Crawlers: Phase One, Liverpool – live review

Crawlers 
Phase One, Liverpool
9 December 2022

One of the most exciting current Liverpool bands play a low-key hometown gig before taking on the world, Del Pike was there to wish them a safe journey

Snow fell on the city of Liverpool, the pavements turned to ice almost immediately, early Christmas celebrations led to the fearful combination of inappropriate footwear and slippy pavements. Somewhat more welcoming is the cosier interior of Phase one, the most bijou of the city’s music venues.

Since graduating from Liverpool’s prestigious LIPA academy, The Crawlers have gone from strength to strength, helped partly by their track Come Over (Again), being a Tik Tok sensation. 40,387,737 hits on Spotify as I write, and a tidy deal with major label, Polydor. But their success should rightly be accredited to their talent as young songwriters and performers with a penchant for saying it like it is.

Their fans absolutely adore them as they speak of 21st-century issues from the heart, be that gender, heartbreak, depression or in darker corners of their set, sexual abuse, and the effects therein. The band encourage their fans to be themselves who consider them to be figureheads in supporting non-binary followers.

Lead singer Holly Minto buzzes with character and is as funny as she is biting, she reflects their audience perfectly and at times tonight when emotions get too much for members of the audience, Holly literally takes to the floor to cuddle them. One faint-headed fan is allowed to sit on a chair at the back of the stage. There is a connection with the fan base that goes beyond sitting in the bedroom poring over lyrics. With International dates coming up, lets hope they don’t stray too far from their hometown (Half Liverpool / Half Warrington).

Promoting their new six-track E.P., Loud Without Noise, the band are performing a very intimate, stripped-back acoustic set tonight, which pretty much includes everything a Crawlers fan could pray for. The acoustic approach works well with quieter moments such as Hang me like Jesus, but Holly’s powerhouse vocals still allow them to make some noise with more raucous fan favourites such as I Can’t Drive and Too Soon.

One of the aims of tonight’s show was to further that already strong connection with fans by filling in the gaps between songs with dialogue. Some stories about the songwriting process are unremarkable, but do show the workings of a young band, still thrilled by the experience of working in a studio and creating music. Other tales including adventures with jars of olives may not be as hilarious as the band remember them to be, but again, it shows a youthfulness that their fans can identify with.

The 18+ policy at Phase One tonight meant that perhaps not so many Tik Tok fans were in the room, and the crowd were perhaps truer fans of the band as a whole. That said, those famous, much mimed 20 seconds of Come Over (Again), rang loud around the room with full participation.

Whilst the band may be fresh out of LIPA, and their stories may still sound immature, the same cannot be said of their lyrics, particularly in songs like Feminist, Radical, Hypocritical, Delusional and the hard-hitting Fuck Me (I didn’t know how to say). These songs speak of painful, destructive experiences and issues that hit directly with their followers and raise emotions high. They are very much a band to be taken seriously.

Back out onto slippy Seel Street and everyone is left with food for thought. The NME described Crawlers as Misfits but I’m not so sure. I think they are more like the rest of us than that label gives them credit for, they’re just not afraid to say what the rest of us are thinking.

Crawlers can be found at  https://www.crawlersband.com/

All writing by Del Pike, more writing by Del Pike can be found at his author profile. This is Dels’ first piece for Louder Than War

Photos by Peter Goodbody

Source: louderthanwar.com