May 26, 20234 min read

Khan (Creatures)

Released: 2023

Genre: Stoner rock

Sounds Like: Villagers of Ioannina City, JIRM

Homeland: Australia

What makes Creatures elite and sit atop OHMs Peak?

The trio from Australia have taken their signature sound to new heights. Creatures delivers boldly intricate guitar angles throughout coupled with richly textured songwriting.
Khan's ability to blend expansive psychedelia with elements of pinpoint progressive fretwork and stoner rock overlays makes for the perfect recipe
The peaks and valleys this album takes us through is pure euphoria. Stunning attention to detail
Josh Bills guitar tones and precision are groundbreaking. His heavy psychedelic meandering engulfs the listener. 'How Old' leading into 'Follow' are prime examples
Immense layers of progressive-fueled heaviness is accentuated by the tremendous percussion and deep bass
The vocals from Josh Bills are so well-balanced and original. He possess a patient and soft approach, yet strong underpinnings. Checkout the frailty within ‘Confusion’ that burst into aggression. Some of the most powerful contrast to bless our speakers
40 minutes of fantastic escape, Khan have delivered 6 tracks of unfettered beauty

Track Listing:

1. Slow (6:17)

2. How Old (6:31)

3. Follow (10:08)

4. Eyes, Lungs, Arms & Mind (7:47)

5. Confusion (5:33)

6. Creatures (4:50)

Q&A with Khans' Josh Bills (singer/guitarist/song writer)

OHMs Peak: Can you provide us more insight behind the album name??

Khan: Each Khan release has been named after one of the tracks from the album. I usually pick the song that evokes the best imagery and summarises the feel of the album with the album art.

OHMs Peak: Your music delivers an unusual atmospheric feel, are there certain locations or settings that inspire your creation?

Khan: There wasn’t any specific location or setting that inspired Creatures, I think it had more to do with my headspace and things that were going on in my life at the time. I do really enjoy the grandness of fantasy and sci-fi in both gaming and film so would definitely be influenced by the visuals and scores on a subconscious level.

OHMs Peak: "Eyes, Lungs, Arms & Mind" is one of the most relaxing and pensive tunes we have experienced in a long time, take us through the creation of this track?

Khan: All the songs for Creatures were actually written during the time when I was writing the album Vale but were originally meant for another project (a 2 piece that I had started with a mate). The songs were all written in the period of about a month (with the track listing being the order in which I wrote them), but the project never ended up doing much and the songs just sat there until the decision was made to turn them into Khan songs.

Originally, they were written on a hybrid guitar/bass sort of like a baritone guitar and I would loop parts and play lead lines over the top. So when making them Khan songs, I turned most of the original guitar parts into bass parts and then wrote new guitar parts for sections that needed filling out. Although, the solo for How Old is actually the original demo solo on the baritone style guitar.

Each song underwent the same process of being put together, I think there was just something magical that happened with ‘Eyes, Lungs, Arms & Mind’. Honestly, it’s kind of hard to remember as all of the Vale and Creatures (and my first solo album) music was written at a similar time around 9-10 years ago haha.

OHMs Peak: Any plans in the near future to tour in the US?

Khan: We would absolutely love to get to North America but haven’t got any plans for the near future. Hopefully we can get over there with our next album which is very much underway!

OHMs Peak: If you could choose any band to tour with that fits your atmosphere, who would it be?

Khan: There’s a few bands that we’d love to tour with that we think fit certain aspects of our atmosphere. Karnivool, Elder, Tool & Cog

OHMs Peak: Favorite venue to play at?

Khan: Our favourite venue to play was at Frankie’s Pizza in Sydney because it had such an amazing vibe and we were always treated so well but unfortunately they had to shut down to make way for a metro train station. So now the title for Khan’s favourite venue to play is back up for grabs!

OHMs Peak: How did the album art come about and who created?

Khan: I purchased the artwork for Creatures at the same time as purchasing the artwork for our previous album Monsoons. The artist is Reza Afshar and he had just posted a speed painting which I saw and thought it would be perfect for our next album (we had just decided to turn the Creatures songs into Khan songs). It has a beautiful darkness to it which I felt that it connected with the music perfectly.