Crumbs

Leeds/York poppy post-punk quartet Crumbs doesn’t quite fit in with any one genre, with influences from a variety of different sources. With the fractioned-yet-intertwined scenes that exist in Leeds, between various venues hosting their own respective styles of music, Crumbs are one of the few bands within the city actively achieving cross-pollinating. They have had a longstanding hold in the Leeds music scene, with drummer Gem Prout putting on DIY gigs in the city for over a decade and the rest of the band being equally as involved in both Leeds and Manchester for the course of their music careers. With a bass- driven, funky and fuzzy grab-bag of rhythmic unique sounds, complete with just enough cowbell and energetic snarling vocals, they easily win your hearts and ears with toe-tapping goodness.

They aren’t governed by what others want to hear, which might be partly because of their long-standing relationship with the music scene, amongst many other reasons. “It’s like that with any kind of creative thing,” bassist Jamie Wilson says, “if

you’re not going to be happy with what you’re doing, then what’s the point? I think that’s why, a lot of the times, we end up being the ‘weirdest’ band on the bill; not a conscious thing, but as in, we don’t fit with the same structure.” That means they’re

invited to play a load of shows and get involved with a variety of scenes, playing with punk bands at this festival, but delving into more and different scenes in other circumstances.

They’re currently in the process of writing their second album, in between touring with Cowtown, another Leeds powerhouse, this summer, a slower process than Mind Yr Manners, they tell me. “All the songs we have on our first album are all the songs we wrote since we started,” Jamie explains, “and I guess it’s not really a time pressure thing then. Suddenly, everything that we did became a song, but now it’s more comfortable.” Many of their songs now are about “quite bleak subjects,” Gem says, “but they’re covered by the poppiness;” in the past, they’ve described their debut album Mind Yr Manners as dealing with “the art of coping with not coping” and the anxieties that come along with this. Vocalist Ruth Gillmore is also the lyricist of the group: “I’m just saying things that are

really important to me,” she says, “but I like to leave it open to people to listen themselves.”

As with others, Crumbs are more about letting their actions do the talking than their song lyrics. “It’s about not taking shit at shows if something happens, like calling people out,” Jamie points out, something Ruth references as the golden rule: “be the person that you want to see at gigs.” Ambiguity in the songs, while sometimes getting them strange reviews (a song about death being mistaken as a song about turtles?), gives them the flexibility of delving into the more pop side of the songs. “There’s plenty of politics in the songs and in the lyrics. Just, consciously, I wouldn’t describe ourselves as an anarcho-punk band or anything; it’s never been a political thing in that sense,” guitarist Stuart notes, but it’s in other ways that they get involved. “There’s a political element, especially in the scene we’re involved in. It’s more of a

DIY thing, the fact that anyone can do it.”

The DIY scene, especially in Leeds, as they tell me, is extremely supportive. “You can be in the best, biggest band, or you can be the newest band in Leeds, and it doesn’t matter because everyone is like, that was really great! Keep doing it!” Gem says. Watching their friends start and play in not even necessarily good bands is an encouraging way of getting engaged and feeling like you’re a part of something. “It makes you feel like everybody has got something to say,” Ruth points out, “or everyone can have a go at playing an instrument or putting something together, and it doesn’t have to be amazing. Anything is valid.” Gem notes that the DIY scene creates a call-out culture far apart from the toxic one that’s been building itself online, and instead creating an honest atmosphere of learning together. “It’s not phony; it’s real in that sense.”