Crawlers drum up excitement in Camden High Street [Ciel Hersom]

SCORES of fans queued up to meet a band which blew up in popularity after their songs were used for TikTok films.

Crawlers, a British rock band from Liverpool, arrived in Camden High Street for a “meet and greet”  outside the closed down Black Cap pub on Thursday afternoon. A billboard advertising their latest song covered the front of the building.

The use of advertising on the much-loved LGBT+ bar has been the source of complaints by some of its former regulars who just want to see the venue back in use.

Along line of fans – known as “creepy crawlies” – were unaware of the long history of that dispute, however, and had travelled from across the country to meet the performers, who rocketed to fame after their song Come Over (Again) went viral on video sharing platform in 2021.

Friends Abigail Taplin and Meg Rochester

Ciel Hersom, from Essex

The billboard was promoting new song That Time of Year Always.

“I think that [TikTok] definitely is what made them so popular now: it’s that song blowing up, being so big,” said Ruby Philp, who had travelled from Hampshire to meet the band.

She said of their music: “It’s a lot to do with internal struggles, mental health issues, bad experiences, bad relationships – human experiences, really, that I find a lot of artists are too scared to touch on.”

“I think social media is one of the best ways to advertise your music now, because it can reach so many different audiences that you wouldn’t be able to with physical advertising,” she added.

Grace Jackling, from Brent

Lola Reid and Ruby Philp

Grace Jackling, from Barnet, also discovered the band through TikTok. “There’s loads of upcoming bands and singers who are really rising from TikTok. I think it’s a really cool platform – I’m glad it’s a platform, because it’s helping small artists.

“I feel like now, if you tried to get big the way that people used to in the ’50s until the late 2000s, it’d be way harder,” she said.

Meanwhile Meg Rochester, who had travelled from Brighton for the meet and greet, said: “I love Crawlers because all of their songs are so relatable… they talk about a whole range of things, how hard it can be to go through a breakup, how you can go through seasonal depression. It’s like a warm blanket.

“Listening to them I just feel so comforted.”

She said the newest single being advertised is “about seasonal depression, and how you wish it was how it was when you were younger, and you were shielded from everything.”

Ms Rochester’s friend, sixth form Abigail Taplin, said contemporary musicians are inspired by “hope – the hope of you releasing a song, and a short little snippet of it goes viral, and people come and see your music. That’s kind of the goal now.”

SEE ALSO CNJ’S BIRTHDAY – SUPPORT CAMPAIGNING JOURNALISM

FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK. CLICK BANNER.