A “wee band from Perth” is holding its own in the online music charts, getting a Christmas number one and taking its songs to listeners across the globe who have voted them into pole position multiple times.
Perth Battle of the Bands winners 2022, The Crom, have their fifth number one since February in the global Prospect Radio chart.
The unsigned group could not believe that, in Prospect’s Christmas week chart, their song ‘Let’s Go’ was in the top spot.
And that’s not all, The Crom are up for a big indie rock award in the coming weeks.
Lead vocals, rhythm guitar, synth and songwriter Alan Sweeney recently got the good news that The Crom are finalists in the Radio Wigwam Awards, where they are hoping to take home Best Indie Rock Act 2022.
“This is a huge deal for The Crom and we are proud beyond words,” he said.
“We’ve worked so hard the last couple of years to get our name out there. It’s not always been easy but we’ve persevered. All the hours we’ve rehearsed, honing our craft, writing songs, it’s all been worth it for things like this.
“The award ceremony is in London on January 19 and hopefully we can bring the award back to Perth.”
Train driver Alan told the PA how a framed certificate arrived out of the blue in the post, proclaiming the as-yet unsigned band The Crom were finalists and that their presence was requested for the awards in London on January 19.
“Even that on its own was great to hear: that our band is one of 4500 acts based all over the world which have been whittled down to the final ten in each category,” he added.
“We are so excited. We’re booked into a hotel in Balham for the Radio Wigwam Awards ceremony.
“This is really big, Radio Wigwam has a really large online presence.
“Another boost is knowing that Prospect Radio, which is again voted for by strangers who don’t know us, made us their listeners’ choice with five of our releases.
“The first ‘number 1’ was ‘Why?’, then ‘Silver Spoon’. The third time it happened was with ‘Outside Your Window’ and for two whole weeks, we were in the top spot with ‘My Amphetamine’.
“We were chuffed to bits when, for the chart out December 25, ‘Let’s Go’ became our fifth song to lead their chart.”
New pictures were recently released by the band, courtesy of local snapper Meesha.
Marysia Macfarlane, known as Meesha, was at their last major local gig, recording the day in August when they played at Perth’s Craigie Hill Festival.
The new pictures importantly show the full band - Frankie Sweeney (bass guitar and vocals), Lee Fitzpatrick (drums, percussion and vocals), Alan Sweeney (lead vocals, rhythm guitar, synth and songwriter) and newest member, Dan Hardie (lead guitar).
Alan is really glad guitarist Dan is now officially seen as a key member of The Crom having joined the band in the summer.
He says this has been a significant year for them all in so many ways: “As 2022 draws to a close, I’m amazed at what our wee band from Perth has achieved this year.
“We’ve had four number ones and five top tens on Prospect Radio. We’ve been number one on This is Only Rock Radio in Spain. Our debut album, Right On Cue, was nominated for the 2022 The SAY Award.
“We won the prestigious The Twa Tams battle of the bands and we played our first outdoor festival which was the absolutely fantastic Craigie Hill Festival.
“Then we were played on Jim Gellatly’s first show of the year on Amazing Radio. We’ve been played on BBC Radio nan Gàidheal and we were on The OFI Monday radio show featured as unsigned artist of the week twice.
“I cannot begin to put into words how proud we are that we’ve been nominated for Best Indie Rock Act at the Radio Wigwam Awards in London next month.
“We’re up against some tough competition but if we can bring this award back to Perth, it’ll mean everything to us.”
The New Year will see The Crom back in the studio, recording guide tracks at Counter Culture Studios for their second album, Evolution.
