CADILLAC BILL & THE CREEPING BENT

If Roch Voisine’s chiselled, Juno-friendly good looks made him the James Dean of Canadian “rock,” then the honky-tonkin’, kooky Cadillac Bill is Peter Sellers. Which is reason enough to sing the Body Electric of blow-up penguins, bubble machines, classic cars, loopy lyrics, and salute the man who just wants to while away the hours concocting far-out theories of evolution, make films, write his signature talk-a-billy tunes—and ride off into the sunset in his old Cadillac Ambulance.

Cadillac Bill is the sexiest and most brilliant musician to come out of the Great White North in decades. His unusual mix of blues and beatnik creates an eerie atmosphere that envelopes you at once, and his insightful lyrics touch your soul with their candour.

Someday soon, Jim Jarmusch, David Lynch and Tim Burton are going to call an emergency meeting of the Post-modern Weird-Out Directors Guild. They’ll huddle up in a booth of the Double R Diner, screaming “there are no eccentrics left to create!” This is where Cadillac Bill comes in. Bill fronts a band called The Creeping Bent and just by pursuing his own odd interests and pottering about on the brink of his own private abyss, he’s become in real life someone far weirder than Jim, Dave...

The lyrics mix wry social commentary with dead pan humour while the musicians lay down the plush, stretch-Seville of atmospheric rock. The combination adds up to one of the most truly unique entertainment experiences on the Toronto scene.

– January, 1992 Cadillac Bill … is not mad, despite the way he and The Creeping Bent have been surprising and confusing Toronto audiences for the past two years. With Bill’s chatted vocals and the band’s bizarre version of rock ‘n’ roll, the debut cassette No Turning Back - Greatest Hits, Vol. 1 is a unique vision to say the least. Add to that Bill’s self-directed videos, other film work and colourful performances, and we have a band that verges on multi-media extravagance...