Crywank

Crywank are a Manchester based anti-folk band. They mostly write "sad songs for smelly losers" and have been told they are the worst named band in the country.

Originally a solo project in 2009 by James Clayton, despite having no previous experience playing guitar, lyrically focusing on the end of a relationship whilst contending with moving away, and musically heavily influenced by American folk punk and anti-folk, their debut album "James is Going To Die Soon" became a cult favourite on the internet, both for its charm and many flaws.

After their first release Crywank began to play with and subvert the role of singer songwriter. Shifting the focus from self-pity to self-criticism and fluctuating between hard-hitting confessionals to tongue-in-cheek deconstructions resulted in Crywank’s paranoid ‘sad-but-fun’ sound.

Dan Watson (ex-GNOD, Denim & Leather) joined the band in 2012 on percussion and began to implement approaches and influences not often seen within ‘anti-folk’, at points going into d-beat and blast beats.

Crywank have since amassed a dedicated following online. Despite being self-managed and their name getting in the way of radio play or press coverage, Crywank have had over 100 million streams and have toured internationally.