Creepjoint:

“Dragging the Line”

While laying low on the local scene for the past year or so, Creepjoint returned to the stage for just the second time this year with extra-special flair at its Oct. 12 concert at Armory High.

Guitarists Tim Harrington (Ex-Masters of Reality) and Bobby Budd each donned dresses for the band's performance of psychedelic metal with glam trappings. The good news: The band sounded better than it looked.

Budd pranced around in a glittering, silver gown and added buzzy guitar fills to embellish the group's wall of sound. Harrington opted for something like a mumu adorned with colorful swirls.

Drummer Andy Walton and bassist Scott Schimpf, who traveled from Chicago to play the gig, were a bit more understated. Walton went with a smear of black lipstick; Schimpf wore a long and very clingy black skirt. "It was time to break out the Berlin cabaret," Harrington noted afterward.

Creepjoint rocked through its set, achieving moments of guitar nirvana, unbridled energy and abstract beauty. If not for Harrington's consistently thin, nasal and hard-to-understand vocals, the show would rank as one of the best rock performances on the local scene this year.

The band has spent the last year working on a CD, and its time in the Studio paid dividends live. "We´ve just been working on material when we get a chance," Harrington said. "We're getting it to the point where we're really happy with it. We probably have about 15 tunes that are in some state of doneness." No word yet on a release date for the project, which includes more than two years of recording. Harrington said Creepjoint wants to play another show before the year is out.