By Izzy Clayton
Leeds is the third stop for the four-piece rock band Crawlers on their sold out UK tour. The last 12 months have seen the band go from strength to strength with their break-out 2021 hit ‘Come over (Again)’ having over 25 million streams on Spotify, culminating in the band signing with Polydor Records at the start of the year. Crawlers have an impressive social media presence built on their support of, and interaction with, their fan base. Their openness of personal experiences through both social media and their song lyrics, especially in new track ‘I Can’t Drive’ (their debut single with Polydor, released a few weeks ago), cements them as a band that fans can genuinely connect with.
The first support of the night is ALLORA, a dark pop band from Leeds made up of Caty, Shira, Maisie and Jesse. This band are fantastic vocally with some impressive harmonising and surprised fans with a cover of Nirvana’s ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ which ensured the audience were singing along. They are performing at the ‘Nothing But Noise’ one-day festival on the 21st May at Belgrave Music Hall alongside other local bands Fudge., Dim Imagery, Flat Moon, Household Dogs, Helle and Infinite Corners and I’d highly recommend checking them out.
Following ALLORA’s set the night continues with another Leeds-based band VENUS GRRRLS, an all girl rock band consisting of 5 members. With their name inspired by the Riot Grrrl movement, many of their tracks are written in a way that aims to promote diversity and inclusivity and eliminate the associated stereotypes of women in the rock music industry. Grace Kelly, lead singer, has a formidable voice and took time out in the set to speak to the fans about the importance of mental health, before segueing smoothly into the track ‘Amy’. These girls are accomplished performers and have recently secured a slot at Kendal Calling 2022 at the end of July.
Finally we have Crawlers, with Holly Minto on vocals and trumpet, Amy Woodall on lead guitar, Liv Kettle on bass and Harry Breen on drums. The excitement in the crowd has built throughout the night and shows no signs of waning in spite of many fans being here since well before the start, queuing outside before the doors even opened for the support acts. As the opening sounds of Rage Against The Machines ‘Killing In The Name’ begins to play, the band enters to the cheers of the crowd.
Seamlessly switching from grungy tones to a harder hitting rock sound, Crawlers have the audience captivated, singing along throughout and maintain a high energy throughout the set. Ending with their biggest hit to date ‘Come Over (Again)’ the crowd demanded more and they returned to perform their new release ‘I Can’t Drive’ and ended the night with ‘Placebo’ – during which lead singer Holly had the fans squatting down on the floor and jumping in the air in time to the chorus.
Having seen them live and the way they perform whilst interacting with the crowd, it’s easy to see how their popularity has grown. Following the UK tour, they head over to North America before hitting the festival circuit with slots at Reading and Leeds, Neighbourhood Weekender, Lollapalooza. They have recently announced they are to support My Chemical Romance in Warrington on the 27th May. For further details of their tour, please click here – although good luck with the tickets, as they will be very hard to find!
Set List
Magazine
Monroe
Statues
Feminist Radical
Hush
So Tired
Fuck Me
Come Over (Again)
I Can’t Drive
Placebo
