Crawlers: “We’ve built up these foundations of our own little world… now we’re ready!”

Put simply, Crawlers make being in a band look natural. In a time where solo artists top the charts and steal the headlines, these four charismatic northerners wouldn’t change what they’re building for the world.

“Bands aren’t as big as they used to be,” ponders vocalist Holly Minto. “But we all have such different skill sets and when you put these four heads together, it’s exciting. People don’t do it as much anymore, which I guess is because of the way the industry works, with songwriters and producers. But we’re all that combined.”

Here’s the thing, though: Crawlers are getting big. In 2022, the band – completed by guitarist Amy Woodall, bassist Liv Kettle and drummer Harry Breen – supported My Chemical Romance, played monumental sets at Reading & Leeds, and even toured the U.S. for the first time.

“I’d never been to America before, and we had like four sold-out shows, and every gig had crazy fans,” grins Liv as they collectively cite those shows as a 2022 highlight. “It was silly…”

From working in retail to being delivery drivers, they’ve been no strangers to the gruelling work that it takes to get to this point. Having gone viral, major label Polydor took notice and signed them in early 2022, giving the band the chance to work on music full-time, and truly realise their ambitions.

This all came to a head with the release of Crawlers’ brilliant debut mixtape, Loud Without Noise. While the band joke that it’s a somewhat “random” collection of songs, it still cohesively satiates the far-reaching influences of each member – from Tool-loving Liv to the My Chem-obsessed Holly.

“At the start [of our career], we did pretty much sit down and say, ‘Okay, here’s all our influences and here are the crossover bands who we all like – let’s just see what happens,’” explains Amy of how their captivating alt.rock came about.

“Sometimes it’s been hard to work out how to make us all happy, but at the same time it’s what’s made our music so fucking special,” adds Holly.

Still, there’s more to be done. With plans to play festivals and return to America this year, as well as writing their debut album, Crawlers are gearing up to jump off the enormous stepping-stone they’ve created for themselves.

“I think now, we’re very settled into who we are and coming to terms with being a signed band,” says Liv, proudly. “We’ve built up these foundations of our own little world, and now it’s like, ‘Okay, we’re ready!’”

Loud Without Noise is out now via Polydor. This article originally appeared in the December 2022 issue of the magazine.

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