Bido Lito June 2021 Issue 114

Riotous, emotive and informing, Daniel Ponzini steps into the explosive world of the four-piece.
“[Statues] is really fresh and really new – I don’t
think anyone is writing music like that right now,”
explains Holly Minto. It’s hard to disagree with
her when you experience the passion in her vocal
delivery on the track. The assemblage of sounds behind
her resemble The Clash at their angriest or the Sex
Pistols at their most enraged.
The landmark single belongs to self-branded “North
West misfits” CRAWLERS, a four-piece alternative rock
band consisting of Minto (vocalist), Amy Woodall (lead
guitar), Harry Breen (drums) and Liv Kettle (bass). Only
released in March, the song has amassed well over
75,000 plays on Spotify and sits comfortably with a
discography bearing the hallmarks of a band very much
on an upward trajectory.
Previous releases Hush and So Tired have reinforced
Crawlers’ assertion that rock ’n’ roll is still alive and
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kicking. So far, they have displayed an ability to career
into a chorus like a Midwestern emo band from the early
2000s – Modern Baseball-esque – and navigate verses
with a lyrical nous far beyond the blueprint of a regular
rock outfit.
In keeping with the theme of lyricism, you would
think that the barrage of instruments on their latest effort
would obfuscate any meaningful message Minto tries
to convey, but their poised sensibility in these moments
of madness creates a feeling akin to watching a sunrise
across a clear-skied day. Her fierce image – curly red hair,
pronounced lipstick, strong eyeshadow – is enough to
make a boomer gasp. But don’t be confused by how this
band masks sentimentality in the way they look. They
may hold onto moments of careful lyricism and chord
progressions by a thread, but they manage to achieve a
poetic flair and elegance in the way they contrast love
and loss through light and dark chord progressions, and
happy and sad drum patterns. The contrast is captivating.
Holly explains that the sense of urgency and
exasperation that bleeds into Crawlers’ sound is born
from the frustration of the last 12 months. “We had to
become an online band,” she admits. While not being
unable to tour (obviously) or work together in a closeknit
environment had the potential to halt the band’s
momentum, they refused to let it tamper with their
progress, and instead found innovative ways to continue
creating. “It depended on what part of lockdown we
were in,” Minto says, referencing countless phonecalls
and messages about song ideas. The only constant
factor in this confusing scenario was the drive to create
more and more.
Since they started releasing music in 2019, Crawlers
have collected fans from every corner of the country;