issue 000: I'm Nobody! Who are you?

I'm Nobody! Who are you? (260)

I'mNobody!Whoareyou?

Areyou–Nobody–too?

Thenthere'sapairofus!

Don'ttell!they'dadvertise–youknow!

Howdreary–tobe–Somebody!

Howpublic–likeaFrog–

Totellone'sname–thelivelongJune–

ToanadmiringBog!

--EmilyDickinson,1830-1886

I don’t know myself, and the path I walk is finite

I’m scared of losing all my time, losing all my highlight

I wonder if the other girls, have it all definite

Tossing all these mistakes, I’m a girl who lives with hindsight

Lonely but not alone,

I question if I’m free

I hate myself, I hate my life, I hate the bourgeoisie They tell me to figure it out, I beg to disagree

I don’t know myself, and that's good enough for me

In the kitchen, Holly Minto writes, "Come Over (again)", they open their doors to the world, the song spreads like wildfire on TikTok, and they embolden and encourage people to express themselves.

The band explores struggles, their own, the industry's, and the world's, on their fearless, grungeinspired new self-titled EP.

I N T E R V I E W W I T H C R A W L E R S '

H O L L Y M I N T O

Reema Alheraiqi - My first question is how did you form your band, and how did you create your identity as a group?

Holly Minto (lead vocalist) -

We formed officially in 2018, by the name crawlers. Amy (guitarist) and Liv (bassist) went to high school together, and they were in a cover band playing rock tunes and stuff. And then when they left high school that was at age 18, and when I was 16. And when I was in Sixth Form I was put in a class with Liv. And we were both kind of like the female presenting people who are kind of into rock music. So we got put into the same band, we really enjoyed it. And then we were like, Hey, I really like what's going on here. And we started a band! That same time, Amy messaged me, And was like, "Oh, hey, we like what you're doing here. Shall we start a band again?"

So we kind of started off by listening, like suggesting what type of music we're into at the time, and kind of choosing what we wanted to do as a band. Like, you know, how we wanted to kind of make our own impact and stuff. I think identity is quite a strong one for us Because we like having a visual identity We like having strong effects and like having moving campaigns and songs by aesthetics. But also like with our own identity, obviously, like being a career center band, we want to make sure that people we can create a safe space for our audience and people who are not just our audience, but hopefully impact other musicians and artists and bands to do the same and create that safe space for people especially like their first live shows.

photo credit - Crawlers

Alheraiqi - My second question is, have you been into music since a young age? Or did you like, start later on?

Minto -

So, I grew up with a lot of music around me, my dad was in the old punk scene in the 70s, and my mom was very into goth music. I never really found my ways music apart from like, old school emo two tunes when I was like 15. So I listened to, like, fall out boys and my chemical romance, and stuff like that. But I didn't really get too into music like I am now. Which would kind of change one I was in Sixth Form, because I accidentally auditioned for a pop course thinking I was doing musical theater, which is really hilarious. And after that, we did this course just on pop music, and it's growth through the ages. And that's where I kind of started discovering my own musical identity and like, what type of music I really enjoyed, and then a bit of the old school stuff. I'm really liking lyrical based stuff, where the instrumentals kind of grow in Whereas like the rest of the band, they all grew up with quite strong music tastes, like Liv is really into metal, heavy rock music. Amy's very eclectic with music, and Harry (drummer) was brought up with Pop music his whole life. I kind of got my musical identity, but I'm glad that I found it. Eventually. It's definitely helped me as an artist.

Alheraiqi - When did you realize music would become such a huge part of your identity?

Minto -

I think it was when I was in sixth form. I went to my first first ever live show in I think it was 2017, and I just turned 17. It was just a local band performing live. And it was not like the "best of the world!" But this kind of a grungy venue--that's shut down now--they were doing covers, and I thought, this is so good. Like, "I really want to be able to do something like this", like the energy in the room and stuff like that. I knew that I wanted to be able to create that feeling that I had. And that's kind of where I started getting into live shows And I started getting into listening and recording and writing my own stuff too So I think from that moment, I just got so excited and knew that music was gonna stick with me, even though it helped me for a lot before

" I T H I N K T H A T W A S T H E C A T A L Y S T ! T H E P I V O T A L M O M E N T ! "

Alheraiqi - Okay, so for the next question is what made you guys decide on the sound as a band like you were all kind of like a melting pot. But what made you decide exactly that you want it to be like an indie rock band?

