Mitch: Your latest single, ‘BIRTHDAY’, just came out on September 18. Do you mind sharing a bit about the track and what inspired it?
Holly: I was preparing a massive birthday party for my 26th, and I became so chronically overwhelmed by the idea of throwing a birthday party. I kind of sat with it and was like, “Oh my gosh, I’ve cried every year on my birthday since I was 18. I really want this year to be different.”
Once I had that thought, I ended up writing the lyric, “Happy birthday, my wish is I don’t cry this time.” I came into a session really wanting us to create a song that felt nostalgic and had this very specific emotional tug, using these synths and really wide guitar sounds.
I was like, “I feel like we’ve not got that song.” I think Liv’s sister called it the “sunset festival crowd song,” and I was like, “That’s exactly what those songs feel like to me.”
We kind of set out to create that song, thinking about Maps by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Ribs by Lorde, and ended up melding those two worlds together with the sorrow and inner pain of suffering on your birthday.
Mitch: What do you hope people feel while listening?
Holly: I think when we first started teasing it, I remember people were like, “Oh my God, this one’s gonna break me.” And I was like, “You know what, it is quite a sad perspective.” But in my opinion, I wrote this song as a tug of hope. I see this whole EP as a battle between the inner mind and the outer world, and the pains of living in a very unstable society while suffering inwardly. I wrote this song to capture a little bit of hope within that.
So I hope people who’ve struggled on those days that seem super important can pull away from it and think positively about their birthday with this one. Fingers crossed.
Mitch: Your new EP, ‘LIVE WITH THIS’, comes out November 13. What can fans expect from this EP?
Amy: Yeah, it’s a bit different because obviously ‘BIRTHDAY’ is quite soft in comparison to what we’ve just put out with ‘TURN OFF THE TV’ and what’s about to come out with the next EP. But we knew that we wanted ‘BIRTHDAY’ to be a single. We were just like, “This is such a rammer,” and we all believe in it so much. The music that’s to follow is a bit more like classic Crawlers, quite rocky and quite stompy.
There’s one song in particular called ‘BORN SCREAMING’, which we’re really excited to put out. It’s got that stompy live feel to it.
Holly: For us, ‘LIVE WITH THIS’ is kind of the end to ‘TURN OFF THE TV’. I think all of these songs are a little bit more laced with hope and a little bit of despair, whereas everything on the first EP was more about trying to find hope in hopelessness. This is kind of like seeing hopelessness in the hope.
One thing I’m really happy about with these songs is that our cult fans had heard everything on the first EP before. We’d either been playing it live or teasing it in some capacity while we were in the writing period.
All of these songs, apart from ‘DIRTY PARTS OF HEAVEN’, which we played at a few shows last year, are completely new and unheard. We’re so bad at doing that because we find it really hard to keep our cards close to our chest. We’re really glad we’ve managed to keep these songs under wraps, and everyone’s going to hear them for the first time.
Mitch: If the EP was turned into a movie, what would the plot be? What would the movie look and feel like?
Liv: You know what, funnily enough, this is the second movie question we’ve had. We were speaking to a friend of ours last week, and he was like, “What films are these songs?” It’s such a great question.
Amy: We kind of struggled with it, but we did say Fleabag with how it kind of follows a life. I guess certain moments of these songs could represent different points in the show.
Holly: I think these songs have a little bit more of a political edge, as well as battling the inner problems that we love writing about so much. It’s quite dramatic and has those ins and outs, so I imagine it as one of those films that has like 12 different climaxes. You think it’s over, then another thing happens and you’re like, “When does the main character get a break? This bitch needs a break.”
Right at the end of the EP, we end with this extremely cathartic screaming, vocally and musically, and then end in the quiet. There’s something about that conclusion of solace and calm after the storm. It’s like when the credits roll on a film and you’re like, “I’m not satisfied, but I’m glad it finished there.”
Liv: I’ve imagined it as a coming-of-age kind of culty film. It’s not about a cult though. Sort of angsty and also very political, but then there’s that resolution at the end. It’s kind of a satisfying end, I would say.
Mitch: How would you describe your sound and style without using any genres?
Holly: I like that. I think it’s angsty. Earnest is a word I pull out a lot from a lyrical perspective. Sometimes what I’ll say lyrically is quite disgusting because I just try to be as honest and truthful as possible.
And then I think Amy used the word “stompy” before, and I think a lot of these songs have got that groove to them.
I saw this meme that was cringing out about this one Spotify playlist called ‘Walk Like a Badass’. And I was like, “I fear that’s us. I fear that is where we reside.” But yeah, that’s probably how I’d describe it.
Mitch: You’re doing a one night only show in London. What can people expect from this Crawlers show?
