It’s that time of year where we set out to interview as many of the Sophie, New Blood, and Jager bands as we can in the lead-up to one of the most anticipated festivals of the year, Bloodstock. Answering our questions here are The Crawling who play the Sophie Stage on Thursday.
Simple things first – where are you guys from?
Belfast, Northern Ireland.
How long have you been playing together as a band?
7 years.
Where does the name of the band come from?
My brother had the name “The Crawling” as a song title for his band that he didn’t use. When we started the band and heard the music, he said: “That would fit The Crawling” – so I stole it.
Describe your music. What makes you unique?
Death/doom metal. We are unique to certain people. Those that have a similar outlook on life to us, seem to get something from our music that can’t be explained. It’s not for everyone, but if you don’t listen you’ll never know. It’s wonderful to play a show and chat to someone afterwards, or catch their eye during the set, knowing they’re going through it.
If you like what we do, consider ing us on Patreon for as little as £1 per month!
What’s your live show like? Why are people going to watch you instead of another band?
Our live show is a three-piece delivering a hard, heavy and emotional mix of death/doom extreme metal. If you are into that kinda thing, and want to our world for the duration of our set – people should come. You can see that other band another time.
Have you played Bloodstock before? If so, when?
I played in Honey For Christ 2007, and The Crawling played 2016.
How/when did you find out that you’d be playing the SOPHIE stage?
Simon Hall phoned us on the way to a gig. I put him on speaker phone as I was driving and he got to tell us all together. It was fucking brilliant.
What sort of setlist can we expect?
We’re playing a brand new, unheard track, old classics and what we consider the best of what we’ve got right now. It’s a nice variation of heavy, fast and slow. It’s a strong set.
Which other band do you most hope you’re not clashing with so you can see them play?
Clashing with Black Tongue would hurt me bad.
What are you working on at the moment?
The next album. Covid fucked it all up, but after Bloodstock we’re back on track!
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What’s the wildest thing you’ve seen or done at a live show?
Seen – I watched Slagmaur put a man on a cross, invert it, and set him on fire. That was pretty wild.
Done – I got much too drunk many years ago, and decided I could slide across the stage on my knees whilst playing guitar, a-la Mötley Crüe … it didn’t end well. I don’t drink before shows anymore.
What drink do you throw back to get yourself fired up before going on stage?
I don’t drink before a gig. See above!
The Crawling: official | facebook | twitter | instagram | bandcamp | spotify | youtube
