Rock club Creepy Crawl quietly closes in Grand Center
Fall Out Boy at Creepy Crawl Dec. 3: photo by Sarah Conard
Word on the street, according to various blogs including one at Riverfront Times and our own Rock Candy, is Creepy Crawl has quietly closed, though it has been a tough one to actually confirm.
Calls to Creepy Crawl have gone unanswered.
But the most recent show listed on the long-running rock club’s infrequently updated web site was a Dec. 27 concert with unannounced bands.
Creepy Crawl, at 3524 Washington Boulevard, was once a downtown staple at 412 North Tucker Boulevard.
The club opened January 1998 at the downtown location.
In a 2006 interview at the time of the move to Grand Center, owner Jeff Parks says he saw Creepy Crawl as an alternative to the Rocket Bar, the Side Door, the Galaxy and the Hi-Pointe, offering bands “they wouldn’t touch.”
Parks admitted the transition to Grand Center wasn’t the smoothest. “We had to ease concern we’re not a crazy, Satan-worshipping rock ‘n’ roll club.”
Representatives from the Fox Theatre, Jazz at the Bistro, and St. Louis Symphony Orchestra went on record welcoming Creepy Crawl to the neighborhood, though Third Baptist Church across the street was a different story.
Hot band Fall Out Boy, veterans of the old Creepy Crawl, performed at the new venue earlier this month during a special gig.
Kevin C. Johnson has covered the St. Louis' music and nightlife scene for the past decade. 
I think Creepy Crawl needs to keep moving out west. But don’t creep and don’t crawl. Rename your club the Jumping Jogger. Or the Speedy Sprinter. Or the Lightning Laser. Success will follow. Keep calling it the Creepy Crawl and having it creep or crawl out west, well what do you expect? I do wish the fellows well as they are trying their best and the club scene in St. Louis needs a joint like this.
Thank goodness this sorry excuse for a venue is gone. They had a golden chance to move into a nice venue and spruce it up, but it somehow got worse. Good riddance to that place. So now that the absolute worse live venue is gone, who now wears that crown?
It’s disappointing to me… I can remember seeing some great local and national acts there as well as playing in bands there myself. The Creepy Crawl was the ultimate dive bar/venue in St. Louis. I’ll be sad to see it go.
R.I.P. Creepy Crawl… Although I never made it to your new location, I had gone to the CC on tucker a few hundred times. We can now add you to the list of exciting St. Louis venues closed due to the cities fear of youthful music.
Other venues that died… Rocket Bar, Side Door, Firehouse, Galaxy, Mississippi Nights, Hi-Pointe… any others?
Venues still alive??? Way Out Club, Cicero’s, Bluebird, Biliken Club… any others?
Pageant and Fox are too big for any local bands to play…
When I first walked into the ‘new’ Creepy Crawl at Grand Center I was shocked. How could they move to a WORSE venue? the stage was a joke, the sound was a joke. The employees’ attitudes ranged from indifferent to hostile. they treated the bands like crap. Most of the bands in this genre cater to an under 21 crowd and those patrons were treated like cattle at a processing plant, roped off without easy access to water or soda.
there is definitely a market in this town for something like this, but it’s going to take someone who treats people with respect and has a concern for the experience of the patrons AND the bands.
Godd riddance. There’s nothing like being openly disdained while paying money for drinks and a show somewhere.
Ps. Dan-those venues didn’t close because of the city’s “fear of youthful music.” A lot of those places closed because they didn’t know how to run a bar (although the Rocket Bar, man I miss that place.)
There are zero people commenting on the creepy crawl that know what they are talking about. Including the RFT.
Kenny (Ex creepy crawl manager)
Played a number of times at the old Creepy… Never had a problem with the staff. This is sad as new bands have a hard time booking a gig. Now it gets even more difficult. The last show I saw there was Ultraman at the new venue.
Hey ex manager Kenny- what are YOU talking about? These are the customers talking, and you know what they say about “THE CUSTOMER”.
But your attitude seems to fall right in line with a couple of these complaints.
Agreed,
Side Door, Galaxy and Mississippi nights were pushed out. “Fear of youthful music” Comment was directed towards the galaxy and the original CC. The owners of the building for Galaxy shut them down. Sorry to generalize. Not sure about the others. I was living out of town when Rocketbar and Hi-Pointe closed. Wasn’t the original CC forced out for rent reasons in 2006 too or a liquor license issue?