The Liverpool-based four-piece ‘Crawlers’ give their thoughts on their upcoming tour, their origins as a band, their unique and original sound, Glasgow as a city and more.
Crawlers, recently signed to Polydor Records, are enjoying success with their hit single ‘Come Over (Again)’, which has racked up over 15.5 million streams on Spotify and one million views on YouTube. Over the last year, Crawlers (Amy Woodhall, Liv Kettle, Holly Minto, and Harry Breen) have built up a reputation as one of the UK’s hottest and most exciting new bands. The band have gained themselves an impressively loyal following, with a string of single releases leading into their debut EP clocking up over 30 million combined streams. Crawlers debut tour in March/April completely sold out, with the quartet playing to over 1,000 fans in their hometown alone.
Holly Minto and Amy Woodhall, friendly, open and creative members of the band, gave me an insight into their evolution as a group.
Nervous and excited for their show at the QMU, they told me that their upcoming tour includes a few eccentric and creative alterations. This tour, excitingly, involves new theatrical elements including props and has a more interactive environment, with Amy Woodhall skilfully musically directing.
When the band first met at school, they originally all had different tastes in music, with Holly focusing on Jazz and Amy focusing on rock. Holly Minto auditioned with a jazz song for sixth form, and consequently was recommended to take up rock music instead. The band practised in a shed for a year, eventually meeting the talented drummer Adam Breen. They called some of their early songs ‘shockers’, while they were experimenting with many genres.
The first name the band thought of was Peachy Crawlers. “We were just obsessed with the image of peaches but now we’re like emo.” They laughed as they told me that they now strongly identify as an alternative rock band. I think we can confidently say that they have definitely come into their element now. When I first asked them how they would characterise their sound Amy said, “Bangers.” They then explained that: “our big whole thing with our new writing process is re-imagining two different decades that were very similar: the 90s with Nirvana, the Smashing Pumpkins, and Pixies, and then the 2010s with the darker lyricism of the 1975, the Neighbourhood, and Lorde, and then combine those to the next level.” They create a world for each song.
Their latest release, ‘Would You Come to My Funeral?’ solidifies their sound as a band. They describe the song as a way of reminiscing on the old people in your life, people you have had a past with; do all the good memories linger enough for them to miss you when you die? “The lyrics are sad, but the beat is happy”, Amy says. It’s a song we can all relate to in some way or another and strikes a chord with their fans and young adults across the country.
A typical day on tour for Crawlers involves lots of hours in a van and finding the most “poncy looking” coffee shop. For Glasgow, this is Ottoman Coffeehouse on Berkeley Street. “I want to go in and be judged for my coffee order, that’s the level of pretentiousness I want to be”, Holly says. She then reveals she might be releasing a song dedicated to coffee.
The closeness of the band is a rare dynamic and a wonderful thing to witness. They told me that they are never interested in doing solo sessions, and that they work as a collective. Even when they’re apart, they’re vlogging what they’re doing to the group chat and checking in. “We’re very supportive of each other and we are each other’s number one fans”.
They left the interview saying how excited they were for the gig at the QMU on 21 September, where they will inevitably perform brilliantly for all of their fans here.
