The
Crawling reflects on an intense 2024 filled with unforgettable shows, emotional
songwriting, and plans to expand into Europe, promising an exciting 2025 ahead.
1. 2024 has been an incredible year for The Crawling. How do you feel about wrapping it up with these final four shows?
It’s been
great! Always sad to wrap up a year, but it’s been a lot of fun touring this
year, met some great people and played some amazing shows! Very cool to look
back on what we’ve done in 2024. We’re also extremely excited about the final
shows of the year, particularly our hometown Belfast show. We only tend to play
Belfast once a year, so we always try and make it a special event; and 2024 is
no different!
2. You’ve
had some intense performances this year, including supporting acts like
Batushka. How do you prepare for sharing the stage with such powerful bands?
We’ve been
fortunate enough to share the stage with many amazing bands, including
Bathuska. We don’t really prep any differently than any show to be honest. We
obviously rehearse the tracks as always, ensure the songs are the right length
for our allowed set time, ensure the gear is all 100%, and just remain focused
on getting on and off stage as efficiently as possible. It’s fantastic when
established acts give time for more underground bands, so we never want to
cause inconvenience or disruption for the touring bands. It’s a great
opportunity for us to showcase The Crawling, so don’t want to fuck it up!
3. The
Crawling’s sound blends death and doom metal with emotional and atmospheric
depth. Can you tell us more about how you achieve that balance in your music?
The
Crawling is a blend of all of that for sure, and maybe a touch of black metal
in parts. I think, like anything, it’s the combination of light and dark that
makes it work. If music is 100% flat out it can lose the power, same as if it’s
all slow. We are based mostly in the slower aspect of music, but occasionally
we move into faster pieces to create a dynamic to follow the emotion of the
track. I believe it’s the switching back and forth that helps create the
atmosphere. It’s not entirely intentional, the songs just seem to come out that
way.
4. Your upcoming show in Belfast at Limelight
will be a homecoming event. How does it feel to perform for a hometown crowd,
and what makes those shows special?
It’s just
amazing playing hometown shows. Obviously that’s where we started, and is our
predominant fan base, so usually do pretty well crowd wise. Belfast is always
special. The city is extremely supportive of heavy metal, the underground crowd
tend to support shows from all aspects of metal, and we have no shortage go
them. For The Crawling it’s just great to play to people who have been with us
since the beginning, and seen the many changes over the last 10 years and how
we’ve progressed. We always like to give something back, so we invest in
production and merch for hometown shows as a thank you to everyone. It’s a very
rewarding experience.
5. Eradication
fest 2024 in Cardiff is known for its extreme acts. What can fans expect from
your performance there?
Eradication
is a great fest, and certainly more on the extreme end. Expect a short, sharp,
heavy delivery of light and dark! A shorter set means we can only squeeze in 4
songs, so we have two choose wisely!
6. You’ve
built a strong presence in both the UK and Ireland. How do you think the metal
scenes differ between these regions, and how does The Crawling fit into them?
There are
differences, but also depends what city you play. Ireland tends to be very
receptive to more extreme bands, particularly black metal. The UK bands we pay
alongside are often more “modern” in nature, or current sounding. It really
just depends on the billing, and ultimately it’s all just heavy metal anyway.
The main thing is the UK and Ireland are very supportive of underground bands.
We’ve been so fortunate to have UK promoters take a chance with us and help us
put on shows, we’ve been really lucky that way. We don’t always fit along
stylistically with a lot of UK bands, but good metal is good metal, so we do
ok!
7. You’ve
mentioned that 2025 will see you heading into Europe for bigger shows and new
cities. What are you most looking forward to about this new chapter for The
Crawling?
The
Crawling does what it does to have a good time, and spread the message of our
music. We love short tours, meeting people, visiting different places and
watching different bands. We’ve been back and forth to the UK mainland for the
last lot of years, so we figured we’d try some fly out shows and see what
Europe has to offer. We’re just looking forward to something new and exciting.
There’s something very cool about throwing your guitar in the hold of a plane
and flying to a foreign country where most people probably don’t even know you.
It’s a challenge, but we can’t wait.
8. Your
lyrics often delve into heavy emotional themes and the human condition. What
inspires these themes, and how do you approach songwriting to reflect that?
The songs
are always inspired by things I’ve seen in real life; either personal
experience or seen happen to others. I’m always writing tiny parts of lyrics,
and jamming riffs. Eventually the two parts marry up to suit, and the song
starts there. It’s important the music reflects the lyrics and vice versa. It’s
hard to get right, and I do tend to scrap a lot of tracks once demo’d.
9. The
Crawling is known for its raw, doom-laden energy. How has your sound evolved
since the band’s formation, and what elements have remained constant?
We have
focused on songwriting mostly over the last few years. I mean, it’s still
ultimately death/doom metal, so the tones, riffs and vocals are in the same
vibe; but we’ve really invested time in the structures to tell the story more
effectively. I enjoy a good chorus, but that can be tricky with a death metal
vocal, so I’ve worked out ways of creating memorable parts within the songs. I
also try very hard to just keep the tracks authentic, not think about how
people will receive them, even what the rest of the band will think, but that
can be difficult, and something I’m always working on.
10. With
so many memorable gigs this year, is there a particular show or festival that
stood out for you in 2024? If so, why?
Our show in
Oldham was particuarly great this year. It was a headline show, put on by our
friends at 0161
Manchester Underground Metal Community Promotions. We’ve played there quite a few times last
couple of years and built a fanbase of sorts. It was just amazing to travel to
a city so far from home and see Crawling t shirts, and the guys bought a TON of
merch - it was amazing!
11. You have a passionate fanbase, especially within the underground metal scene. How important is the connection with your fans to The Crawling, and how do you nurture that relationship?
The
relationship with fans is critical. Without them the music wouldn’t work, as it
is based on shared experience which is why there is a connection. I think we
simply remain honest in everything we do, and share as much as we can with a
focus on quality. We always play to as high a standard as possible live, and
really interact with people. We always aim to please high production value
albums, great artwork and invest a lot of energy and finance into merchandise.
We also love to video everything we do, which led to the creation of the “vlog”
series. The vlogs are behind the scenes raw videos of what it’s like to be in
an underground metal band. I think all these things add up to creating a
relationship with our fans.
12. As
you reflect on 2024 and look ahead to 2025, what goals or ambitions do you have
for the band in the coming year?
Do more. We always want to do more. Europe is the target for 2025, and we can’t wait to get there and become part of the European underground scene - it’s going to be fucking amazing!
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