by RUPERT BOTTENBERG

For Me Mom & Morgentaler fans out there, there are a number of triple-M connections to Montreal band Creature - drummer Sid Zanforlin, obviously, and ace guitarist Kim Ho, formerly of PEZ with Me Mom percussionist John Britton. Bassist Anastasia Culurides previously played with Me Mom's Matt Lipscombe. Keyboardist Lisa Iwanycki, previously of the Social Register, is the only Me-Mom-less member.

Moreover, the quartet may not play ska or wear clown outfits, but they do share the Morgentalers' shiny pop appeal, eclectic energy, theatrical sensibility and snide political bite.

Initially, the then-unnamed Creature was an offshoot of Kim Ho & the Show, and thus practiced Ho's homemade songs. "I'd be writing on an acoustic guitar," says Ho, "so it would be almost a little, dare I say, folky - quiet and subdued. But then, one song that I'd written we really identified with. It was a '60s-sounding number which we called ‘Creature From the Black Lagoon.' We had a lot of fun with it - whenever we played it, we'd open up to it a little bit more and freak out on it, so to speak, getting a bit psychedelic.

"From there, we hooked onto that idea - Creature. We shot off into a direction of everyone being more involved and all our individual energies shining through."

It's impossible to locate the fuzzy folk roots of Creature's edgy, electric crackle and snap, a downtown sound with a debt to new wave and Elvis Costello. And to Michael Moore, at least as far as the tune "Last Days of America," dedicated to the difficult documentary-maker.

A snarky, playful tune despite its grim title, "Last Days" nonetheless reflects a growing global angst. "It's coming from a general sense of the last few years, this more pronounced feeling of Americans just doing what they want, the greed and capitalism and this strong desire for money. It's something that we see all the time, and I feel like globally, people are getting a little fed up with it, or are willing to be more outspoken about it. It's not that we think these really are the last days of America, or that we wish ill will to the United States, but we're kinda getting tired of this heavy greed that permeates the whole thing."

Tired of the standard rock show, too, apparently. A Sala Rossa show late last year saw Creature supported by a burlesque troupe and indulging their thespian muses via mid-set skits (Zanforlin also directs plays, dig).

"We had the stage set up as an office," recalls Ho, "with computers and desks and stuff. It was a little last-minute and maybe not the best job, but that is something we want to explore, something a little different from your regular rock show. We also want to have different activities and situations in which to hear music. For that show, we were actually thinking of a fair, but we didn't have time. That's something else we could do - palm readings, people selling stuff, clowns…"

Oops… maybe I spoke too soon about the clown outfits.

With Arctic, Dead Doll Dancers and DJ Robb at El Salon
on Saturday, Jan. 8, 9 p.m., $10