We Are Paintermen – THE CREATION***

Cool Jerk/Making Time/Through My Eyes/Like A Rolling Stone/Can I Join Your Band/Tom Tom/Try & Stop Me/If I Stay Too Long/Biff Bang Pow/Nightmares/Hey Joe/Painterman

We Are Paintermen was the only album from the British mod group The Creation. Their musical style was a combination of garage and psychedelia. Despite a couple of minor hit singles they quickly disappeared from view. “The Creation specialized in writing miraculously catchy garage rock 'n' roll. Their hallmark was their rolling thunder sound with guitar, bass and drums working in tandem to provide a solid, reverberating, resonant backbone to the irresistible jangle that sat up front giving the songs both a bone-shaking rawness and an irresistible pop charm.”

“A fantastic mod album from a band that showed much potential on this album. Many of these songs rock like the early Stones and the lyrics are very powerful.”

“Naturally, I got to check out Creation after being impressed by their fantastic song Making Time. It pretty much defines their sound, revved up like The Who, mod to the core but still with a few more psychedelic tricks up their sleeves.”

“This is an incredible piece of music history, unknown to almost the entire record buying public. Very comparable with early Who, Small Faces and Stones and is at the top of the 60s psychedelic/mod/garage heap. The Creation were the first to use the violin bow on the guitar, as well as pioneering other musical innovations such as feedback, before Hendrix refined and mastered the art of it.”

“Not a single song on the album that isn't ridiculously great. I can't believe these boys aren't as renowned as their contemporaries. It's a shame to think of the music they could have made if things had gone the way they should have for them.”

“This is the ultimate should have been band, with great vocals, powerful guitars and drums, plus catchy in-band songwriting. They played garage mod, psych-heavy rock and highly electrified folk with both muscle and melody, and compared well with their contemporaries. One can only assume they were doomed by a combination of inadequate distribution, line-up changes, and a management that couldn't sustain commercial velocity. Listening to their catalogue it's nearly impossible to imagine this band wasn't a huge, chart-topping success.”