Holy Moly & the Crackers

blues / folk /

Holy Moly and the Crackers, a Newcastle folk-indie outfit with band members originating from the Easingwold area, play a homebrew mix of whiskey galore sea shanties, hillbilly lullabies, bin-fire blues, gypsy dances and spectral soul-searching ballads; all played with a newness and honesty which is perhaps one of the keys to their popularity. Songs such as Down on Time are sure to get the crowd on their feet, while New Orleans Waltz and Devil and the Danube are examples of the band’s ability to write an engaging but contemporary folk narrative to the backing of interesting instrumentation.

One of the most appealing aspects of the four piece is their stage presence. Charismatic front-man Conrad Bird never fails to get the crowd jumping with his foot-stomping guitar style and, backed with a beat from Ash Etchells Butler on the various drums hanging, tied, strapped, wrapped onto the Holy Moly busking drum kit – all string and feathers and pots and pans – they make a memorable rhythm section. The combination of Ruth Patterson on fiddle, playing a range of soulful melodies and sawing riffs, and Rosie Bristow on the Accordion, as she runs up the scales and dances down the bass, is not to be missed. With Ruth’s crystal-cut vocals on songs like Bluebell Wood and Comfort and Lies, sure to melt the stoniest of hearts, and Conrad’s engaging, bones and bourbon singing style, you have a vibrant interesting sound that will carry you dancing on into the small hours of the morning.

The band signed to Northern Lights Music in January 2012. After only a year of playing concerts in and around Newcastle the band are already making a name for themselves: chosen personally by pop festival heavy weight Vince Powers, they were announced as winners of a national competition – organised by promoters Supajam – to play the main Bread and Roses stage at Hopfarm Festival (headlining – Bob Dylan, Patti Smith, Ray Davis etc.) where they drew in the crowds and the accolades.

They pre-released their debut album, First Avenue, in June 2012, before being distributed in October. The album has been described as “an eclectic hotchpotch of stomping folk, bluesy lullaby and gypsy madness” (Alex Wright, Belt Up Theatre) From Edinburgh to Kent, they have spent the summer touring the album around the country, including a prestigious lunchtime concert at the American Olympic Safehouse in London. The band have a busy schedule of live performances ahead, with tours in Ireland and Europe being planned for 2013/14.

“Holy Moly and the Crackers are a young quartet from the Bohemian Quarter of Newcastle and remind me of the early days of the Waterboys, Pogues and The Men They Couldn’t Hang and they have all the qualities to be as big as all of them.”

Alan Harrison, No Depression

“I love that there are young bands really keeping the scene alive, and maintaining a lost past … their ability to get everyone in the audience up on their feet and besotted is so natural and welcoming, that by the end of the night I felt as if I were in some whiskey tavern on Route 66.”

Leopard Skin Pill Box Hat Reviews

“Holy Moly and the Crackers have come to Edinburgh to do their favourite thing – play music, and amazing I-can’t-help-but-stomp-my-foot-and-smile music it is too … [they] astounded the audience last night with their Folky, Waltz-y Fun. They call it Circus Folk… (5 *****)”

Daisy Williams, EDFEST

“the four piece deliver their punky, fiddle flying, Cajun dancing hoe down with a huge burst of energy”

Supajam