4 minute read
Crawlers', Holly Minto "I Am Safe"
Reema Alheraiqi - My first question is how did you form your band, and how did you create your identity as a group?
Advertisement
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.
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 think that was the catalyst! The pivotal moment!"
photo credit - Crawlers
editing by Reema Alheraiqi
