Holy Moly & The Crackers

Holy Moly & The Crackers are a seven-piece ‘Gypsy Folk Rock’ band from the UK. Founders Conrad Bird, Ruth Patterson and ‘Squeezebox’ Rosie lead the band with compelling charismatic style. “They are a bunch of wild gypsy troubadours with more than a touch of magic about them” (Diva Publications)

They released their debut album ‘First Avenue’ in October 2012 and an EP ‘Lilly’ a year later – described as “a re-imagining of three traditional folk/blues songs that evokes eras of whiskey and guns on modern punk folk steroids” (Cover Lay Down). Their single ‘A Punk Called Peter’ (2015) is “a sort of New Orleans funeral march mixed with some fine and highly danceable reggae” (Northern Sky). Their latest single ‘Burning Back Wheel’ was self-released in 2016. They have recently made a new album with top rock/pop producer Matt Terry at Vada Studios (The Enemy, Ocean Colour Scene, The Wonderstuff etc.) which will be released in 2017 – “There is a good reason as to why a lot of people are loving this band, I was drawn in the moment I heard them … their sound is like a dirty circus” (M.Terry)

Surely they are one of hardest working bands on the circuit with a growing and loyal fan base: Over the last two years they have toured the UK extensively, and made impressive debuts in France, Germany, Holland and Portugal. In 2016 they appeared at twenty-seven festivals, including performances at Glastonbury (Avalon Main Stage), Larmer Tree, Wilderness, Belladrum, Kendal Calling, Underneath The Stars, Towersey, Purbeck Valley, Deershed plus many more. In previous years they have appeared at Hop Farm, Secret Garden Party, Boomtown and Cornbury. At Towersey Festival the band were introduced to the main stage as the festival band of the year, and at Glastonbury they were a Avalon Stage crew highlight: “you guys were my (and other crew members) favourite band of the whole festival and also the best to work with and easiest to get set up. You made all the techs jump around behind the mixing desk more than once”

Influenced by an electric range of folk and popular music, Holy Moly & The Crackers play a exciting and visceral blend of rock, pop, folk, blues, balkan, klezmer, ska, reggae – “We throw a whole load of genres into the mix. We describe ourselves as “gypsy folk rock”, but that’s a very loose term. And we’re changing and developing all the time. There’s a big beat; we like to make people dance. But, at the same time, the songs are built around narrative - I guess that’s why we’d class ourselves as a folk band, we like to tell stories” - Holy Moly & The Crackers.