Liv: This is us after however many years. We’re back, we’re better than ever, and you’re going to get to hear new songs. I mean, what’s not to love?
Holly: I think what’s different with this show in particular is that we’ve worked on this EP in a very different way. With our previous music, it was all written in a myriad of different ways, whereas with this EP, we ensured that we could play it as a set and wanted it to feel like that raw energy came from us as a three.
We’d jam it, play it and make sure that it felt good to play live. Even the ones that came with a bit more struggle, like ‘BIRTHDAY’, where it’s a lot more sound-based.
I’ve always intended to have a show where we played it as it was written and created. When people hear it in this live way, there are the actual troughs and pulls of how the music feels and how it was to play. It’s been really nice to reconnect with that.
Mitch: Can Australia expect any shows soon?
Holly: You know what? We’ve been around the whole fucking world, and the one place we’ve not been is Australia.
We all have family out there, so we’re ready to reconnect with our roots and see AUS. I’ve been offered to go on holidays in Australia, but I don’t want to go until we as Crawlers can go there together and play a show.
It’s exciting because we have so many beautiful Australian fans who always get the music first. New Music Friday, Australia gets it first.
I think the plan is for us to be a lot more tour-heavy next year, so hopefully Australia. It’ll have to be within the next two years. We’ll have to come and actually meet all you beautiful people.
Mitch: What’s one thing you’d love to manifest for Crawlers in the next 12 months?
Holly: Do you know what, Liv? You said something the other day, and I think it’s so true. Liv said that one of the songs on this EP is very Twilight-coded, but I think all of the songs are.
I know we’ve been having a bit of a Twilight rebrand at the minute. We could be their Decode by Paramore moment. We’ve been preparing for this our entire lives. Look at us, we were born for it.
So I’d say that would be awesome.
Amy: That’s the only thing we are working for.
Mitch: What’s the best way for people to support you and the new music?
Holly: You can stream our music and watch all of our creative things over on YouTube. We’re on all platforms and DSPs.
We’ve also got merch coming to the store soon. So if you want to help three little kids keep playing shows forever and eventually come to Australia, definitely do that.
Hopefully we’ll be in Australia soon, where we get to scream it sweaty as intended.
Mitch: What can fans expect from you next?
Amy: We’re just writing as much as we can at the moment. Like Holly said, we want to be on tour a lot next year, so we’re making sure we’ve written a lot so we can record it quickly and get more music out.
Obviously, the gap we’ve just had was quite long, and we don’t want to do that again unless we absolutely need to. So we’re writing a lot at the moment and working on what comes next after the EP.
Liv: Yeah, we’re all dying to be back out on the road as well!
RAPID FIRE QUESTIONS!!
Mitch: Favourite lyric from ‘BIRTHDAY’?
Holly: Mine is, “I’m pleading my ignorance, I’m lucky to have such a plea.”
Amy: I feel like I just love the hook because we’ve only played it live once, but people were screaming the hook back at us.
Liv: I think I would actually say the little ad-lib that Holly has in there, which is, “I sold my teenage years for ignorance. Now I pay back that debt in therapy.” Those two lyrics going into each other, I think is really, really poetic.
Mitch: Favourite track from the EP?
Holly: I’m not going to lie, mine changes all the time, but at the minute it’s ‘BORN SCREAMING’.
Liv: I think mine is ‘DIRTY PARTS OF HEAVEN’, for sure. I just think it’s such a good song.
Amy: I think out of those four, I probably would say ‘BIRTHDAY’.
Mitch: What is everyone’s go-to karaoke song?
Holly: Mine is either ‘The Climb’ by Miley Cyrus or ‘Meet Me Halfway’ by Black Eyed Peas. They’re my two songs.
Amy: The thing is, we do karaoke a lot. We’re quite avid karaoke people, so it’s not like a one-and-done situation with the songs. We have to keep people on their toes, you know what I mean? ‘Fight for This Love’ by Cheryl Cole is one and then the other one that I keep doing is ‘I Think We’re Alone Now’.
Liv: You also do a killer Mamma Mia though!
Amy: I do do a killer Mamma Mia, but I think that is a retired one at the moment, because I’ve done it so much.
Holly: This is literally what we do when we are together. It’s always “Right, so who’s bringing the karaoke machine?”
Usually, I’ll try and do a rap or something, because it just feels cringe when my job, 90% of the time, is to sing. So why would I sing to you? It’s cringe. So doing ‘The Climb’ and doing the Miley Cyrus voice is hilarious, or proper rapping and going full will.i.am.
Liv: My usual ones are either ‘Like a Prayer’ or ‘Vogue’. Just basically anything slightly campy, anything that would come on in a gay club. I’ll do that.