN CIRCLES
CREEM DREEM
HARLEY FLANAGAN
Questions & Jaanswers
QUESTIONS & JAANSWERS
Jaan Uhelszki
BAND THERAPY EDITION
Secret Heads
CRISIS OF NON CONFORMITY
Fred Pessaro
Fred Armisen on the comedy/music connection and staying punk
NERD SHIT
HOW TO TELL IF A SONG IS MADE BY AI
Luke Ottenhof
Spoiler alert: No one’s favorite band is Dell PowerEdge XE7740
Born to Booze
BLOODSHOTSOME COWBOY BILL
Jonathan Toubin
Going country with the 51st statesman of rockabilly
Greetings from Detroit
METALLIC P.O.
Joe Casey
Reviewing Detroit’s temples to live music
Dusty Fingers
TELL US THE TRUTH
Jerry A. Lang
The complicated legacy of Sham 69, heirs apparent to the Sex Pistols
Rockers Without Borders
ON TAKOYAKI & BLACK LEATHER DECORUM
Grace Scott
CREEM learns to speak quietly on a punk tour of Japan
CONTENT MACHINE MUSIC
Zachary Lipez
Kareem Rahma & Tiny Gun get serious
Letter From Britain
Then and Now
Maxwell Cann
Oasis and Idles, U.K. darlings of yesterday and today
Features
UNDERSTATING THE HUGENESS
Dave Carnie
Spinal Tap meet their nonsensical match
How-To
FREAKY FRY-UP
Jaan Uhelszki
Hangover science with Gavin Rossdale
Last of the Big-Time Fuck Ups?
PERMANENTLY TEMPORARY
Joel Gion
Oasis skiing the slopes and the infamous night of crystal blue persuasion
Record Time
BECOMING SOUND
Fred Pessaro
Steve Von Till on the music that inspires— and that time he kind of became music itself
Dented Wallets
SCI-FI GUY
Claudio from Coheed and Cambria tries to out-dork us
Features
Resurrection BACK WHERE HE BELONGS
Fred Pessaro
Richard Ashcroft on his new LP, tending to his legacy, and those raucous Oasis dates
Features
TRAGEDY'S RAINBOW
Anagricel Duran
From chaos to infinity, Big Thief find the light
Features
I BLAME YOU
J. Bennett
If Cheap Trick are a lie, we don’t wanna know the truth
Features
MONSTER MASH
Ryan Leas
Water From Your Eyes refuse to do the dinosaur
Features
DESERTING NOSTALGIA
Luke MacLean
Suede have been hopping on this year’s Britpop reunion bandwagon for the past 15 years
Features
PLEASING ME
Jeff Slate
Paul Weller looks back
Features
QUICK STOP AT THE DACHAU GIFT SHOP
Sam McPheeters
Staying pure and getting called on your bluff in Europe
Features
RECOVERING LUSH
Zachary Lipez
Miki Berenyi swears to tell the truth
RED MED TALKING
Joe Gross
The oral history of Red Medicine, Fugazi’s first, second, or third (definitely not fourth, fifth, or sixth) greatest album.
The Big Interview
JASON ISBELL HAS RULES
Jaan Uhelszki
We broke them all
Features
CHASING THE BANANA
Fred Pessaro
Ebru Yildiz found inspiration in the Velvets and took DIY to the sky
crème de la creem
Crushed, Home Front, Avilda, Warmduscher
Rock-a-Rama
ROCK-A-RAMA
ZACHARY LIPEZ
CREEM declares war on shoegaze Take a gander at all these ducking records!
THE DIRTY 30
CREEM STAFF
Unlike deeds, a dirty rock song is priceless. Rather, for the investment of just a couple entendres (if that), the return one sees, in terms of teenagers a-tittering, moms in a tizzy, and comically fuming high school principals, is bonkers high.
MUDDY ROOTS
When our friends at Muddy Roots asked us if we wanted to come down and camp with them in a field over Labor Day weekend and catch a bunch of bands, we were like, “Yeah, but what is the shower situation like?” We're delicate, and hygiene is important.
FREAKOUT!
Then in November we headed to Seattle to see our old pals at Freakout!and they delivered another killer fest. It raged across a shit ton of venues spread all over town, showcasing a novel lineup scheme that leans international, headlined by Melt-Banana (who came in from Japan and completely melted everyone’s bananas) and Reyna Tropical.
THE STORY OF THE WHO
DAN MELCHIOR
PARTING SHOT