Holy Moly & The Crackers - First Avenue (2012/2016)

'First Avenue' is a collection of self-penned songs created in the student dwellings the band inhabited whilst at University in Warwick, and refined in their Newcastle post-graduate townhouse. Their instrumentation is simple and organic, consisting of an acoustic guitar, violin, accordion, occasional double-bass, and a small portable drum kit. The album artwork was hand-drawn by Steve Bird, Conrad's Dad, depicting beautifully the minstrel character of the four band members: Conrad Bird (guitar & vocals), Ruth Patterson (violin & vocals), Rosie Bristow (accordion), and Ashley Etchells-Butler (percussion). In the band's own words, "At its heart, our debut album is a kind of journeyman's diary of the road to 'First Avenue', from 'Beats and Bars', the vibrant heart of our hometown music scene, to a host of delightful venues hidden in the crevices of Newcastle's Ouseburn Valley. The rambling lovers, the fairy forest-dwellers, the lost sea-souls and Dixieland cowboys, the Romani rock n rollers, with their healthy amount of 'medicinal' booze and Burlesque, are just a few of the people we met along the way. Hope you enjoy"