Holy Moly and The Crackers hail from Newcastle and the gypsy rock band has a loyal, devoted and ever-increasing fan base.
The band have built themselves an enviable reputation, pulling packed houses for their ferocious, visceral live shows, and in November they will be heading out on their biggest headline tour to date, to promote their gutsy new album Salem.

The Edinburgh Reporter spoke to Conrad before their upcoming Edinburgh gig when they are showing off their still new music from Salem.
Tell us about your new album Salem…
After our first album (First Avenue) and its lovely nostalgic naivety, we got pretty dark with Salem. As a band we’ve always been into the magical and mysterious. Especially the dark theatrical craziness of New Orleans culture, the city where death and the spirit world are celebrated in the most spectacular way: witchcraft, voodoo, Day of the Dead, Mardi Gras, jazz funerals, the ghost stories of the bayou.
When I realised that we’d be tracking the drums above a 12th Century family tomb I told Tommy, our drummer, to play the drums loud enough to wake the dead. The album is infused with a real gothic vibe. 
You’ve been hailed for your festival performances and live shows, what can we expect from your upcoming Edinburgh show? 
We’ve worked hard for this tour, and done a heavy year of gigs, so we’re tight at the moment. When we’re tight we have fun because we can concentrate more on the performance that the music. It will be a fast, loud, high energy performance and we expect the audience to keep up with us. There – I’ve laid down the challenge …
What is the best gig you’ve ever played as a band? 
Maybe Glastonbury. We started and maybe there were 50 people watching us in a 1000 capacity tent. I closed my eyes for the duration of the song. I opened them and the tent was full and jumping! I turned around to the rest of the band and we all looked at each other. It was probably that moment when I was like – shit, this works. 
Have you been to Edinburgh before – if so what memories do you have of playing here before? 
Oh yes we’ve been before. We cut our teeth as a band (and friends) busking the Royal Mile and Grass Market at the Fringe in 2012. I lost my falsetto and top register and never got it back! I like to call it Tom Waits chic. We’ve been many times since then – performing at Henry Cellar’s, Voodoo Rooms and Sneaky Petes. The city holds a lot of good memories for us, and a lot of lost memories too.
I blame it on the whisky.
You can see Holy Moly and the Crackers at Henry’s Cellar Bar |16A Morrison| St EH3 8BJ
on 3 November 2017.

Phyllis Stephen
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Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.

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