Minto -

I think it was kind of a hard process for us, because we kind of got stuck for such a long time. So when we first wrote our song, we kind of wanted to go like Alabama Shakes, and kind of Neo Soul music. Whereas, Amy was a lot more international. And it was kind of trying to find the in between of having that melodic soul while still having that grip that heavier rock music provides. So, when we wrote "so tired", we've got that mixture of like having the kind of miracle rock and indie rock. But even though it's definitely not our best song, I think it was the first kind of taste of it. And once we wrote "so tired", we kind of carried on with the rest based on rock music.

And we kind of got into a little bit of a rough patch about it, because we were starting to get lots of traction, but we were staying in a safe space, music wise. And then we wrote "come over" which was written in Liv's kitchen, on their t-shirt, I grabbed it and then we just started playing, we really liked that sound of it. And that's when we kind of went, "why are we writing songs to set off, when the songs already set off, because we're writing them and we already have an identity." And so kind of at that point, we just knew that our found was our sound, whatever we create. And I think that was when it kind of all happened really.

Alheraiqi - My next question is actually about come over! I want to know what kind of reaction or like feelings you were trying to induce your fans and listeners when you released the song.

MintoI think it was particularly tough for us musically, just for myself as well, we wrote the song and it was already about poetry that has to do with my personal life that I've not really opened up to with a song that we've released yet. And something that happened quite recently in Liv's life. And we wanted to put it out there as kind of a risk. So we were kind of scared, because Liv was very worried about the reaction of the people who the song is about. And also because we already had most of us, I was exposed to heavy bands And we were kind of scared to say that from reality that we were trying to open the doors really.

And so that was kind of the fear. But at the same time, we thought that showing our vulnerability and showing our openness and showing what kind of suppressed anger, would help our audience. The impact was way, way bigger than we expected it to be. It was mental!

Alheraiqi - Yeah, I love how much you've impacted people, especially tiktokers, with the trend and how they were able to express themselves.

MintoIt's Amazing! And I think it's been hard for Liv because I wrote the song about them, like having something so traumatic and having to be so horrible go viral. Because at first it's like, oh my god, this is a huge part of me. But then it's like, wow, these people are singing it with me--and we're all kind of "not like struggling together", but we all got our own stuff going on. And having a caring team was so wonderful! And seeing everyone's interpretation, how helped the queer community, how it helps like, people with mental disorders. It's just wonderful to kind of have that reaction and be able to create something so special for a lot of people, like it's something that I never thought I'd be able to in my career, let alone so early on. And yeah, definitely it is a very empowering song.

Alheraiqi - What would you say to someone who's hiding themselves or afraid to embrace their identity?

Minto -

Finding yourself is hard. Being able to embrace identity is harder. You're valid, and you shouldn't have to suppress that. Because some people are in a space that they can't feel safe being who they want to be And it can be really hard seeing people not necessarily like living your dream but living a truth that you kind of want to be able to present.

And it's kind of knowing how to do it in a safe environment you're in and I think obviously like I'm privileged to have a family that's very supportive of me. The fact that whereas other people aren't in that position, but whoever you are like wherever you are inside you are and you're, you're so valid and however you present that, whether you want to do that visually whether you want to do that to your friends, your family, whoever you feel safe with, because there will be people out there who are going to embrace you and looking for your identity who you truly are.

The Poor

ByHalaAlMajed

Reema Alheraiqi

amythinawoman'swomb, aweepingyolk asacredsymboloflife. careful,imayfallapart.

R.A.H

i ' m n o b o d y !

Contributors

Magazine Cover

Photography and editing, by Reema Alheraiqi.

I Am Nobody - E.D. Photography and editing, by Reema Alheraiqi.

Why Confessions? Words, by Joory AlAmer

I Don't Know Myself Words, by Zahraa AlShubbar

Crawlers' Holly Minto: I Am Safe Photography (background) and interview, by Reema Alheraiqi.

The Poor Millionaire Poetry, by Hala AlMajed. Photography (background), by Reema Alheraiqi.

I Am Fragile Painting and words, by Reema Alheraiqi.

People's Opinions by Juri Bin Shudayyid

Graphic Design, by Reema Alheraiqi.

Thank you.